Filled with defiance and courage, Widetrack openly challenges the static perspectives and cultures of rigid societies on Monoliths.
The Waterford, Michigan father-son duo of Ron Tippin (drums, vocals) and Zach Tippin (guitar, bass) exposes the toxicity of groupthink, coercion and betrayal on their latest alt-prog album.
“It’s the general idea of things being very homogenized … and in terms of something that’s very difficult to change, but very huge and imposing—like monolithic societies,” said Ron Tippin.
“But it can also represent hope like [challenging] the monoliths in the film The Matrix, which represents the possibility of escape from a simulated reality. That was very much the idea of ‘Illumination,’ the opening track, and a lot of the songs that we started with were very dark, negative and heavy.”
As that realization came to light, Widetrack decided to include another hopeful track on their fifth album. “And then we came up with ‘Unlived,’ and I thought, ‘OK, there’s some positivity here,’ which is kind of a first for us,” Ron Tippin said.
Along with that new thematic development, Widetrack shares insightful tales of conflict, change and determination across eight bold tracks on Monoliths.
The band’s philosophical lyrics, emotive vocals and driving hard-rock, prog-rock and metal instrumentation instantly transport listeners to a contentious world that’s overdue for a revolt.
“I spend a lot of time on social media, as a lot of people do, as an observer and see objective reality and objective truth becoming relics,” Ron Tippin said.
“Some people just can hone in on a narrative—that’s the reality for them—and they get siloed in that. It’s made the divisions more pronounced than ever.”
Symptoms to Serpents
Widetrack starts exploring those societal divisions on “Symptoms,” which thoughtfully examines the rise of online trolling and people’s acceptance of that detrimental behavior.
Fearless electric guitar, bass and drums confront that negativity as Ron Tippin sings, “So zealous in your fight / To nullify our lives / The killing toll you’ve wrought / A culture you’d cancel.”
“The symptoms I had in mind were on a fundamental level of interpersonal contact where people just have a bloodlust and they relish in that. Being ugly has become a virtue for people, and that’s the symptom for me of a bigger problem,” Ron Tippin said.
“It’s a human trait that we all have, and I see it on social media a lot. It’s when people say, ‘I gave that person a piece of my mind,’ but maybe the right and kind thing to do was to hold your tongue. We’re rewarding bad behavior so much because we love to revel in it and watch it.”
After raising awareness about trolling, Widetrack shifts to a more hopeful message on “Unlived,” an optimistic anthem about living a more purposeful life.
Backed by eager electric guitar and drums, Ron Tippin sings, “Time now to rise / To this moment / Harness the force of / Your truest wish.”
“Around the time of writing this album, a number of our close musician friends passed away. It was that feeling of ‘Wow, life is unfair. Who could have seen that coming? How do you make heads or tails of that?’” Zach Tippin said.
“It was followed up with [the mindset] of ‘We’re here, and if we’re here for any reason at all, it is to live our lives to the fullest and to do something that we can look back on … and be proud of and to have that purpose.’ It turned something hopeless, random and confusing into something hopeful and inspiring.”
The duo also depicts that sentiment visually in the video for “Unlived,” which features the Tippins playing live shows and walking together outside.
“We had a friend help us out with the walking shots, but I compiled clips of every show that we’ve played together so far. It was a lot of fun to put together, and a lot of these things go back two-and-a-half years,” Ron Tippin said.
“We’re just working on this stuff all the time, so to go back and reflect on it was like, ‘Wow, we did a lot of stuff!’ Once COVID was over, we decided to make up for lost time.”
Next, Widetrack returns to darker subject matter on “Virtue,” a courageous tale about a woman experiencing quid pro quo sexual harassment in the workplace.
Surrounded by ominous acoustic guitar, bass and drums, Ron Tippin sings, “Claw my way / Through the filth and slime / Turn my face / From this shadow.”
“‘Virtue’ is the name of a Law & Order episode, and it’s about that episode. A woman is a lawyer and her boss uses sleeping with him as leverage for her to get a position of power,” said Ron Tippin about the album’s oldest track.
“I was really impacted by the actress’s performance in that episode and the music [we wrote for the song] just seemed to be perfect for that idea. That song benefitted from us waiting and holding on to it for a while. Zach grew a couple of years older, got a little better on the guitar and wrote some new parts to it.”
Finally, Widetrack takes “Serpents” to another level sonically with a seamless fusion of electric guitar, acoustic guitar, violin, double bass and drums.
Prog-metal and orchestral soundscapes erupt alongside Ron Tippin as he sings about a post-truth society: “How can one resist / Something so divine / Disbelief in what’s not in doubt / Promises of a world / Where your will to fight / Give you faith that you’ve won.”
“It’s the idea of ‘I want this to be true, so it is,’ and it’s that serpent in your ear saying, ‘Your narrative … or your subjective reality is now hereby objective reality,’” Ron Tippin said.
“All of that is marketed in the news and on social media to cultivate these siloed information zones where we don’t have to reach across the aisle. The deeper and more extreme you can go with your point of view, the more successful these organizations become.”
Monoliths and More
The Tippins started writing, refining and recording tracks for Monoliths about two and a half years ago in their home studio. The album’s creative process ebbed and flowed as the duo experienced job and school changes.
“We both said let’s just take our time on this one and let it come. If something is not as good as the rest of the album, let’s disqualify it and we’ll keep writing,” said Ron Tippin, who counts Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Rush and Porcupine Tree as some of the band’s major influences.
“There were tunes where I said, ‘Hey, I really like this one,’ and Zach would say, ‘We can do better.’ And it’s taught me that he’s just getting into his prime, and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years.”
For the recording process, Ron Tippin shared the initial drum tracks with Zach Tippin, who would then add his guitar and bass parts.
“Some of these songs—‘Unlived’ and ‘Illumination’—started with a drum track straight through of my dad playing with who knows what else in mind. Those are two of my favorite songs on the album, and the last album [The Unwakening] had songs like that where I had to write to my dad’s drums,” said Zach Tippin, who co-produced the album with Ron Tippin.
“It was a new experience to write and record parts that I was trying to top the old ones with. I’m proud of how everything turned out, and I like where a lot of the songs go and some of the ideas I got to express.”
The recording process also allowed Zach Tippin to adopt a “less-is-more” approach to the album’s overall sound.
“I tried to compare my previous recordings to the sounds of the recordings that I like. I realized a lot of the time the sounds that I’m hearing on my favorite recordings are huge, awesome and full, but don’t actually have that much space taken up,” he said.
“I tried to say, ‘What can this do without?’ We cut out the parts that weren’t necessary, and it gave [the album] more room sonically. Everything got its own place rather than having everything fight for a spot.”
In addition to the album’s core guitar, bass and drum sound, Widetrack takes a cinematic approach with strings on “Serpents” and “Mirage,” which feature Gabriela da Silva on violin and Gael A. Àlvarez on double bass.
“The two guest musicians are my friends, and we had a string trio in high school with me on guitar, Gael on bass and Gabriela on violin,” said Zach Tippin about the band’s collaborators.
“Gael and Gabriela both improvised parts over ‘Serpents,’ and I pieced together several different takes and tried to capture the magic of their performances. There are a lot of differences in their styles … it was cool to introduce a totally different element to the music.”
Outside of the studio, Widetrack is sharing tracks from Monoliths with live audiences. The band is doing an acoustic performance Oct. 26 on 11 Mile Sessions Live, a weekly Streamcast hosted by Scott Boatright that spotlights new local and independent music.
“The majority of it is going to be from Monoliths,” said Zach Tippin, who will be making his third appearance on the online show with Ron Tippin.
“We’ve got a couple of things from the previous albums and a couple of our own renditions of certain covers that we find unique and special.”
Looking ahead, Widetrack is working on new material and performing Jan. 6 at Detroit’s Corktown Tavern. They’re also interested in performing outside Metro Detroit and Michigan.
“We’ve got another album written. We’re gonna put a song a month out starting in 2024; it will be different for us, but we’re excited about it,” Ron Tippin said.
“We’re looking to do some more out-of-town stuff and putting on some of our own shows with other bands. We have friends that we’d love to help cross-promote.”
Show details:
Thursday, Oct. 26 | 7 p.m.
The Stratton Setlist 