Track listing: Lord of the Flies

Bob Schneider has been rooted in the Austin music scene for as long as I can remember. My own bands regularly played opening slots for his shows in the 90s--Scabs, Lonelyland, solo acoustic...there were more but it's been many years taking a toll on my late night memory. If you were opening for any iteration of Bob's, though, you were gonna have a good night.

Fast-forward 25 years or so and I've been in more bands than Bob has records. But he's still going strong, primarily focusing the past decade or two on his solo recording career. His new album In A Room Full of Blood with Sleeping Tiger drops in August of 2021. The first single from the album is the thought-provoking "Lord of the Flies."

In this 2019 performance of the song at Skyline Sessions, he describes writing it as part of a weekly songwriting exercise with a group of friends. His task: write a song using the words "space force" (this was before he was aware of the branch of the U.S. military).

In his characteristic plaintive, introspective style, Bob employs "space force" as a phrase-initiating anaphora. He tells the tale of a person searching, hoping, and believing in love. Inspired by the tragic suicide of Anthony Bourdain, "Lord of the Flies" conveys a wealth of pain, loneliness, and confusion.

As he's done throughout his career, Schneider uses his voice to give the story deeper emotion. Sadness, hope, optimism. His ability to pull heart strings with a slight vocal lilt or a jump to a higher octave is what's made Bob, well, Bob.

Check out "Lord of the Flies" now and the rest of the album when it's released in August.