Wartime

I wrote “Wartime” around the time my father passed away. My father’s ashes were sent to his native Bulgaria and buried there. At that time there was a vicious war happening in Bosnia and I kept thinking that the bombs were shaking the earth right to my father’s resting-place. Coincidentally at the same time the first Donkey independent cassette found it’s way to neighboring Romania and was getting good reaction and significant airplay there. It was a funny feeling because the distance from where my father was buried in Bulgaria was not so far from Radio Prahova in Ploiesti, Romania.
When “Wartime” was released in 1999 on the Kickback CD, there was once again a war in Yugoslavia, this time in Kosovo and the Romanian listeners made it a hit because the lyrics were relevant.
It is one of the best songs I’ve written. It actually wrote itself. I never forced it.
A week after the World Trade Towers bombings, we played it live in club gig and the audience was just transfixed by the lyrics. I do think it’s a timeless song. I’ll keep playing it as long as there’s wars. The guitarwork is influenced by John Macleod & Hari Palm of the legendary Toronto band Johnny & The G-Rays, of which I’ve always been a big fan and influenced me a lot.