Deep Stacks No. 17 - Doom In My Heart

“FOREVER HASN’T HAPPENED YET” - John Doe

My father and I are both obsessed with John Doe's album "Forever Hasn't Happened Yet" on Yep Roc Records from 2005. It's a modern, mostly acoustic Americana-Punk record from a true music poet and pioneer who has fronted the seminal punk rock band X since the late 1970's, releasing their first official album in 1980, "Los Angeles" by the Doors' keyboard player, Ray Manzarek. "Forever Hasn't Happened Yet" is a stark poetic walk through intimate childhood scenes, ominous overtones of addiction, redemption, poverty, all seen through an adult's eyes looking back at the wild ruthless dangerous freedom of youth. The sound production and mix of the album is unique and hard to pin down. Huge, simple, open sounding tracks frame the layered voices (include Neko Case as a guest on one track) which clearly unravel Doe's shadowy, flickering lyric landscapes for us to ride through with our windows down, reflecting most likely on our own battles, demons, and of course most of all moments of resilience in the face of life's sometime almost comic cruelty. Overall, "Forever Hasn't Happened Yet" is a deep gaze into the piercing melancholy of a masterful batch of songs with some huge loud garage punk-rock inspired anthems mixed in between. Shed a few tears for the past and our hearts yes as Doe's says sometimes "...filled with doom" before you go ahead and roll your windows down and shout the lyrics of "Ready" like no one is listening.