Evermore: The dream.

Image info: An image from an amazing artist named Chris Cold who seems to paint the place of my dreams without even knowing it.

A few years ago I had a dream about a song and a place, it was called "Evermore". This was before I ever heard the words Diamonds Hadder. I awoke in an upstairs bedroom with a large diamond shaped window and the moon was outside as bright as could be… I desperately reached for a pen and I started writing words… they came out rather quickly and with ease… they were about a person or thing and a place, the original poem was called Mr Evermore which I'll post someday. I was there in the dream and I saw it all. I think the poem tells a lot about me and about the adventure that I was about to take in life… it filled me with a purpose that had been lost… it was a little spark from a very old flame that had just about gone out in me. It was like a little fire in the dark that refused to quit. I say all this because along the road to creating evermore I was a little sidetracked, you could say that the detour was well served and that there are no accidents. When I was young I took opera lessons and sang in bands for years and worshiped my untouchable idols and began training myself but I feel asleep one afternoon under the clouds at a beautiful tree that I was willingly lured too. So is life but little dreams that come and go. I remember that day and I think it was real but I’m not sure. When I awoke things were different… I was different. It’s nice to sleep away some things. "Oh Mr Evermore…. It’s you it was always you". You could say that the dream and the poem was maybe a message to myself, as I was not really in that room with the diamond window… I was still sleeping under the tree… the words came from the man with the flame who guarded the fire while I was away and who refused to stay asleep. The little things that happened since that night are really all just tiny odd pieces to a much larger puzzle that I’m trying to solve. A fire. The end. A light. Mr Evermore. Diamonds Hadder is not exactly about social media or likes or times lines and schedules and being this way or that way for the sake of being this way or that way… not that I have any problem with the way the world turns… it’s a fun time to be alive… words like vintage or old school or modern are really just labels and ultimately I want no part of anything that isn’t true to me in the NOW… i am the past... in living form... hadder is about being me and doing my best at that. It’s about serving dreams and listening to voices that don’t come from me but that tap at my soul from a place that I’m yet to get to and that I don’t fully understand but try to honor at all costs. It’s about conjuring magic from the dull drab day that enslaves us all, you and me. To harness my own ability to create in the manner in which I can do such things while I still can... and to build evermore and tell the story of Diamonds Hadder.

Anyway, I released evermore to the world, you can find it on most of the wonderful earthly music platforms for your listening pleasure at any time. All 15 minutes of it. May it remind you of all your capable of. The first level of the new tower is built and I can now sit for a moment and enjoy a nice fire while I draw a design for the new rafters and upper levels. I wish you all the best and I hope you all get a chance to dream and be everything you can be. If I can help in any way, fell free to reach out. Your only dreaming. We all are. Invent and re-invent yourself... and yes, imagine it all.

-evermore

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_64c0308f6aa64ad6b01ecd6b340f6140/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: Enjoy some clips of people being people to the delightful sounds of a dream. Kings and queens of time. Where are you queen?

"Evermore" - by Diamonds Hadder

“There’s a place that never was

And a door that takes you there

Just a knock is all it takes

But it won’t open till you wake.”

Oh evermore

Seems you’ve been at war

Oh evermore

Think I’ve been here before

So did you really fall

Or was it all just a tale

the saddest of them all

Here’s the key to evermore

Match the number to the door

Evermore… is that you I see behind the door

Evermore… you think you know it all

Do you dream in black and white

Of magic spells and haunted silver lights

Of a sky without the color blue

Never hide that spark inside of you

Make no wish before the star

Is this who you truly are

Here’s a key to evermore

3 numbers in a row… and not another more

Evermore.. could it be… is that you I see behind the door

Evermore… scale the wall

And cast a stone with the spell

Oh, there’s something down inside the well

One fated night the midnight star fell free

It left a hole in the sky that would never leave, no

I awoke to see the flash and the trail it left behind me

Our father who art in heaven.. Could hell this be our evermore.

“is that you I see?”

Run and hide to evermore

Remember now you’ve been here before

You wrote the numbers on the wall after all

You know, match the key on to evermore

On to evermore…

Did you really fall?

Here’s the key to evermore

Match the numbers to the door

Evermore… is that you I see behind the door

Evermore… seems you’ve always been at war.

Dressed up for the ball

Evermore.. yes you.. is that you I see behind the door

Oh evermore

A midnightmare is down to take us

But to die before your chance to wake up

Would not be a wise mistake to make this

Less your fate be evermore at stake

Oh evermore

Oh it’s older than heaven

Oh evermore… you’ve been here before

Oh do you really think you know it all Mr Evermore?

Who will wear the crown

To rule them all, them all

When the king is dead

After the fall

And who will sing the saddest song

is it you or me

Who are all these people in golden halls… without souls

Wearing faces of the dead I swear I knew them all

Who are we to dream when every dream we make only falls into evermore

Who wears the crown in evermore?

Oh… Is that you I see behind the door

Evermore

Can’t you see.. it was you afterall

Who filed the keys to every door

And not another more

You know

It was you.. always you.

A midnightmare is down to take us

But to die before you chance

Would not be a wise mistake to make this

Less your fate be evermore at stake is

Oh.. Mr Evermore.. it’s you behind the door… I know now

Welcome home

Evermore

I know

It’s you

#evermore #diamondshadder #johnevermore #heavymetal #lyrics #olddreams #visions #sacredplaces #mybeach #spring #newyork #masquarade #dreams #thecrown #kingsandqueens #buildingrafters #inspiration #beyou #lyrics

Update: Building the secret door.

Image info: Taken from a photoshoot I did this weekend in the upper tower.

A little Monday update on a few current things in the Hadder camp.

Let me start by saying that I heard something this weekend that really sunk into my bones and I’ll share it. “If you want to know what the road ahead looks like, ask someone who’s been there.” That statement has a bit of humility to it, and humbleness. We’re all on our own to some degree, but the roads we carve and the dreams we have are not exactly original. The very premise of a dream and idea is universal. Your hillside might look different and the road you carve might be unique and different, but there are many roads that have been cut before you.. some you’ll even cross into while your clearing your own. Anyway, just something I've been thinking about.

New Ramsay Material Update: I was a bit side tracked this week with the new Ramsay/Evermore song that came from that dream I had last week. I think it’s called “Hell fall”, at least that’s what the words are saying at the moment. I was hoping for something a little less dramatic on the word side, but that's what came out. It took all my love and attention this weekend. It was a lot of fun to dive into it. I've posted some updated lyrics below, Revision II of the lyrics. The original lyrics are more poem based and generally slowly change as the poem and words need to dress the bones of the music. There's a Rev 1 mix listening party in process. (I put a little clip in the video below).

The new “City of Fire” track sat idle while I rehearsed the solo I had written for it, I suppose I could track a sloppy version of it, but I had some pleasant hours sitting by the fire training my fingers to play the solo I had imagined and written. This song is really close to being released, just needs some details and listening time. I suppose the new Ramsay track did interfere with me completing it this weekend, which was the original plan, but it was a great and willing distraction fueled by creativity in it's finest form. Something I generally gravitate to above all other things.

Stargazer: Music Video - Waiting on audio mix from Mr. Black so that I can finalize video.

As I stated last week, I'm boarding up the tower soon as I get ready for a little pilgrimage in the Klevermore mountains. Hope to complete all three before I find myself in the woods without a net. Wish me luck. Enjoy the video clip of "Hell fall" - Rev 1.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_957828be45084130a5851f6b284e773e/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A little sketch of “Hell Fall” Rev 1 - verse 1… Something I liked although I did other variations I’m loudly listening too. The track is talking loudly now.

"Hell Fall"

ramsay/evermore

Oh the powers that be

might have carved every key

But didn’t know that I built my own door..

And though the tower is cracked

From the weight of her stack

There’s a way out I know under the floor

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

There’s truth inside a lie that tells it all

Oh (past) well the best we have is nothing more

Than Hell fall

oh were caught in a trap

bested by the cat

Who’s over the hole you can’t see (her)

She’s waiting to pounce

And the only way out

Is to run for your life when you leave...

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

The bridges burning

There's truth inside a lie that tells it all

Oh well the best we have is nothing more

Than Hell fall

On our way to midnight

On our way to hell

Oh the things we know… But never tell.

SOLO

-evermore

#hellfall #diamondshadder #johnevermore #heavymetal #lyrics #newsongidea #visions #sacredplaces #mybeach #spring #pilgrim #revisions #dreams #sketches #stargazer #cityoffire #burningbridges

Pilgrimage: The wind the prison and the Leaf.

Field Notes from Diamonds Hadder: On the topic of Evermore Travels, John Hadder and the Cypress Swamps.

"It’s Friday and I’m chasing the clock a little. The autumn breeze has fallen on the hillsides of BOK rather nicely and I couldn’t be more excited about it. I’m going on a little pilgrimage and so I’ve been boarding up the castle the last few days just to keep the large predators out… it’s so beautiful the breeze and the leaves that have fallen in the upper towers this week… I tend to leave the leaves on the floor, a habit that Zabble finds quite annoying. This time of year is an important time for me, I get to leave the confines of the tower and my training schedules and feel a little sense of adventure. It’s also good to have some quality time with Ezra out in the wild… it’s good for her too and I can tell she gets very excited when those first few leaves fall… to say nothing of the fact that a little break from Zabble and his ramblings is nice once and a while. I will miss Zabble and he’ll be quick to say that he enjoys my time away, but I think he’s grown quite fond of my time here. He always has his magic books to keep him company. I have a schedule although I tend to just hit the road and see where the wind blows me… I’ve explored a lot of places of evermore but there are some distant places I’ve had my eyes on.. particularly the red canyons of klevermore and the great swap wall region of cypress notch. I hear the castles are rather magic there floating above the swamps built into the 10,000 year old cypress trees that are so strong they actually hold stone. I also hear that the dungeons there are not exactly a place you want to spend your final days if you know what I mean… if you could imagine a cell below the swamps nestled in dense poisonous living cypress roots like a twisted smelly intelligent cage… well… that’s what I hear anyway. They say John Hadder was imprisoned there for 3 years and that he escaped by planting a virus in the tree roots which slowly started killed the tree and which ultimately allowed him to escape to save itself. It took three years, but I suppose he had time. Although it’s often said that he was a kind man cursed by the idea of progress, trust and hope and often betrayed by notions of the heart… he was also quite calculated and persistent. In my readings on the man it seems to be a common theme that people would generally walk through fire for him, without him asking, which is quite the quality to possess. He was a deliberate man who often outwitted his enemies with simple patience over time, not to say he couldn’t hold his own with a sword. But “A smart man waters the seed and worships the sun, while a fool cusses the earth for having dirt.” As Zabble would say… I think I’m starting to understand all these weird Zabble sayings. I find myself talking like him and it makes me smile. Things will slow a little in the gardens while I’m away, but I often bring new things back with me that become part of the grounds and a part of me as well. Anywho, Ezra is getting antsy and I have so much to do still… I wonder what the hills will say to me this year. Ok already… I’m coming."

#cypressswamps #diamondshadder #evermore #hadderuniverse #zabble #fieldnotes #erza #pilgrimage #magicbooks #johnhadder #cypresshill