⚠️ TRIGGER WARNING – SET LIST NINE (9) Set List Nine explores the tension between personal agency, societal expectation, and existential inquiry. Themes include labor and exploitation, social inequity, mental fatigue, emotional vulnerability, philosophical questioning, and the struggle to reconcile idealism with reality. While the set is primarily introspective and poetic, it contains sustained reflections on disillusionment, systemic oppression, and inner conflict that may be emotionally affecting for some listeners. Core topics include: • Social and economic pressure – Songs like We Are the Ones examine overwork, underpayment, and the invisible labor sustaining society, highlighting frustration, resentment, and the sense of being trapped in cyclical obligations. • Identity and personal empowerment – Tracks such as Slip Stream, Sides, and Applied Faith encourage self-exploration, creativity, and agency, but also confront uncertainty, self-doubt, and the fear of failure. • Existential and spiritual questioning – Lyrics in Invisible Prison, First Glance, and Fate Is a Word wrestle with fate, free will, and the limits of perception, sometimes suggesting entrapment, isolation, or moral ambiguity. • Emotional struggle – Friend, Better Than It Seems, and Believe Me touch on heartbreak, disappointment, inner turmoil, and the challenges of maintaining hope, empathy, and self-trust. • Violence, war, and societal critique – Complicated Subject addresses historical and ongoing conflict, human destructiveness, and ethical ambiguity, offering commentary on systemic issues without graphic depiction but with intellectual and emotional weight. This set is contemplative, not sensational, yet it may trigger introspection, existential anxiety, or emotional overwhelm. Listeners sensitive to discussions of: • Socioeconomic inequality and labor exploitation • Disillusionment with institutions or authority • Psychological or philosophical stress • Emotional vulnerability, heartbreak, or inner conflict …are advised to approach with care. The content is intended to provoke thought and reflection rather than shock, but its cumulative weight may resonate intensely with those navigating similar struggles. Listener discretion advised. THE THRALLS OF THE FLAME SET LIST NINE (9) 1 We Are the Ones 2 Friend 3 Speak 4 Applied Faith 5 Slip Stream 6 Sides 7 Invisible Prison 8 Better Than It Seems 9 First Glance 10 Complicated Subject 11 Fate Is a Word 12 Believe Me (first three stanzas) (1) WE ARE THE ONES We are the hunched over old man who makes your shoes shine We are the policemen and women who help reduce crime We are the ones who cook and serve your meals at lunch time We are the bartenders you find right before closing time If you're overworked and underpaid Just nod your head, say you're doing fine Pick up your shovel, grab your spade Just nod your head, say you're doing fine Get back to work, carry on your trade Just nod your head, say you're doing fine Quit complaining about making minimum wage Just nod your head, say you're doing fine If you're overworked and underpaid Don't complain just get in line We are the tracks on which society is laid Don't complain just get in line From our broken backs millionaires are made Don't complain just get in line It starts when you're a little kid selling lemonade Don't complain just get in line Let us unite from here, there, from everywhere For now is our time to shine Scream out if your life's defined by more than just your career For now is our time to shine If you're in your car join our motorcade For now is our time to shine Sing the refrain and join our parade For now is our time to shine You might drink the wine but we're the ones who pulled the grapes from the vine You may own the oil but we're the ones that built the pipeline They might worship you but we're the ones who erected the shrine You may sing the song… Sing us a song… sing us a song… But we're the ones who wrote the rhyme We are the ones who wrote the rhyme

(2) FRIEND I spread my words so let them be heard All across the land... All across these lands... My advice is right and nice I'll have you understand When it comes to giving Give as much as you can... When it comes to women sure my heart's been broken Each time I try to fix it And carry on the best I can... Suddenly I feel empowered Get inspired to spend the next hour Sitting here and making song Hoping you will come and sing along A friend told me a story over coffee one morning From one of the books she was reading And, oh, how the pages were turning Oh my friend is very lovely If only you had a chance to meet her You would understand it How I feel when I see her She was blessed with one of those faces Possessed by only those truly lovely people That when softly caressed it somehow erases Time itself and everything - all that's evil Someone once asked me What the secret to my life is I answered without thinking "Learning love is priceless" Share what you have with everyone: And send flowers to yourself Just a little "thank you" for being you Now go and give them to someone else... I spread my words so let them be heard All across the land... All across these lands... My advice is right and nice I'll have you understand When it comes to giving Give as much as you can... (3) SPEAK Rinse, lather and repeat When you got blood on your hands This is no time to retreat… That’s when you begin to dig in Stay busy to keep from losing sleep The war is yours to win Facts… Get lost in the mist I don’t believe this In betrayal by a kiss Cracks… A chink in the armor Is great cause for alarm For many things can harm Both your soul and your will And your desire to kill For the sake of a name When ideas aren’t the same It’s the lion and the lamb For things we don’t understand What’s missing is common ground Found beneath the line in the sand One must win at any and all costs Has become the prevailing thought The divide between the worker and the boss Keeps growing wider and is now hard to cross This union is bound to break And with so much at stake People everywhere are speaking out Before it is too late So I ask what do you say? Speak. (4) APPLIED FAITH Close your eyes Quiet your mind And describe to me What you hope to find Don’t give it a name Let it be free For fear it may change Or worse never be Calm your breath Yes inhale deep Then pinch yourself Make sure you’re not asleep Is life a dream… Then one day we wake? To a world brand new That’s ours to shape Or is this it… And at the end of the ride There’s no more nothing Just hello, goodbye What if it’s a question of choice And it’s up to you to decide As what you believe in most That fate will then be applied Don’t dare waste thoughts On hollow or empty things For fear of finding out What the consequences bring Behold the power Of free mind and will Everything can be unmade And anything can be built Conceive, believe, achieve Imagination is all you need Yes, you can manifest your destiny In this world, the next or whatever world will be

(5) SLIP STREAM Enter this virtual world Take an unguided tour We'll find a cavern in your mind That has yet to be explored We'll cause a ripple in the water Of intuition, space and time Won't fear a tear in the fabric Only scared of a flaw in the design We can take a trip Slip down stream Feel free to follow me Or I could follow you Just take one of these You know what to do Become anyone you want Let that become the truth Free yourself from all distraction For time ain't on anybody's side I can see by your reaction The sense of panic in your eyes There's only shame in me asking If you need your place to hide Just take one of these And you know what to do Become anyone you want Let that become the truth I see a ripple in the water Or it could be space and time A small tear in the fabric I see a flaw in the design Just take one of these And you know what to do... Let everything you see Become shiny and new (6) SIDES There's no well-marked and measured Previously charted course for you in this world Just doors waiting to be opened And new frontiers to be explored Are there unknown galaxies to be found In what we call this universe I've been searching for another new place One that lies between the bounds of time and material and sound and space Where I can live inside of my own creative invention Fueled by just the energy inside all of my good intentions Becoming unencumbered by this perpetual motion Of having to ride through the highs and lows Like a barrel carried along in the drift of the tide Up and then down and around again on this ride A human roller coaster of pre-text and manipulation I wanna go where there's no black and no white No wrong or right No sleep no war no more no peace And no reason to fight No big problems or great solutions Only a future fate which awaits That your thoughts and actions will realize and dictate An alternative reality Avoiding impartialities and ambiguities That in time you find Within your own peace of mind Then you'll get by on just your own ingenuity and intuity and your innards and their fluidity Where a thinking man's thoughts Find their way out of the box And any other device That tries to contain them Where when one's logic is Sound and strong Nobody ever has to ask Which side are you on Since there's no sides to choose No winners to lose No losers to win Or angels to sin Nor devils to pray For eternal life in the oncoming day Or even in the seconds That later lie ahead... No present No past No living No dead (7) INVISIBLE PRISON The dazzling darkness caresses the silence The perfect calm at the edge of the violence Meant to do us harm or gently guide us? Outward and upward or deep down inside us? There’s many with ears that can’t hear through the fear Those not standing in the light Remain beyond my line of sight In an invisible prison When your spirit is trapped in form It can’t soar Listen… In the kingdom of the blind The one eyed man is king But if you can change your mind Then you can change everything I believe that space and time are one And I’ll finish exactly where I begun What always is always was and always will be Behold I use my free will to create fate And mold, make and shape my destiny Yeah energy, frequency and waves Can move mountains like Jesus saves Can part the sea or remove gravity Can erase mistakes even rewrite history The secret is that WE are the key: The problem, the solution, the question and the answer to the mystery Hmmm…..What if the magician was the trick? Then the illusion wouldn’t necessarily be what we expect... (8) BETTER THAN IT SEEMS I am trying to unlearn What all the teachers have taught me I am trying to unlock An original thought but I have no key I am trying to believe That it's better than it seems (Or at least what I can see) I am trying to achieve The American Dream Of leaving a legacy behind me Look out the man's got the pen again Pulls it out every now and then Smokes some pot as your thoughts Become your friends Keep on looking for answers Until the questions end So what pulls you through? Is it something bigger than you? Or is it lesser than you? It could be that, too For so many this is true Oh, so what am I to do? Lock myself in a vault And point my finger at you Screaming everything is your fault Sure, you're soul searching Yet you haven't found a clue Finally my inner turmoil is at peace I slayed the dragon I conquered the beast Fought so many things That I could and couldn't see That which I once believed Would one day get the best of me Has now been left behind I always knew it was just a matter of time Now that I'm finally where I want to be I still can't really say that I'm doing fine With all this free time plaguing my mind I get to dig a little deeper inside Still afraid of what I'll find

(9) FIRST GLANCE The ocean acts as the blood of the earth She’s screaming out in a flood of hurt Oh misguided one can’t you see what you’ve done? Taken and forsaken see the red rivers run With our mother provider in failing health We could stop dividing and help ourselves He who seeks paradise just to leave it in ruins… Finds indeed all good things do end too soon Visions of your future are found in the memories of your past You can trace each face and place as you look back A symphony of senses as you travel the threads of time It’s like dreaming but you’re not sleeping still you feel so alive You can feel the current of energy running through us all The frequency determines whether we degenerate or evolve As free will plays as big a part as chance So much more is happening here than appears at first glance (10) COMPLICATED SUBJECT It's such a complicated subject... this matter of war Traces back to the beginning of time... if not before Intertwined with our destiny Throughout all our history As the fate of humanity Rests within this legacy The true nature of man... is not one of understanding to say the least The way it now stands... This violence and bloodshed shall never cease There are four words That'll never be Our one sole belief We come in peace There are four words That make me nervous When I hear someone speak We come in peace For it seems to me We'll all eventually Suffer some kind of defeat All genders and races All colors of this crayon nation All beliefs and creeds Yet when we fight today The battle cry is not Semper Fi It's bleed green for corporate greed Please take my eyes Or take away these things That I don't want to see Still we try to perceive all that's unperceivable Still we strive to conceive in what's inconceivable Still we struggle to believe in the unbelievable Still we attempt to achieve What is unachievable It's such a complicated subject... this matter of war Traces back to the beginning of time... if not before Intertwined with our destiny Throughout all our history As the fate of humanity Rests within this legacy (11) FATE IS A WORD Passion's found in many shapes and forms Within a tight black dress, within a uniform In the eyes of a mother In the sighs of a lover At three in the morning Oh yeah... Virtue can't be found in all eyes of men Nor in their statues or great monuments Only through tough times and trial Will we find ourselves without denial Or false compliments Oh yeah... Naked truth often hides where you least expect Never in the lavish palace but in the cellar of neglect Those of us living in glass houses should be careful of bricks For some who are 'the chosen ones' Aren't the ones we'd pick Oh no... Fate is a word made up by the scared As the reason why they failed Or the reason they never dared To summon the courage to follow the voice They didn't always want to hear Oh yeah... I am a man who loves dishing it out Yet I always have problems when it comes to myself When it comes to stepping up I'm the first one to speak When it comes to the children I try my best to teach They say practice makes perfect so it's time to practice what I preach (12) BELIEVE ME I could tell you all about my life… But you probably wouldn’t believe me You find me always doing right… And you think it comes easy You, who finds something new… And becomes afraid With that view… There’s not a lot I can say You’ll find out the hard way That’s the price that some pay When you play it too safe Sometimes you don’t get to play