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Meal Ticket To Purgatory

by The Van Allen Belt

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  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of 20-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.

    Includes album artwork by Jessica Van Steenburgh.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 7 The Van Allen Belt releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Let It Goddam Be, Heaven On A Branch, Songs, Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug, Vancouver And All The Reasons Why, Solar Crosses Stolen From The Cemetery, and Meal Ticket To Purgatory. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $36 USD or more (25% OFF)

     

  • Limited Edition Blackbird Flashdrive

    USB enabled Flashdive with 4 GB storage capacity includes:

    Meal Ticket To Purgatory (LP)
    Superpowerfragilis: Or How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love The Drug (LP)
    Vancouver And All The Reasons Why (EP)
    Songs (EP)
    Heaven On A Branch (LP)
    Let It Goddam Be (LP)

    Audio files come in high quality .aiff compression with all album artwork, bonus images, lyrics,
    also includes flac and mp3 format files.

    Shipping is listed at the flat Priority Rate with insurance. If you would like to use a different shipping option, please contact us first and we can calculate based on your location.
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  • Compact Disc
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    artwork by Jess Van Steenburgh

    Includes unlimited streaming of Meal Ticket To Purgatory via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
-LYRICS- Womb and breast Heard her all night weeping I confessed Off my chest while sleeping Not a fool Fool of sin and more, too In the pool Pushed him down He drowned, you know Wash away carcass germs Dr. Layman’s Terms Reconcile Try to smile in photos Taken while Hiding vile confessions Oddest bet Preacher’s pet put poison In the snack Watch how Jack is gonna die Wash away carcass germs Dr. Layman’s Terms
2.
-LYRICS- Had a lovely evening go to bed I say Must be up for work by 6 am tomorrow I mean today It is tomorrow by the way Darling, go to sleep Please, no what the bleep are you doing Oh stop it not there This isn’t a good idea Why don’t you care My little girl in the hill of the squirrel is a-keepin’ me up in my bed She’s makin’ me say all this stupid shit I never said Tired as hell in the morning at work now my mind can do nothing but stay When push comes to shove ah I guess I’m in you know what what was I trying to say? How bout taking some perkies for your ill condition You wanted to play doctor, her’s your doctor’s permission Count some petty sheep Sleep is getting deep you’re getting sleepy, getting sleepy No you’re not My little muse in the hoard of the jews is a-keepin’ me up until dawn I’d share you a thought but the one that I’ve got is a-hum oh no, where has it gone Tired as hell in the morning at work every day When push comes to shove aw I Guess I’m in you know what, what was I trying to say? You won’t be satisfied until my brain is fried There’s no sense in talking, I’ve tried and tried My little girl in the hill of the squirrel is a-breakin’ my will like a twig So is this a test of how minimal rest can make rational folkies go wig? Tired as hell in the morning at work every day When push comes to shove aw I guess I’m in you know what, what was I trying to say?
3.
-LYRICS- Help yourself to some evidence Shameful address, I have this one hour Close my eyes watch the movie It’s alarming me as I expect All the guns all the violence Violins serenade sacred showers Funny draft blowing frames of glass Shift rooms with a view they reflect All the trivia disappears Catch the drift off from burger town Man with fire and beer looms unwelcome Softball leagues for the families of dysfunction that I know so well The winds came out for a while and they teased me and blew my thoughts away Snowball breaks up a pyramid It’s a psychedelic Terry Malick Sunday The world will end like great sex The world will end in your car It’s the fantastic vortex of energy that we are So anyway All the trivia disappears
4.
So It Goes 03:11
-LYRICS- Give a lot of goodiness Give sincerity Ain’t got nothing else Save the itty biggest fall for the team Make believe I’m like the president Or someone dumb like that Or someone else You know it’s fuckin’ free It’s fuckin’ free to dream Pay check to pay check I surface for air Eighty-six dignity There’s none to prepare A true to life reflection on a greasy spoon I could’ve been a better wife to Gene Another night of this could be suicide Won’t someone please treat me decently? The only thing I’m good for is tending to you You’re good at a lot of things that I’ll never do But someday I’ll be hopping on to that plane And when I do I’m sure I won’t I can’t even think of a better place And so it goes So it goes So it goes I’ll just drink till I die I doubt you’d even cry But someday I’ll be hopping on to that plane And when I do I’m sure I won’t I can’t even think of a better place And so it goes So it goes So it goes They say the limit’s the sky I’ll give nothing a try
5.
Way Up 03:19
-LYRICS- Sunlight hits me Take a drag And kiss this Monday on the lips Spend it in a plastic bag Aw, after all I’ve earned my tips A party with my memories I’ll host it like a Scottish queen Snorting possibilities Just a short ends to a mean I’ll hide from you and hope you die My handkerchief is fucking dry Kept safe for when I depart For losing me will break my heart When you show what will you find Laughter at your very site Of all the fears that ail my mind I think I fear your love tonight Cause your love is harder than knuckles You won’t reach me I’m way up No you won’t reach me I’m way up So you’re a temp and I’m a fling This will be our seventh fall An accident like everything Everything that I recall And recollection flees from me I think I was how I will be Lost in sighs of after all I have no cash to feed my doll Or is it an actual living baby? You won’t reach me I’m way up No you won’t reach me I’m way up I just hope you’re in time for dinner
6.
-LYRICS- New song, same tune I’m light years away from wealth And misery loves companies that don’t insure your health Got me a job with my Chevrolet Now I drive all night And sleep all day Shitty like the road design of S’liberty But I’m broke as the Pittsburgh city treasury Lord knows my film career ain’t on the rise Delivering these doughy cheesy saucy pies Got no loot but my boss tells me I have the wrong kind of pants I’ll just dumpster dive like Andalusia Cause whoring to the public is a fucking blast Like checking a package in Fallujah Summertime got me in the worst of moods Sick of the children and the horny dudes Hotter than an orgy in Ecuador Sweat flows to the floor and it pour and it pours I’m-a I’m-a I’m Alaska dreamin’ My-a my-a windows are steamin’ May not have the patience for this kind of thing after all CMU mother fucker, would you mother fucking answer my call?! Back in the shop and it’s hotter still It’s gone up ten degrees from an hour ago This job was just a practical joke and I told ‘em so just to let ‘em know Folks don’t even give a shit about the time Everyone smokes trees like every other place I get to see the funniest things you see The joke could be on me but that isn’t the case I’m-a I’m-a I’m Alaska dreamin’ My-a my-a windows are steamin’ The rivers have the breath of a bitchy dragon And I'm on my knees and begging to the god of frost Made a wrong turn at the boulevard My shit's an hour late and I'm so fucking lost Midnight, Homewood, you know I don't believe in prayer But just beware, I pack a .45 A gun in your face makes your heartbeat race But it puts you in check and makes you glad you're alive! Placed my two weeks in the box
7.
Sorry 02:16
That lovely smile of yours I don’t remember it I don’t remember it Sorry Your eyes Your scented Hair I don’t remember them I don’t remember them Sorry I forgot you fast You’re just a flash in the past That brilliant poem you wrote for me I don’t remember it I don’t remember it Sorry Those times we talked all night I don’t remember them I don’t remember them Sorry I forgot you fast You’re just a flash in the past
8.
-LYRICS- And still the worst is yet to come Heavy suspicion that we’re dumb Maybe they’re right Who on earth will fight? Years and years have gone awry Smoke keeps finding ways to fill the sky And everything breaks in its right place The beast has put on its saddest face Cheered by congress As if they think of us Cowards who hide their faces They live in different places Far from the streets where kids get murdered on a daily basis No claim of having a voice We’ve never had a real choice Those cost much more then we’ve got You just won’t believe how long the line will be The revolution, sure as hell Will be merchandised The revolution, sure as hell Will be merchandised Monitor wants to see your pass You are cutting the middle class The day will come You’ll rule a big slum On one fact the poor can still depend Numbers always win it in the end Sit in the classroom where they’ll choose you your heroes You must get with the programming United States of Ones and Zeros Cow's got bling so to it you bow Dogs go arf and kitties go meow Flags don’t say anything at all Feelies will satisfy our comfort without an answer Asia is working on a cure for the Roman Cancer You can eat the sand they feed you Just remember that they need you Guns point at Doubting Thomas Have you bought your final promise? You won’t believe how long the line will be The revolution, sure as hell Will be merchandised Just like the last one, sweetie Merchandised
9.
-LYRICS- Make some time for my company It’s like a Western in here And I make my point pretty clear I’ve been saving this one for weeks Suck a hoity toity well to do And I’ll make the masses weep I wear my smile like an evening gown and it’s always off when I sleep Everybody’s eyes all over me How to get along so famously I can show you all the hottest spots let’s give this town a show Gotta watch out for the papparats Those pricks really love me you know Magazines want to know where I shop Some secrets can’t be told I tell them that I want this war to stop And they’re listening and listening and listening and listening Still married but I lost the kids Their funerals were tops I got gifts and love and photo opps I confess I confess I confess I confess
10.
Charity Sex 04:10
-LYRICS- There was once a time when we used to jibber jabber on for hours and hours Fornication every night then we’d do lunch and you’d bring flowers We had lots of master plans Master plans we planned in vain When you decided you were better off Stumbling down old memory lane Go call your ex Charity Sex Go have a blast Live with your past You two marched on Washington I can’t remember what that was for But if she has such a bleeding heart She should donate you for I am poor But I was rich for a little time Of seven months and sixteen days Then that dumb bitch changed her mind And rendered me a silly phase She already ditched you for another man but I’d stay with you till my final breath For I’d sooner move to Afghanistan where girls like me get stoned to death She’d prefer to stay at home and make pretty faces in the mirror But I’d do things with you that you didn’t even know were legal here Being stepped on never felt so intimate Things were up but now I guess I must forget
11.
12.
-LYRICS- Mommy and Dad what has happened to you? Show me the pictures of you getting fire hosed again Changing the word and bringing in the new I thought it was sweet the way you took to the street back then Now your heads are filled with apathy I guess that’s how it’s always gonna be Cause you got made and you got paid The devil’s deal, you got real To me it seems really beat That you sold your dreams on Wall Street You talked of the mockery of our democracy Someday you’d be older and then you would control it We all heard the news about John , Martin, and Bobby They got to you but they didn’t need a bullet Now you don’t seem to have the slightest clue You really think the TV news is true So you took a nap The charade is up They fed you crap and you ate it up To me it seems really beat that you sold your dreams on Wall Street
13.
-LYRICS- Humanity, A memory About my death My final breath Realized the surprise Looked at you I looked into your eyes You were my friend Brought my end You were my friend Brought my end I can’t be scared I came prepared I can’t be scared I came prepared Have the same dream did you? Pages later hopeless Cater Airborne danger Kindest stranger or not? Could it be true? Could it be you? I always knew You wanted to It’s just a life It’s just a life It’s just a life It’s just a life I have one last thing to ask I have one last thing to ask I have one last thing to ask Have the same dream did you?
14.
-LYRICS- I begged the lips to kiss my eyes To gobble up and shit the prize I faced the past tense Relation to the ship inside The fool who takes the easy ride And breaks the defense A girly girl will never lift a finger In the place of happenstance Or nothing The century is crawling now Its first words were holy cow And I’m still puffing Love happens Life crappens I smoke a bowl Forgetting Not letting me find the hole Best mind control I even over advertized myself Like I mean horny wise I could catch you In my web of cruel deceit I play a trick On every treat And I would bet you Thought about it every night And tossed and turned Until your flight Because I let you Have the way that you would have That you would be to be so glad That I had met you I’ll find beauty on TV After you’re gone Inducing mind vision Good for my time Bad for my mind I have an only child in me It brought my sister jealousy An early patter And friendships won’t go very far When my pupils always are The size of Saturn UI wish my dumb feelings A super sentimental goodbye Escaping Self-shaping Really fucking hard to cry The tear ducts are dry So long I don’t need you anymore Farewell I will show you to the door Oops, have you seen my baggage anywhere?
15.
-LYRICS- Don’t think of much Think of touching the skin of God Caressing undressing Already off I guess Last night was second best Goes without me to say Best way to start the day Don’t know what our future will bring It’s not worth thought Each day brings new choices I like this one a lot Troubles are so forgot Goes without me to say Best way to start the day Greatest of sharing that one can assume Religious conversion in my bedroom And we can forget it all
16.
-LYRICS- Your heart stopped beating so it looks like you died Now it’s time to go to class and swallow your pride Cripples and peasants are now your teachers And most of the janitors used to be preachers You forgot the golden rule So now you’re in purgatory school Man oh man you gotta pass the test If you want the great eternal recess Be on your best behavior Get your ass forgiven by your savior If you’ve any decency you’ve nothing to fear Well I guess if you were decent then you wouldn’t be here Better be sure to pay close attention Cause you sure as Hell don’t want a suspension You slept through the parade So now you better make the grade All those extra stock shares won’t help All those phony little prayers They’re not gonna help You only get one report card So be sure to study hard You’ll suffer a terrible fate If you don’t graduate
17.
-LYRICS- I’ll talk to anyone I’ll dance with anyone I’m not afraid of anyone But you are not just anyone You are not anyone I joke around with everyone I don’t go out of my way to spend Saturday nights with everyone I get sick and tired of everyone But you are not everyone You are not everyone You don’t listen to no one You won’t date no one You don’t care about no one That’s why I hate being a no one How does it feel to be someone?
18.
19.
-LYRICS- Those loves and fishes Master card has bought a year And everyone thinks it’s so delicious I hear Gotta be stern with that eminent man in the mirror To shed a tax deductable tear Love wit a ten-foot pole Touched by a ten-foot pole And the church keeps finding more believers Scored some stock in the international med Another plague another continent dead They’ll stay inside their cage as long as they’re fed Tuck those skeletons into bed Love with a ten-foot pole Touched by a ten-foot pole Tuppence a bag Tuppence a bag And the lord keeps creating more diseases
20.
Vancouver 03:10
-LYRICS- Next time won’t be in this world I think you probably told me something That I can’t remember For I took drugs to forget about you It didn’t work so well you see I tried to use experience Couldn’t get it right with you for once Or return the favor of happiness So call me friend Or let it end I don’t know how to Take the blame for anything But I’m begging for a fifty-second chance Let’s load up the car and bid farewell to agony Get out of this ghetto and move to Vancouver with me Wake up next to me Tomorrow morning we can talk about How much we miss your mother And the dark nights in the fruit loop I won’t make you play psychologist I won’t manipulate your heart It’s a perfect heart though it beats too fast Let’s save the best irony for last Let’s make love tonight and celebrate diversity Get out of this ghetto and move to Vancouver with me

about

"Clever, witty, morally outraged lyrics over a complex and stylish and psychadelic journey through pop history. Like the Mamas and the Papas joined Crass in the Wu Tang's yard. The richness of the material is let down by the audio quality - to capture that kind of sound just takes gear that they obviously don't have. I love it."
- Jono Podmore

"In general this is pure mental brilliance."
-Matthew, Song By Toad

"A reverberating soup, a low-fi version of Phil Spector's 'wall of sound.' Songs range from Motown girl-group pop to gauzy, synth-laden ballads, from playful to soulful, from nostalgic to sharp-tongued."
-Aaron Jentzen, Pittsburgh City Paper

credits

released June 18, 2007

Tamar Kamin- Vocals
Martine Mancini- Vocals
Benjamin K. Ferris- Keyboard, Guitar, Sampling
Scott Taylor- Drums

All songs written and produced by B.K. Ferris
Artwork by Jessica Van Steenburgh
Mastered by Mike Jantho at Steel City Mastering

(C)(P) 2007
Nonstop Everything Records

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The Van Allen Belt Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Van Allen Belt is impossible to categorize, luscious to listen to. This isn't your typical trippy, psychedelic music ― this is unique.

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