CoolBlueExit 'Winners EP' - Where Love and Peace Surround Me

By Suzi B

When you have a feeling that you are alone and your life is nothing more than hard, crazy combination of obstacles and mountains to climb over, then you are trying to find the brightest thing in your miserable, hard existence. And in this little bit of expectation, you will find in a new CD by CoolBlueExit called "Winners EP." The stunning vocals of James V. Schappert will often remind you of David Bowie in his 80's songs, combined with a great composition of electro-pop music that give you a sense of feeling the outside world.

On his last CD "Under Blue Sky," with sounds of passion and sensitivity in both his vocals and music, James showed us his unbelievably enormous romantic side. With his latest CD "Winners EP," he goes a step further into the mind of man who reaches the bottom of his life and without any hope for the future, but at the end of the journey through the tunnel of darkness lies a light of hope. Hope that is telling us that there is love and happiness for us somewhere down the road.

Each of the seven songs on CoolBlueExit's Winners EP CD has its own story, its own depth. But together, they build a story. Sequences on a path that life usually takes when we start looking for love. And when we do, sometimes we lose it or find ourselves in a strange tornado of emotions and feelings, many times hard to absorb. We turn around in panic feeling depressed not being able to find the answers. But if we are strong and able to find a way out from our tunnel of darkness, we become winners.

The songs in fact were written and composed based on James and other peoples life stories. "I think where I come up with the 'strong feelings and emotions' comes from the fact that my wheels are always turning. I seem to overthink at times about things that have happened in life, mine or someone else's. I have personally had some pretty bad traumas in my life and I think when you get through the bad times it can help build up your understanding of yourself and others around you."

He starts with a lovely romantic song of true love 'Collide' and he continues with 'Heavens Not In It,' the point when after the crush and crazy first love, we realize that we made a mistake. We said 'I Love You' too soon.

'In The End' is a just one of the songs where we try to pick up the pieces of our lives after losing a special person and find meaning in the end.

"The main message I think is hope. Even in some of my darker songs, there is a tie in to a 'hang in there attitude.' I've seen it in my own life when you find someone that has gone through the same kind of situation, it seems to help a lot. As far as my straight out love songs, I think I'm just a hopeless romantic."

Slowly, we came to the bottom of our emotions, to the darkest part of our tunnel. James named this song 'The Darkest Sky.'

"The song The Darkest Sky means a lot to me and I think it was the hardest for me to write. The meaning for me was to show the Hell I went through when I had depression - it got me thinking about how other people have gone through it, but did not survive it. They were not fortunate enough to get the help that they needed. I would hate to see anybody endure the hell of depression or addiction if they can be helped. That's the tie in for the song 'Winners'."

We've now reached the path where we never thought we would ever be. We climbed the mountain and now, we can look back and realize what we are made of. We reached the blue sky and become stronger. We reach our peace and believe in love once again. That is the main message of 'Surround Me' where James is singing "Where Love and Peace Surround Me..."

The last song 'You Are Beautiful' brings us back to romance. We are in love with a person that accepts us for who we are and is there for better or worse. They see our beauty as we see theirs.

In spite of, or maybe because of the many crazy, deep and dark emotions in James's lyrics, he never gives up on the rhythm of music. The beat and flow keep pushing you forward, giving you deep down the hope that you can make it. There is not a note that does not have a meaning, not a note shattered. "Since I work alone I try and look at each part as a separate musician. I walk away a lot and try to 're-focus' so as not to come across as sounding same old, same old CoolBlueExit."

Provided by the MusicDish Network. Copyright © Tag It 2004 - Republished with Permission