Zander Schloss shares the incredible new video for his song “I Have Loved The Story Of My Life.” It features uncanny marionettes of Schloss from the many different phases of his life, including his acting roles in numerous Alex Cox films, his time working with Joe Strummer, playing bass with the Circle Jerks and Weirdos, all leading up to present-day Zander Schloss. The track comes from Schloss’ forthcoming debut solo record Song About Songs, which will be out on March 4 via Blind Owl Records. Pre-save the album HERE.

Schloss explains: “I Have Loved the Story of My Life” was written from a perspective of radical gratitude and acceptance in the face of the many challenging experiences we all must face in life. It’s a tough subject and I had to be thoughtful and make it deeply personal to convey it. These things happen to us and there are no take backs. We carry them with us and they define us. It’s interesting to me what we do with them. Some stories diminished, some elaborated to the point of fiction and some of our pages are edited, torn out and tossed away because we can’t possibly look at them and survive. My darkness and tragedy, along with my dreams, ambitions and aspirations to be more than just the lines in my story were the meat and inspiration to share my own rendition of what it’s like to be a human being in this earthly realm. Not just tolerating it but actually thriving and living a life. 

“I am made tears I’ve yet to cry” denotes: Yes, there are more challenges to come but only if we are lucky.

We can harden from it all. Becoming destructive, hateful, ignorant and selfish. Putting up our defenses. I personally don’t think being tough is the answer. This is the reason I wanted to use puppets for the song in my video. I thought to myself I’m a pretty grizzled guy, if puppets can create a sense of wonder and tenderness in me, perhaps I could bring the most ornery viewer into a place where they could uncross their arms, un furrow their brow and go back to that childlike space before they got beat up and told they were unworthy. The puppets are comforting dinner guests as I invite people to sit down at my table and give them some turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. It’s best not to make it an exotic and spicy affair if you wanna welcome your diners and have them keep their seats until after dessert. People are not that familiar with my solo work yet so I wanted to present some parts of me and my past in puppet form that they might be more familiar with. Rather than one present day puppet of me that may not be immediately recognizable, why not have four other puppets depicting me in these various iterations on stage and film that they may or may not know.”

Marking the beginning of a new chapter, Schloss says that Song About Songs, “is my polar opposite version of punk rock. Punk rock is volume and anger and speed. I wanted to do space and vulnerability and excruciating, almost subconscious emotions, things that I feel so deeply that I would never say them out loud.” 

As Veteran Los Angeles music journalist and critic Chris Morris writes in the album’s liner notes, “Played tenderly, with a striking intimacy, the subtle and affecting material on Song About Songs may well come as a surprise to listeners who know Zander Schloss only from three decades of bash-it-out work with the Circle Jerks and other punk units….Here, we get a long overdue look at a hitherto unheard side of his musical personality. It bears the thrill of discovery.”