2 Lost Souls are back with another single in the 52 Singles Project. They are joined by guest bassist Paul O’Sullivan for charity release Misogynist Rex.
Paul Rosenfeld explains the story behind the single…..
“When I heard the vocals for the first time for this track I got a jolt, I had worked not far from where Ian lived at one time. One of the guys I worked with lived locally and used to work as an illegal cab driver at nights, reading between the lines as he often talked about his exploits made me very uncomfortable, it may have been male bravado on his side but I suspected much worse went on.
I asked Ian if this was about this man as they wouldn’t have lived too far from each other and the words just seemed to recreate him for me. I knew this person had left an impression, I’m terrible at remembering names or even recognising faces however recalling this man’s name was instantaneous as he had sickened me in such a way that I had subconsciously made a clear mental note of him.
Ian said it wasn’t about this guy, who he didn’t know. Why would he? The figures for male on female abuse are horrific, even since completing this track there have been several appalling high-profile cases in the media, countless others that have made no media ripples and its likely many many more have gone unreported.
We know from second hand experience and talking to friends how endemic abuse is and has always been.
Pretty much all the women and girls I knew when growing up were flashed at, many probably have and had experienced much worse. They often made light of it and so at the time I didn’t think much of it but that was clearly just because of my naivety at that age. I have now come to realise this was a sort of coping mechanism.
Ian and I feel that one way for this to change is for men to stand up and call out abusive behaviour to their peers to make it clear that it’s unacceptable in order to stop what seems to be an endemic culture of abuse.
I tried to make the music unsettling to match Ian’s words as best I can, I also sent the track to the couple of friends for their input and ideas and to make sure they didn’t feel it sounded exploitative in any way.”
All proceeds from the sale of this track will go to Childline
This is number 26 in the 52 Singles Project marking the half way point in the year long project.