Guts of The Ice: Light The Lamp Share The Miracle On Ice-inspired Single "Miracle" (World Premiere & Full-band Interview)
"The first Russian I shook hands with had a smile on his face," said Mark Johnson, who had scored two of The US' goals. "I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it. We beat The Russians,'" sports writer E.M. Swift shared within an iconic 1980 Sports Illustrated feature. Now, with the 2022 Winter Olympics underway, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Puck Rockers Light The Lamp are sharing their latest single, "Miracle," directly inspired by The Miracle On Ice. You're in luck because it's premiering right here on The Witzard today! Plus, we have any exclusive interview to share with Light The Lamp players Ed "Eddie Crossczyk" Arson, Andy "Andhe Scores" Cornman, Jake "Puck Norris" Scholl & Mark "Mark Wrecky" Thompson.
I. What were some of your primary sources of both musical and conceptual inspiration behind "Miracle?"
Ed Arson (Eddie Crossczyk:) The entire time we were writing this thing I just kept thinking of Pantera's "Cemetery Gates." Vinnie [Paul] could lay it down and give it this kind of groove, even without doing anything really difficult or flashy. I guess, I tried to take that approach as the drummer. Conceptually? Hey, this sh*t was originally Called "Disfigured Skating" after I was ignored for suggesting "The Marchand Miss." I wrote the lyrics for "2 Minutes," so I'm probably not a good person to ask about that kind of stuff.
Andy Cornman (Andhe Scores:) Musically, the parts just came to me one day with little effort. Shared it with the band and we made it into a song. We wrote the lyrics later, way later. It seemed a good fit.
Jake Scholl (Puck Norris:) Well, the material was already written prior to me joining the band, but, to my understanding, there was no set melody for the lyrics and the guys just kind of gave me the lyrics and said, "see what you can do with these." After playing through the songs a few times, it all started to really fall together. I really started to get a feel for the lyrics and a feel for the song in general.
Mark Thompson (Mark Wrecky:) "Miracle" started as [an] instrumental that we struggled to write lyrics for for quite a while. We played it live a few times as an instrumental that as Ed said, we called "Disfigured Skating." But instrumentals never seem to go over well in front of a live audience. We felt the song was strong enough that we had to find some inspiration for lyrics for it.
Our former guitar player, Slewfoot [Foose,] came up with the lyrical idea and brought them to our new vocalist, Jake... AKA PUCK NORRIS... shortly after he joined the band. Jake was able to massage the lyrics into what we've got now, which we think is an awfully strong melodic, but rocking, tune that takes a look back at one of the most thrilling victories in sports.
II. How does the story behind "Miracle" directly relate to the 1980 Winter Olympics hockey team and "The Miracle On Ice?"
Eddie Crossczyk: Well, for one thing, it'll be making its world-wide debut around the same time as the upcoming Winter Olympics! Also, I think the lyrics can answer your question much better than I can. I mean, hopefully. I don't honestly know what they all are. Hi, drummer. I don't know sh*t.
Andhe Scores: I think it was a great historical moment in time. We need that victory, both as a hockey team and more importantly, a country, USA!
Puck Norris: When I had [joined] the band, my knowledge of hockey history was very limited. So, I wasn't aware of what The Miracle On Ice even was until the song was brought to me and Andy had to explain to me what this song was even about.
Mark Wrecky: The Miracle On Ice was just a stunning upset victory for The United States Hockey Team in 1980, a team of amateurs beating Russian pros. Even if you didn't see it live, you've probably heard of or seen the movie and you've probably heard the now-world-famous Al Michael's broadcast, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?" So, "Miracle" kind of tells the story of the underdog Americans taking on The Red Machine.
Sports Illustrated called "Miracle On Ice" The Top Sports Moment of The 20th Century. So, how could a band that writes songs about hockey not have a song about that game? And for The United States to beat The Soviets like that and go on to win gold "on home ice," so to speak, in Lake Placid must have just been unbelievable at the time. I think, when you combine those lyrics with the music that Andhe [Scores] wrote, you end up with a really special song that builds up to a crescendo at the end with what I feel is Andhe's best guitar solo he's ever written.
III. Did I also hear lyrical allusions to The Ramones' "I Believe In Miracles" throughout "Miracle," as well?
Eddie Crossczyk: I never really thought of it before, honestly. Our singer isn't a huge Ramones guy, so I doubt he would've even known about that song, much less made a reference/tribute to it. Then, again, I don't know if he actually wrote the lyrics or the others did. No seriously, ask them who wrote it because I don't f***ing know.
Andhe Scores: Who are The Ramones?
Puck Norris: Like I said before, as I didn't write the lyrics to this song and I am not the world's biggest Ramones fan, that would have to be strictly coincidence.
Mark Wrecky: I'd call that purely coincidental, but I think bands that play the kind of music that we do are influenced, at least partly, by the legends that came before us, such as The Ramones.
IV. Who's in the current line-up of Light The Lamp and what is each members' role within the band?
Eddie Crossczyk: Ed - Drums, backing vox, showing up late. Always.
M.T. - Bass, backing vox, tasty licks.
Andy - Guitar, backing vox, spicy riffs.
Jake - Lead vox, wrestling fanatic, wild stallion.
Andhe Scores: Puck - Vocals
Cap. - Guitars/Vocals
Wrecky - Bass/Vocals
Eddie - Drums/Vocals
Puck Norris: We have Captain/Andhe Scores holding it down on all things guitar and guitar-related, our residential funnyman, Eddie Crossczyk, back there on the drums, the wild man, Mark Wrecky, on bass, and myself (Puck Norris) on vocals.
Mark Wrecky: We've had a little bit of change with the line-up recently, starting in the Spring of 2021 as the world began to come out of this Pandemic thing. Jake, who's stage name is Puck Norris, joined the band as the weather warmed up last year and made his live debut in August of 2021. Jake's brought an energy to the band that has really elevated our stage show and sort of re-invigorated what we were doing. We parted ways with our rhythm guitar player, Slewfoot, last summer, as well, and it's been absolutely full-steam ahead with the four of us since then.
Roles-wise, things have changed. No doubt about it. Our Captain, Andhe Scores & Slewfoot were the primary song-writers in the band, both lyrically and musically. We've all had to step up and take on more roles within the band and it's been for the better. Until recently, I had not done background vocals live. I like to just rage across the stage, like a mad man, but with only four of us up there now, we needed some more beef behind the background vocals. So, Ed & I began doing that. Jake is constantly sending us lyric ideas and insane riffs for new material. So, it's very much become more of a group effort with the new songs, many more of which are coming very soon.
V. What events are you guys most excited to watch at the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in Beijing, China?
Eddie Crossczyk: Hockey, obviously. With or without the pros. Definitely better WITH them, in my CORRECT opinion. I, also, like the bobsledding (YES, BECAUSE OF COOL RUNNINGS AND I DON'T GIVE A SH*T WHAT ANYONE SAYS) and the downhill skiing and ski jump... speed skating is f***ing cool, too. You have no idea what it feels like to be going as fast as those people and they're just so f***ing chill with their movements, like they're out for a stroll! Love it.
Andhe Scores: Curling and hockey.
Puck Norris: The Opening Ceremony.
Mark Wrecky: Hockey for sure. That's obvious, right? We're a band that plays songs about ice hockey. But, personally, I love The Olympics. Always have; summer or winter. I watch them all. I enjoy downhill skiing, snowboarding, all of it. The Jamaican Bobsled Team is back in The Olympics for the first time in like 24 years or something! That's awesome, so I look forward to watching that, too.
VI. What's planned next for Light The Lamp?
Eddie Crossczyk: So, we just played our last show for the next several months. Starting this week, we'll be setting up and beginning recording for our first full-length album, which will have several re-recordings of older songs, some new tunes people have heard, if they've seen us in the last year, and a few new ones I haven't heard yet. I'm sure they're great, though, so don't worry about it.
Andhe Scores: World domination, one stage at a time.
Puck Norris: So, for the next few months, we're going to be taking a break from live shows and going into the studio to record a full album of original material, which we are extremely excited for, as well as releasing a music video for one of the upcoming new releases.
Mark Wrecky: We've got big things planned, Matt! Like I mentioned earlier, we've been barreling ahead with live shows since August. We've hardly had a break. We hate to turn down live shows, so we've been out there playing every couple weeks all fall and winter. But we've got some new songs we need to get "on tape," so to speak, so we are going to shut things down for a little bit to record new songs. We've been playing some of them live recently and they are going over really well with people, so we're excited to get them out there.
That will start right here with this interview because the folks reading this are the first to hear our new release with "Miracle." The release is running parallel with The 2022 Winter Olympics. Women's Hockey starts February 3rd and the men "drop the puck" a week later, so we thought debuting "Miracle," a song about The 1980 Men's Hockey Team and The Miracle On Ice, during The Games was a perfect fit for that huge win back in 1980.
From here, we begin laying down drum tracks for new material this week. We'll be re-working a couple of the old songs that we feel are worth re-visiting, but, largely, we'll be skating ahead with new songs. We've blocked off all of February & March to get this done and we're back out live at The West York Inn in York, PA in early April. The live shows have been a lot of fun, so we're excited for the world to hear our new stuff with Puck [Norris] on lead vocals.
If you've seen us live recently, you know the energy he brings to the stage. People, also, got a little taste with our "12 Days of Hockey" release at Christmastime, which was Puck's world debut on recorded material. So, we're excited to get the new songs finished and out to the world. Make sure to keep an eye on our social media for studio updates along the way and show announcements, along with those new songs! We're excited to keep "racing down the ice" in 2022!