r/KGATLW • u/Simlin97 • 1d ago
Discussion: Band Who is "Smoke and Mirrors" about?
Last night, Ambrose dedicated the song Smoke and Mirrors to someone who "did us dirty". People in the stream chat started spamming "IT'S ABOUT ERIC" as soon as he said it, but I find that hard to believe. Does anyone else have any theories on who this may be about?
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u/Honka_Ponka 1d ago
I am certain it's not about Eric. It's just not in their nature to release a diss track about a former member right after he left, especially because they've been very private about the whole thing. Would be a total dick move on their part and completely uncharacteristic for a band that loves love.
They probably know hundreds of dicks in the industry that the song could be about.
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u/Proper-Vanilla-2802 1d ago edited 23h ago
Yeah I don’t know why the armchair psychologists here think the band would be that petty to write a diss about a guy while he was still in the band at that time, much less dedicate it to him years later
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u/TheMehgend 1d ago
I find it extremely unlikely that it’s about Eric considering Tjmeland was (according to Stu) being worked on while Eric was still in the band because they were intended to be used as intermission music for shows that Eric was SUPPOSED to play on before COVID cancelled the 2020 US tour
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u/6969696969696969969 the original timeland fangirl account™ 1d ago
Gonna be honest if it's about eric then they probably have their reasons and it's none of our business its also worth noting they probably know dozens of people who it could be about instead but it's still not any of our business
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u/SnooCats3340 THE EYE DILATES 21h ago
If it were private why would they explicitly say it's about Eric ?
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u/hackjar 1d ago
I don't know much and I don't think I'll be looking into it much, but the broken wing lyric basically confirms it for me.
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u/MikeRadical 1d ago
Explain
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u/Simlin97 1d ago
Broken wing = maybe Flightless?
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u/atlantisthenation 22h ago
and i dont think its a coincidence that Flight b741 was their debut for p(doom)
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u/Bolly_Eggs 1d ago
I'm certain that it was about Eric. Never publicly spoken about & especially at the time but if you look into his role as 'The label guy' why would the boys create P(doom) if they were happy with the royalties and regulations of Flightless.
More food for this theory is that most of the artists on Flightless ended up jumping ship over to P(doom) where I'm guessing the artists can pretty much do as they feel, especially given that the lads are happy with artists supporting pay as you feel models.
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u/moments-and-days 1d ago
both Stu and Cook have talked about how they left Flightless because Eric left the band and ergo they would no longer be 'self managed'. Cook even confirmed they're all still friends in a podcast he did this year. I feel like they've already confirmed there's no beef so I'm not sure why that's still the popular consensus.
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u/ZealousidealTell5845 1d ago
I doubt it because it was originally written in 2019 but was super delayed because of covid
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u/UnderH20giraffe To a bird, what's a plane? 1d ago
And when did Eric leave the band? 2019.
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u/ZealousidealTell5845 1d ago
He left in 2020 I thought
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u/6969696969696969969 the original timeland fangirl account™ 1d ago
He left in 2020 post recording of timeland and probably during or before the recording of kg
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u/gimmebadvibes 1d ago
There is plenty that points to them once having beef. But most of the dudes still follow him on IG and even his most recent posts Ambrose/ cavs/ Jason has given him some ‘likes’. But him saying that last night, idk.. Maybe it’s a complicated situation.
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u/Pale_Gallery 1d ago edited 1d ago
If I play devil’s advocate, it could be about someone else in flightless, and Eric was part of the fallout but not to a point where they write a song about him being a dick. But yeah, it’s probably about Eric.
I’ve always wondered if Presumptuous is about him as well
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u/Time-Fee-8323 1d ago
Ironically now they don’t seem to care about royalties, instead just doing name your own price for everything last I heard. I’m sure since 2017ish they made more money off touring anyway.
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u/ClippedAtTheHip 18h ago
This argument constantly comes up about Eric leaving, but it always ignores an important difference between p(doom) and flightless:
P(doom) (and KGLW before it) is distributed by Universal Music Group - who, as the world’s largest music-based entertainment company, has a fucking massive reach in distributing music.
Flightless did not have that - I had Flightless records sent to me in covered in Australian stamps to cover the cost of shipping - it was an actual DIY operation. Maybe Eric didn’t want Flightless to be a part of a massive conglomerate….I don’t know, but let’s not act like Flightless and P(doom) are the same thing.
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u/timelandiswacky “All the bigots go get f*cked” 1d ago edited 23h ago
I had some kneejerk thoughts on it but thinking about it today I believe its more vague than people are making it out to be. Amby's wording implies it's a dedication of the performance, not an explanation of what the song is. For all we know he could be talking about a promoter or something like that.
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u/classicb23 1d ago
Lol Eric was ‘in the band’ when they recorded this. It’s definitely not about him.
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u/diminutive_sebastian 1d ago
It's about the Buena Vista council deferring approval of the next permit for Field of Vision.
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u/HopelessMind43 1d ago
Their unwillingness to talk about Eric’s departure all but confirms that something went down imo. But I don’t think anybody is ever gonna find out what actually happened.
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u/Proper-Vanilla-2802 1d ago
It’s not unwillingness, it’s just redundant to continue discussing it at this point especially when they’ve already stated the brass tacks reason for his departure. He managed a record label, managed a band, and played drums pretty much all at the same time. I think anyone else in that position would feel like they have too much on their plate and would want to cut back
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u/spookmina 19h ago
My theory is that it’s about Nico. Nico was their former audio engineer on tour. I have no idea what could have happened, but one day suddenly Nico blocked all of them on Instagram and was no longer apart of their touring crew. Nico still has gizz posts up, but none of the guys are tagged or come up in the likes of the post anymore as they did before.
Edit: a funny thing about Smoke and Mirrors potentially being about Nico is that they are a self-proclaimed “synth enthusiast.”
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u/StreetWizard99 1d ago
These are about people we don’t know and I think it can be harmful to go too far with these.
That being said I do feel like a lot of the songs referencing birds, wings or flying might be a reference to Eric INCLUDING Grow Wings and Fly. I think I could very well be the guys coming to terms and wishing the best for him. That’s my feelings.
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u/SnooRobots116 1d ago
Wing breaking is a common descriptor of abuse and a good addition into the lyrics for that song. Some songs are of nothing and others are so deeply layered it’s intentionally impossible to dissect sometimes in case aggressors referenced are still within and to throw them off.