''Clients'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band The Red Chord. It was released on May 17, 2005 via Metal Blade Records.

Concept

The title of the album was originally derived from an

in-joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke with humour that is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest ...

and story between Guy Kozowyk's family and friends, referring to the mentally disabled students for whom a member of Kozowyk's family drove a bus. This term eventually spread out to mean anybody for whom one provided service. The title reflects the songs, as the songs are stories from and about "clients", or mentally disabled people, with whom Kozowyk has had experience working in a convenience store located next to a

psychiatric rehabilitation Psychiatric rehabilitation, also known as psychosocial rehabilitation, and sometimes simplified to psych rehab by providers, is the process of restoration of community functioning and well-being of an individual diagnosed in mental health or emoti ...

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

. Each song is a different "client", or a different person with a mental ailment, ranging from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, to multiple personality disorder, to extreme

obsessive compulsive disorder Obsession may refer to: Psychology * Celebrity worship syndrome, obsessive addictive disorder to a celebrity's personal and professional life * Obsession (psychology), a persistent attachment to an object or idea * Fixation (psychology), persi ...

. The song "Black Santa" would best describe the album and its meanings, as it actually depicts everything that is used as an inspiration in the album: Kozowyk's job, the people he encountered, the stories he heard, and the notion that everybody both has and is a "client", meaning everybody works for somebody, and that everybody is not entirely mentally stable.

Music videos

The Red Chord released four music videos and singles from ''Clients''. "Antman", the first single, was directed by David Brodsky of My Good Eye and notably features live ants crawling on Greg Weeks, the band's bassist. It had the honor of being the most played video on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

's Headbangers Ball in 2005. "Blue Line Cretin" was directed by acclaimed artist Paul Romano (who designed the "Clients" CD graphics). "Black Santa", again directed by David Brodsky, was shot on location at the notorious Manhattan nightclub, Crobar. The claymation "battle" between the Antman and Black Santa characters was executed by Randy Gordon-Gatica and conceived of by Guy, Randy and Brodsky. It was nominated for Best Video of 2006 on MTV2's Headbangers Ball. "Fixation on Plastics" was also shot as a video and is a performance-only video.

Track listing

Personnel

;The Red Chord *Brad Fickeisen –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Guy Kozowyk –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

*Mike "Gunface" McKenzie –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Kevin Rampelberg –

*Gregory Weeks –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

;Production and design *Zeuss – Producer,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, mixer * The Red Chord – co-producer *Alan Douches – mastering *Paul Romano –

layout In general terms, a layout is a structured arrangement of items within certain limits, or a plan for such arrangement. Specifically, layout may refer to: * Page layout, the arrangement of visual elements on a page ** Comprehensive layout (comp), ...

concept and design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clients 2005 albums The Red Chord albums Metal Blade Records albums Albums produced by Chris "Zeuss" Harris