Despite the narrator’s terror at seeing an Altered Beast, deep inside there’s a desire to be changed into one. “Alter Me I”, the first of the “Alter Me” songs, is short and to the point with a simple demand to be altered.
In the making of the video A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH the band is seen rehearsing the song at 4:23 (of course without any narration). For the release of Murder of the Universe (June 23rd, 2017), “Alter Me I” appeared in promotional material uploaded to their social media. A music video for “The Tale of the Altered Beast” was planned but never finished with footage making its way into promotional material and A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH.
The first reported performance of “Alter Me I” happened on 2017-01-21 at The Meadow in Singapore. Throughout 2017 the song was used to introduce a medley of “The Tale of the Altered Beast” before leading to “Altered Beast II.” In 2018 the song was mostly used to open “Altered Beast I”, though occasionally appeared in its album sequence. In 2019 this flipped with the song returning to its “Alter Me I” > “Altered Beast II” transition, with a few appearances of the “Alter Me I” > “Altered Beast I” rendition. After a long break before and after the pandemic, the song returned, starting with 2022-10-05 for a few performances once again in original order — all with Leah Senior narration. In 2023 the song returned for a couple of shows once again without narration. As of writing, “Alter Me I” is the most played of all the “Alter Me” tracks.