Today, our friends in Still Rings True release their brand new album, Tear Down The Walls, and to celebrate, we're very proud to present our first Track-By-Track feature. If you're unfamiliar, a Track-By-Track is a chance for an artist to break down each song on a given record to their fans, with detailed explanations and meanings. Click the Read More… link below to view Josh Snyder's [vocals/guitar] explanation of the songs.
Tear Down The WallsJosh: This is the first track off the new record, as well as the title track. It's a super melodic song, but with the tom intro, and the thick power chords going back and forth with that single note lead, it really sets a darker atmosphere for the beginning of the record. Lyrically, it's basically a summary of everything the other songs touch on throughout the rest of the album. It's about our need to come to terms with the realities we face as a generation.This Is A ThreatJosh: This song is one of the more up-front, angrier songs on the record. We wanted to have a song stand out, in the sense that our music really revolves around that super fast, melodic style, and we wanted to try breaking it down into a little bit more of a mid-tempo driving kind of thing. The chorus of this song has one of those haunting melodies, and with Leo's harmonies kickin' in the 2nd time around, it just hits super hard. Lyrically, this is one of my more pissed days kind of lyrics. At the same time, underneath all that frustration, there's still hope and unity. Hence the lyric we are the youth and we are strong. It's our call-out to all the authority figures in our lives who have led us in the wrong direction.What We Carry InsideJosh: This is one of the songs we carried over to this record from our last EP, Anger Is A Gift. Originally, that EP was intended to be just a teaser release, a 4 song demo showcasing the direction we were looking to take with this next record. Once we hooked up with Third Time Lucky Rekords, we said fuck it, let's drop it as an EP. All in all, we wanted to re-record them, and try to get the intensity out of them that we felt we missed the first time around. We definitely nailed it with this version though, it came out great. This song is about watching friends and family fall away due things as broad as substance abuse, to religion, to poverty. It's about how it feels to watch these things happen, to lose people you care about, yet not be able to do anything to change the situation. I really wanted to express that myself, and the people I care about; we value people for who they are, not for what they have or where they stand in society. We care about what we do with the time we have here, with our lives. This is a very important song to me personally.Beyond RepairJosh: One of the darkest songs on the record, this one we stepped it up in terms of musicianship and really tried to get the music to match the intensity and hostility of the lyrics. It's super fast, super dark, with lots of speedpicking and a huge drop-ending that came out great. It's about the feeling that I'd rather not be alive than live my whole life watching everything wrong in the world continue on, and doing nothing about it. It's also a kind of warning, basically saying if we don't act on this shit now, we're going to regret it in the end.Take It BackJosh: This is another one of the four AIAG songs. We sped it up this time, and it added a whole new level of intensity to the song. It's about re-claiming your identity after a life of indoctrination. In this society, we're raised to conform, and to judge ourselves according to mass standards. In doing that, as you grow up, you end up losing yourself. It's about taking back the pieces that we've lost over the years, and standing up for ourselves. It also touches on accountability, in the sense that no one's stopping us from reaching our potential but ourselves, and regardless of how fucked up the world is, we can still create a life that we can be proud of when we look back on it.Until The DayJosh: This is the most mellow song on the record. It's got an awesome driving-style chorus, and we tried something new with the end of this song that we've never done before, with the drop tempo breakdown finishing the song. Lyrically, this song touches on fears I have about our generation, our lack of conviction, that kind of thing. It's about being scared that we're too far gone to come out of this mess we're in, that we just don't care anymore.I Am The GhostJosh: This song was the closing track from AIAG, and once again, for the new version, we sped it up a bit, and ended up catching more of the vibe we were initially looking for. we brightened up some of the guitars for this one this time around, and it really brought out the melody of those single notes in the verses. This is the most personal song on the record lyrically, in that it's really addressing my own personal struggle with living a life where I practice what I preach, and the feeling of the defeat that comes along with not always being able to do that.Empty WordsJosh: In a lot of ways, this is one of the most important songs on the record to us as a band. Musically, it touches on the darkest, heaviest aspects of our sound, and it really stands out against all the other tracks. We wanted to have another guitar solo on the this record, and at first, we couldn't find a spot for it. This song initially had a big drop tempo breakdown kind of part where the solo is now, and things just weren't clicking. One day at practice, Leo had the idea to just drive right through that section, and have me shred a little bit over it. We ended up finishing the song right then and there, and it's one of the songs we're most proud of on this release. Lyrically, it's just as significant to us. We're always talking amongst ourselves and our close friends about how fed up we are with the state of underground music these days, and how we feel that not only are most of the bands out there complete shit, but they're also not offering anything whatsoever intellectually. It's just a bunch of mediocre bands mirroring each others' played out shit. This song is us finally speaking out on how we feel about the scene right now..Anger Is A GiftJosh: This is the title track from our last EP, and it's one of my favorite songs we've ever written. For this record, we dropped it down another half step, and sped it up a few BPM. I ended up being able to put a lot more power in to it vocally in that range, and the extra speed just makes it hit that much harder. The ending of this song is one of the best I think we've ever done, and we're super stoked to finally start playing this song live. Lyrically, this song is my response to a lot of the ideas behind the posi movement. A lot of guys I would meet who were in to that just seemed to have this almost blah attitude toward things, like yeah we know the world's fucked man, but stay positive, we have our friends, etc.. which is all good by me, except for the fact that we feel ignoring these issues in an attempt to not upset yourself is really one of the most harmful attitudes you can have. That's where the meaning behind the phrase anger is a gift came from for me. We shouldn't be holding having a good time in a higher regard than speaking out about the problems we face as youth in this country, and in the same sense, this music, underground DIY music, has always been a place to share and communicate those kinds of ideas as well, not ignore them. Yes, we need to stay positive in our struggle and resistance against the wrong we see in the world, but not to the point where it renders us useless.All We NeedJosh: We chose this song as the final song for the record because when we wrote it, we all instantly agreed that's where we felt it should go, before we even had the full record written. We just new from the vibe it had that it belonged at the end. This song is us doing what we do best, super fast, super aggressive, melodic Punk Rock. We did something new again with the ending of this song, and decided to take the record out on a clean jam, with a gnarly bass line behind it. It definitely seems to carry that contemplative mood in it, and ends the song perfectly. Lyrically, this song is kind of in the same vein as the opening track, in that it's basically a broad over view of all the concepts the record is intended to touch on. We all struggle, we all feel, and we all know something is wrong with the way we're living in this world. If we don't come together and do something now, we'll regret it, and the only thing we need is ourselves.   |
