We've got something really special for you today.
To prepare for the recording of Blah Blah Love And War, The Rescues wrote forty songs in two months. From that group, each band member picked their three favorites to record to be part of the album's twelve tracks. Below, Kyler England, Rob Giles, Adrianne Gonzalez, and Gabriel Mann share their thoughts on the inspiration, meaning, and recording of the songs on Blah Blah Love And War.
"Did It Really Even Matter"
I still remember the day in rehearsal when Gabe started playing these open chords on the piano and I was messing around with some nerdy polyrhythm thing on hi hats and kick. Something felt really good, immediately, even in its simplicity. But the song was not simple. I must have rewritten it four or five times before coming up with the structure and final lyric that didn't have to do with racetracks. I think when I am writing about racehorses, I know I have reached an impasse. Math and self-sabotage are much more rock and roll, are they"Never Let You Go"
A love song about how people stick together regardless of how messed up either one of them may be, or how crazy things get around them. I love so many things about how this came out, and I'm so proud of it - AG and Kyler coming in to harmonize in verse two, I don't know if I've ever heard them sound better. Rob's wonderful acoustic guitar part that enters after the first chorus is just perfect. And the insanity of the ending, also Rob's idea. To me this is a great example of how a germ from one of us grows into something greater than the sum of our"Arrow"
I wrote this song with Gabe, during a time of great strife within the band and with our label. I kidnapped him and took him on a picnic. We wrote lyrics with no guitars, then went back to his studio and within thirty minutes, we had this"Be My Cure"
This one is a good example of how a song can sometimes take months to evolve into its final shape. Rob and I started it. I had written the chorus melody before he arrived but it was with more straight ahead major chords. Rob turned it on its head and reharmonized it with darker, minor chords that brought out the drama in the melody and came up with the title "Be My Cure." The band worked together on the verses and we ended up demoing what we thought was a finished song.Months later when it came time to make the album, the song felt like it had so much potential but the verses somehow missed the mark, they were too smart. I started from scratch on the verses going for a more twisted and sexy interpretation of the title. I played it for Rob and the second verse immediately poured out of him. We finished the bridge together and voila! After about nine months, the song was finally born.
It's now one of my favorite songs on the album, I love singing it live. And every time I hear it I'm reminded not to give up on a good
"Under The Weather"
This song is kinda the opposite of "Everything's Gonna Be Better," explores the darker side of what goes on in our daily lives. Dealing with people can be rough. I love the simplicity of this song, and the slow and subtle build in the production. The endlessly repeating chorus to me feels just like the words, just kinda going through the motions. Then at the end we kinda explode, getting bored with being bored and pissed off in"Runaway"
I think having faith in them while they are trying to find their way is a universal feeling. It is hard to do, but this song talks about the hope in the struggle to stay connected, even when the other person is"The Longest Winter"
The last few years with the band have been quite the roller coaster. We've had some pretty intense experiences together, both of the dreams coming true end of the spectrum and of the soul-crushing variety. I think each of us secretly considered walking away numerous times, but something held us back.This song is my love letter to the band about why I
"Love Like Cyanide"
This is one of the songs we wrote while our previous label was scheduling us with "hit makers." We had a blast with a really talented guy in Bruno Mars's camp, Ari Levine. He was such a chill, laid back dude who was basically the opposite of our vibe. We stumbled upon the lyric and melody, but Kyler sang it. We forgot about this song until the very end of recording Blah Blah Love And War and I thought I would take a stab at it with fresh"Everything's Gonna Be Better Next Year"
Probably our most overtly pumped up, get up and party down song on the record. A lot of the sounds on this track are ones that we recorded for the demo. We tried changing it in various ways and kept coming back to the energy of that first two hours we spent in the studio putting down the idea. It's also a musical departure in that we basically play the same chord changes over the entire song, 'til a reharmonization happens over the final choruses. Hopefully this will be played loudly at everybody's New Year's"Get Back"
Adrianne and I wrote this one. At the time the band was in the throes of trying to write a hit single for our record label. Cracks were forming, the pressure wasn't bringing out the best in any of us. We decided to forget about trying to write a single that day and just write something that moved us. To get in a different head space, we went on a hike to the Griffith Observatory and just talked about life, the universe, and everything.The hike was pretty influential on the lyrics; nature has so many powerful and immediate metaphors. We drew from images in nature, specifically things that are separated coming back together to the place they started. I remember looking out over the Santa Monica Mountain range running west all the way to the Pacific ocean. Two powerful forces meeting at the shore.
We also talked a lot that day about the concept of home. We had toured like crazy that summer, flown across the country many times, and put thousands of miles on the Sprinter van we called home. When you wake up in a new place every day, the idea of home, not just literally but the place you come from, on a deeper level, becomes heightened. We were trying to find our way back to that place as a
"Let Me Down Easy"
Everyone loves a song about a cheater. This song takes it one step further though, as in the singer's life is hanging in the balance, and she is completely removed from reality from the moment she finds out. The rest of the song is the journey of realization of what the relationship really was, and really was"Bigger Picture"
I had finished producing the album and everyone's songs were in the can, but I still had an empty slot. I had recorded three or four songs that I wasn't sure about; they didn't do what the record needed the last song to do. I stumbled upon the "There's a bigger picture" in the shower all at once, and sang it over and over so I wouldn't forget it. The rest unfolded almost immediately when I sat down. One of those songs that feels like it was always there under the couch by the lostMore Rescues: Official | Facebook | Twitter | Tumblr | Pledge Music
