rockyourlyricstell us more about the release of your new EP “Nothing here is permanent”;, what does it represents for you?
“Nothing Here Is Permanent” to me, reflects the urgency of life.
It can be so easy to fall into a comfortable routine and never take the risks required to grow as a person.
I’ve experienced a lot of loss between my teenage years and now.
I never thought I would lose a parent, and 3 of my grandparents by my early twenties.
We never get as much time as we’d like.
what inspired its lyrics? (Or the majority of them)
Loss, but also the growth that comes from dealing with that.
When you lose someone a large part of you believes life can never be comfortable again, that everything will be stuck in this permanent panic, but that’s not true.
Things can get better but you might have to fight through the thick of it for a little while.
do you remember the day you wrote “Spent”?
Spent is one of the songs on the EP that isn’t really about loss, well at least not a permanent loss.
Sometimes relationships can be tough, but part of what makes it tough are the doubtful thoughts in your head that are not necessarily an accurate representation of reality.
Sometimes your mental health can have a strain on things, you can feel unwanted or unloved when that is just not the case.
Punk was famous for DIY culture, does it still apply today?
Of course! In fact I think the music industry in 2017 almost demands a band to be DIY in order to make it anywhere.
You don’t see too many non-tour ready bands getting signed anymore.
We have always been very about having Ottawa artists design our show posters and merch.
Right now our entire merch table is merch designed by Heather Bisaillion .
The latest single is titled “North Hansen”; , what do you want to communicate with this song?
North Hansen is about my dad passing away when I was in highschool. I want the listener to
understand that loss is always a very difficult thing to deal with, but it is important to move
forward and grow.
You will alway miss that person, there will be little things everyday that remind you of them, but things do get better.
Are you currently on tour?
Not quite yet, currently counting down the days until we get to hit the road with Sleep On It,
Homesafe and State Champs!
how do you usually write your lyrics? Do you find it difficult?
Sometimes I write them at the exact same time I’m laying out the skeleton for the song, other times I don’t think of them until last minute and I just get a bunch of ideas in the studio.
I find writing meaningful lyrics difficult at times.
I want to still feel that song in a genuine way even after I’ve sang it a hundred times. I think that’s why I gravitate to writing about loss so often.
It’s something that will never not be relevant to my life.
Those people I’ve lost will always be relevant to my life.
tell us everything about “Makeshift”
A bunch of my family lives in Hamilton, and so when we were on tour and we had a show there the one night I got a call from my brother.
He said that my grandmother most likely wouldn’t have much longer.
So I drove to her house before the show to hang out with for the last time.
Her smile when I walked in the door is something I’ll never forget and that’s what inspired the first verse of the song.
The Chorus’s and second verse are more about my anxiety and fearful feeling I have towards the idea of dying.
how important is music in your life?
It’s the biggest thing.
When I was around 12 I was diagnosed with OCD. I had to do all these different “rituals” and it was hard to get through the day like a normal kid.
Getting my first guitar, and getting into music was a huge help in focusing my energy towards something I could work towards.
I would practice for 3 hours a day every day and never get bored of it.
It didn’t “cure” my OCD or anything, just helped me not think about it so much. I’ve met all my closest friends through being in a band and I’m not sure what I would do if I didn’t have this.
the best lyrics ever written for a song and the best lyric you wrote…
I’m going to bend the rules and say this entire new EP we have coming out haha.
My favourite lyric on it is probably “And all the flowers that surround you, will never bring back anything”.
It always hits home with me.
Follow