Hello! We are writers of songs, despite all evidence to the contrary, and over four years, we’ve amassed quite a stable of songs we play live, songs we’ve abandoned, and songs we hope to play one day. Sometimes, we really like a song and then it disappears: “Cashing In” comes to mind, along with “Kinda Dark” and “Prizefighter.” Sometimes, they never make it out of practice: “Claustrophobe,” for example, and the long-awaited “Birthday Cake.” Hell, there are songs we would totally play, but we just don’t have the fucking time anymore: “Don’t Wait Up,” which made a brief reappearance at the Auction House last year, “Hide & Seek,” which is everyone’s favorite but mine, and “Silver Lining,” although Sam would rather not.
Here we are, four years old (this many!), and we really kind of have more songs than we know what to do with. The solution? More fucking songs! It’s been a hell of a lull for me and Sam, but, like prizefighters, we’ve come out swinging. Let’s talk about what we’ve got right now, and see whether we still have them months and years down the road.
Of all of the songs we’re working on right now, I think—probably arrogantly—that “The Slightest” is probably the best hit-single material. It’s simple, it has some good hooks, and we’ve done some preliminary futzing around with the structure that’s yielded some cool results. Still to come: harmonies, set leads, and probably eight or nine lyrical revisions. I’m already toying around with calling it “Mostly Harmless” instead, since it’s such a fitting title and since Douglas Adams is (was) awesome.
What we’re so far calling “Careless,” though, is catchy as hell. It’s simpler than “The Slighest” and has nice harmonies throughout, and I think it might be the most fun to play of all the new songs. We’ve got clapping in there, too, which I’ve been pushing for for years. Ultimately, Sam slid it into a song before I could. Bastard.
Then there’s “Revolver,” which might be too simple. Every song has one thing that makes it worth playing or listening to, something that might not come out until it’s been worked on for months. I felt that way about “Hide & Seek” until Red Orange Morning’s Ryan Hampton came up with a pretty great bassline. “Sweet Business” is a great song, but the reason to listen to it, I think we’ve all agreed, is the chorus, which wasn’t there from the get-go. “The Arrest” really wasn’t anything but a catchy verse until Sam pulled out a chorus and I threw some lyrics on top. That’s a really long way of saying that I don’t think “Revolver” has found that reason to be yet.
There are other songs—about three—that we’ve got on our plates, but those first three are the ones we’re really excited about, which means they’re the most likely to hear at the next Action Set show—whenever that is.
