“When I was 15, I formed the All American Rejects. This was my high school band. Always there in our everyday life were Tommy and Jennifer, a member’s older sister and brother-in-law. Tommy was the older brother I never had. Kind and wise, he was my mentor and family to me.
Tommy was shot and killed at the age of 25, on the morning of 30th November. Jennifer, his wife, had hired his murderer.
This event completely devastated and shattered my reality. I quit the Rejects and was very lost. I soon found the piano and started moving towards a deeper place inside, artistically, which has shaped me to this day. For many years, I had avoided this trauma and couldn’t touch the subject. I pushed it out, only for it to haunt me more recently. Writing this song is the way for me to heal and remember my old pal, Tommy.”
– Jesse Tabish
The new track “Hey Hey I” from Other Lives, from their forthcoming record For Their Love, out April 24th. The release for the upcoming record says that the band uses the new material to explore themes of lost hope and violence, in the wake of incident when front-man Jesse Tabish’s (also a founding member of All-American Rejects) best friend had his life taken by someone from within the band’s inner circle.
The new record allowed Tabish to reflect on that “haunting” experience and has been a chance to exorcise some difficult demons. Stylistically, the new single and video are not as dark as that story could have one think. The video is a straightforward glimpse into the recording of the song.
Tabish, says “The video is a reflection of the recording process of the album, that took place in the A-frame in the woods. We wanted to portray this process in a natural, organic way, without telling a story but rather showing glimpses of us working together as well as coming together with friends.”
And that revelatory vibe definitely comes across in the song. It is a sonic driving force, reminiscent of the better work of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, where the vocal harmonies evoke a spirit of community, like singing in a temple or around a campfire. It opens with an E on the piano that’s repeated on the down beat throughout the song syncopating with the kick drum. A technique utilized in a lot of songs that is a simple way to convey a sense of sustained energy without sounding overproduced. It’s a great trick you can hear used by David Bowie to excellent effect in several tracks on the aptly titled Raw Power by The Stooges, notably in “Gimme Danger” because of the similar four on the floor cadence, but the technique is also used on the record’s title track.
Seeing a band together, healing from past trauma by hunkering down in a house and creating something joyous in the wake of a terrible tragedy is something that resonates loudly in these difficult times. The lyrics too, evoke a sense of being worn down and pursued by forces bent to destroy with lines that have a menacing tone presented in a beautiful way, not unlike the lyrics of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who is a fan and early champion of Other Lives.
“They only come out at night/ They only come out at night/ How many times will you let them run you empty?/ How many times do you let them suck you dry?/ Or you trying to rest but you know they’re going to find you/ You said something don’t feel right.”
It’s a great remedy for the quarantine blues. A song about hard times, but expressed in a joyous and communal spirit
From the new album “For Their Love” available everywhere April 24th, 2020.
The Fat Angel Sings 