Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?
Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.
Off the back of announcing new album ‘Shuttered Dreams‘ (out September 16th 2022 via Shaker Records), Dan Lyons & The Tenants talk us through their new single ‘The Price Is Right‘. Take it away, Dan…
Words: Andy Hughes (Photo Credit: Lou Smith)
“This song was born at a miserable time. Margate felt quite a sinister place to be, the pandemic was in full swing and there was a huge amount of dealers hanging on Northdown Road and the second layer of regenerative gentrifying lacquer had barely dried. To be in the middle of what appeared to me a lot like no mans land left me feeling quite itchy, and generally unimpressed.
I have a habit of making things difficult for myself, and the guitar part for this song is a perfect example. I had the chords lying around – I had been playing with them for a while. But I wanted it to feel as if you’re falling down a rabbit hole so decided to pick them out. Problem is that arpeggiating chords like that with your fingers is very hard to do – and I have a bit of a superstition that you should record parts for a song from start to finish as much as possible…
It took me weeks to learn the thing I’d written myself. It was a bit like self prescribed therapy, my mood had begun to change by the time I got it right.
The ending is where The Tenants come into their own – everything the band added to what was written as quite a dour song turned it on its head and I think actually make it a bit of a celebration. Henry has this old soviet guitar which we de tuned and added a slide part with, and Freya’s vocal part really stands out as one of my favourite bits of the album. Listening back to this one at the Tom Thumb Theatre where we made the album was the first time I really felt excited about the band. Every time I listen to the drum parts Dom laid down I hear something different that I missed before. You can tell that everybody was giving their all, which makes me feel very humbled.
My mind keeps changing about whether this is a love letter or a message in a bottle, but maybe it can be both, depending on how you’re feeling.“
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