Cold Years guide us track by track through their new album ‘A Different Life’, out April 26 via MNRK Music.
OVER
“We wanted to come straight out of the gate with this record and kick It off with something faster and heavier than we’ve ever done before. Like this is almost like a fresh start from the last few years of uncertainty and frustration. This song really for me had no other place on this record, other than the opener. It’s about removing someone super toxic from your life and taking fresh perspective on things.”
ROLL WITH IT
“I love rock and roll. We all do. This song is a huge tip of the hat to all the music we grew up listening to. It kind of shows how self-destructive I can be, but at the same time it’s like this whole “there’s still hope”. People can change, circumstances can change but not unless you go out and push for it.”
RADIO
“Probably the poppiest song we’ve ever had. I wanted to write something that was stuck in your head all day, and this was written from that standpoint. Despite the fact it sounds light-hearted, it’s not. There’s a lot of stuff in there that I guess is kinda angry. Sometimes there are people or places or memories in your life that just don’t have a right to be there anymore.”
LOW
“This is song is super reflective of the person I was at the tail end of the pandemic. Without the constant drumbeat of touring or working on music to focus on I think I was going off the rails a little, and just was getting tired of it. Partying too hard, abusing my own body for entertainment. And it’s like, you know you should get out of it, but you don’t want to because you’re happy just being a mess. Thankfully I got out of it, but that song for me is super personal. It’s also a lot grungier than anything we’ve ever done – huge Nirvana song in case you didn’t notice haha.”
YOUTH
“This song is basically about growing up. It talks about being young and carefree, and how those things seem to evaporate with age. So many of my friends have fallen into difficulty with this, and it’s something I struggled to accept. Super depressing subject right? But the actual music itself is uplifting. I took a lot of that from Alkaline Trio. They’ve always had this amazing ability to take sad lyrics and make a song sound happy by using major chord progressions. Also I love Tom Petty, so a lot of the acoustic fronted sound on this song probably comes from listening to too much of him.”
GOODBYE MY FRIEND
“I’d rather not say too much about this song – it’s a really personal one, but I hope whoever listens to it can find comfort from it.”
CHOKE
“This is probably one of the 2 politically influenced songs on the record. It’s something that probably isn’t as prevalent on this record compared to the past ones we’ve done but it’s still there. Nothing much has changed since the last record we put out, so I didn’t want to re-hash the same conversation again, but I guess if you live in the UK and don’t vote for the Tories you can probably relate.”
FUCK THE WEATHER
“This song is a love song. Something I’ve tended to steer away from in the past, but I kinda felt now was the time to do it. I love 50’s music. Everything from Elvis to Buddy Holly, to the Beach Boys. And listening to my Gran’s 78’s on her old deck was something that fascinated me as a kid. That age of music is so golden, and Weezer KINDA brought it back with the Blue album. I just wanted to put our stamp on that.”
OTHER SIDE
“3 days before we wrapped recording, Brett Romnes (Producer) turned around and told me the record needed an acoustic record. I wrote it in 15 minutes sat outside looking across the lake with a guitar on my knee. It was like making this record felt like a healing process. And it was the massive burst of emotion that we’d actually done it.”
LET GO
“This song was lyrically written back in lockdown. Its that longing for how things used to be and a fear they will never be the same again. Carefree summers touring with my friends in Europe long before everything changed. I think on some level, this year we will get that back. It’s that feeling when music grips you and you have no control over your mind or body and I think that’s what “Let Go” means. Just live for every second, because you don’t know when your last one is coming.”
SICK
“I’ve struggled with sleeping for many years, but there hit a point last year where I had entered like an almost zombie like state for extended periods. I couldn’t focus on anything; I was so tired I felt drunk. I then did actually resort to drinking out of desperation for sleep. In that time I wasn’t the best partner, and this song really just explains how I don’t feel like I’m good enough. Mental health is something I’d never really considered for myself, and I think accepting that sometimes you need help can be hard. Musically I wanted it to sound like an old James Bond theme track, hence all the strings and the descending chord progressions and multiple layers of vocals. I am so proud of that song.”
DIE TONIGHT
“Sometimes you just want to go out and rage til 5am because you’ve had a terrible day. Nothing is going your way, the country is a mess, you lost your job, your partner broke up with you, someone died. Anything. You just feel like you need to go release some energy. That’s what this song is, and it HAD to go at the end of the record. I am done finishing records with sad songs. End on a high, and this one I would say is that. It’s also super influenced by Bad Religion, because they are one of the greatest bands of ALL TIME. And you can quote me as much as you want on that!”
