Serious Matters take influence from across punk, alternative rock and post-hardcore, delivering a sound that balances impactful, driving guitars with emotive lyricism. Nods to the likes of Taking Back Sunday, Coheed & Cambria and Thrice adorn the new record, which tackles topics of mental health with a gritty but accessible delivery. Check out their commentary on the album below.
This Is the Emergency!
This song was written after Kenny had an argument with his family about what his future looks like. He was torn because of how they could support the idea of touring full time and pushing the band, but then turn around and say that it’s probably better off to focus on marriage, starting a family, etc. We thought this would be a great start to the album because of how strong the instrumentals kick off and end. There was a lot of focus put into this song on the guitar tracks and solos when it came time for the studio. Kenny had the idea of just putting the aggression that he had into the guitars and using them as his voice of anger.
Sixth or 6th
Sixth or 6th is a song about Kenny’s struggle with suicidal thoughts. This song was very much an apology to everyone around for having to put up with the suicidal episodes of debating hospital visits and just all around supporting the mood swings. When it came time for writing the lyrics, Kenny wasn’t able to write the lyrics himself so he gave a journal of thoughts to Matt and Criss so they could help out. Within a day they had the demo done and ready to go. We really wanted to capture the emotion as best we could in song.
Weary
Weary kicks off the start of our first EP of songs. We decided to mix old songs with new ones this way we could show the progression of the band. We were finally able to record the old songs the way we originally wanted them to sound like with the new lineup. We focused a lot of time on the vocals and covered as many harmonies as we could to really show off Matt’s voice.
Nature Holds the Crown
Nature has been a fan favorite since the conception of the band. We wanted this one to really pack a punch with the guitars since it has a bouncy riff. The drums on this one also really make the song stand out.
Never Knows Best
Never Knows is a song about coming together, setting aside past damage and living in the moment. Part of being human is having issues. Everyone has them in different ways. A big thing we wanted for this song was to have a chorus that people could sing and find themselves in the words.
The World Over Heaven
This song is about defying the expectations of people who hold you back in life. Finding your own senses and taking control of your own life. This song also holds meaning to us because this is our first record that we’ve taken the time to really analyze and create music that we think fits us.
Eyes Wide Shut
Eyes has been a big part of Serious Matters since we have played our first show. This song was the first ever song written for the band. Matt became a fan of the band before he joined because of this song. Going into the studio we really wanted to shine on the energy of this song. If there is one song that gets people moving at shows, it’s this one.
Summer Tides
Not many people know this, but Summer Tides was written as a contrast to Eyes. When we first started the band, we released a 2016 summer sampler with 2 demo’s on them. Eyes and Summer Tides were the two songs on that sampler. As a nod to the original sampler, we kept them in the same order as they appeared on the sampler and the first EP.
Vacant
Going into the studio we were very excited to record Vacant how we wanted to. This song live is where everyone in the band really likes to put all of our energy so we wanted to capture that in the studio as well. We are very excited for everyone to revisit this one and also discover it for the first time.
Night Terrors
Night Terrors started from actual night terrors that Criss kept having. He figured out later that it was all an analogy for people blindly just following through life. We wanted this song to end the record because it’s very different then stuff we have written in the past. This song is more of a pop/rock then our usual Post/Alternative stuff.