To Speak of Wolves' new EP, New Bones, came out September 16th via Cardigan Records. For the occasion, we asked vocalist Gage Speas to tell us about each track. His commentary on the full EP can be seen below.
Ok, I'll Be A Part Of This World
This song was super special to all of us. We knew we wanted to release this it first. So lyrically I wanted to make it a statement song. To me, it's the heaviest song on the EP. So what better way to get brownie points with your wife? That's right, I wrote a love song for my wife. And she loved it!
New Bones
This song is probably my favorite off the EP. I was listening to NPR one time. Christopher Eccleston was talking about his dad having Alzheimer's. His story really stood out to me. He was telling a story about how one time, his dad looked at him and said "I love the bones of you, ya know?". It really struck a chord with me. I don't know anyone who has had that disease. But I wanted people to hear the story. So, Christopher's family is really the foundation of that song. I hope one day he hears it. The chorus totally has a Nirvana vibe to it.
What The Wind Reaps
I wanted this song to be an anthem. Musically it's super frantic and has a lot of tension. I wanted the lyrics and vocals to match. My favorite part of this song is the part where we all scream "Rejoice" it's like this victorious war cry or something. One cool fact about this song is, every time the chorus happens the music is different each time. In my opinion it's kinda like, Brand New meets Alice In Chains.
Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb is our guitar player Andrew's baby. We were all super stoked to record this song. We knew from the start we didn't want any screaming in this song. I actually had a lot of trouble when it came to writing the verses for this song. All I had written down was the chorus when I went into the studio. My good friend Andrew Reilly helped me write the verses for this song. I was really excited to write with him, he plays in this awesome band called Grinders out of Baton Rouge. I feel like by the end of recording this song, we all loved it as much as Andrew. That's what being in a band is all about. Championing each member to write to the best of a their abilities.
Can't Stop What's Coming
Phil named this one, he actually named a few songs on this EP. I never really liked naming songs. I always like the names that Phil comes up with. Musically this song is amazing. Aaron and Andrew really brought this song to life with the guitar parts. It reminds me of being out in the desert, under the stars.
Pegasus Project
Gosh, I really don't know where to start with this one. This song would have never happened if Seth wasn't in the band. It's about the death of his father. Seth wrote the bulk of the lyrics. I pretty much only wrote the chorus. There's a lot of pain in this song. I think you can hear that both lyrically and musically. We were so pumped when Garret from The Color Morale wanted to do guest vocals on it. His part really adds an eerie vibe to the song. But it finishes with nothing but pure strength. I think that's really the base of the song, it takes a lot of strength to really forgive someone. I'm so proud of Seth for stepping out and writing what he did. It takes a lot to put yourself on display like that.