unwrittenlaw620

Exclusive Stream: Unwritten Law's "Swan Song"

Check out this exclusive stream of “Swan Song” off Unwritten Law's new album, Swan, out March 29 on BreakSilence Recordings. Guitarist Steve Morris gives us some insight to the creation of the track and album below:

“Swan Song” was the first song written for our new album. Scott [Russo, vocals] brought it to us to play and we all thought, “Hey, if everything goes up in a ball of flames, what better way to go out then with our swan song?” That also seemed like good title for the record.

Scott had this song for a while; even before we committed to doing another record. So this song came first since it was pretty much already done. We gave it to Cisco to work on a bit. And all that crazy production you here on it is all him. It’s genius and very forward thinking, I believe. But it took a kind of basic, cool rock song to another level. It’s a great title track. Well half-title, anyway. But all in all a good rocking song with a straight up UL style.

When we started Swan, there was a lot of interpersonal turmoil going on with the band and in our personal lives. We had all but completely succumbed to all the normal and somewhat extreme pitfalls of being a band. We had no money left; we owed money to everyone; everyone in the industry hated us; and we were barely hanging on by a thread. No one really seemed to give a shit anymore. We weren't even sure if we even wanted to make another record. We had taken a long hiatus between records. Everyone had moved along with their lives—getting married, having kids, etc. So the prospect of doing another record was fleeting, to say the least. But we had just signed with new management, a new label and things seemed like they could maybe turn around. So we pressed ahead anyway all the while saying, “Fuck it, who cares, let’s just make some music.”

Over the course of the writing process, we all became closer as friends and a band. The music was something that we could be proud to call ours. We had taken ourselves and the music from something ugly that no one wanted to be a part of into something everyone loved and was proud of. So the ugly duckling turning into a swan fit our story pretty well. And as tongue-in-cheek as it may sound, it worked, and we were working again, in every sense of the word.