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Track By Track: There For Tomorrow

MAIKA MAILE of THERE FOR TOMORROW takes us track-by-track through his band’s new album, The Verge.

“The Verge”
This might have been the last song that came together within the writing period of the album. It’s hard for me to remember since the creative flow was basically a blur. The simplistic movement of the intro riff sparked the whole vibe of the song. This is one of the few songs that I wrote my vocal melodies to after we laid the whole musical structure out. It seems like I was confronting the old us by calling ourselves out on our previous attempts at finding ourselves. The music spoke to me like a personal call-out. When we were younger, [it’s like we were trying to find ourselves] by strictly emulating an already existing sound. You can get so easily lost by assumptions made by others that you just end up blaming their misunderstandings on yourself. This time around, we drew the line in the sand between emulating ideas and revitalizing ideas.

“Nowhere BLVD.”
I literally didn’t share any ideas with the rest of the guys before entering the writing session, except for the melody idea that birthed “Nowhere BLVD.” The first thing I ever sang in front of Elvis [Baskette, producer] was the first verse of this song. The way this song came together was just the kind of inspiration we needed to pinpoint the direction of this record. As we formulated the music around these melodies, Elvis basically said that we were not the band he expected. His words: “The band that I thought you were will never be as good as the band you are.”

“SAAVE”
It’s almost painful to hear how safe most records sound today. I know by saying that I may sound like the overly exposed, jaded, fat and tatted dude with a PBR in hand at the local “you’ve never heard of these bands” show. But we went to those shows growing up—the kind of shows that if one person left the room, the place would be empty. There’s a certain integrity and passion that exists within the music being played at those kinds of shows. There’s a release from common-day normality because you just can’t care about what others think about you when you play those kinds of shows. There’s no one there to care! The artist and the music, that’s it.
    Experiencing that many times over really instilled a certain DIY sense of doing things. This song is all about doing whatever you have to do to be uncommon. To be a standout individual in modern times is to be a gem among ashes. It’s definitely an exploration of the dark side that exists in all of us. “Save me from the light” equals bring me out of all things regular and into the shadows where individuals prevail.

“The Joyride”
The initial melody that starts the song came to me with the chord progression. Before I presented it to the rest my creative counterparts at the studio, we were in a slight slump of creative flow. Since most of our music revolves around the minor keys, I felt a bit hesitant to go after this melody idea because of its major-scale focus. As soon as I sang it, Elvis turned and said to never ever be ashamed of the gold that I can create. He was such a reassuring force for all of us. For so long we’ve only heard the “what not to do.” It was so liberating to finally celebrate our strengths. This song is a dedication to all who help honor all of our efforts with making music from the heart.

“Hunt Hunt Hunt”
I had the verse, pre-chorus and chorus written for the song right before we hit the writing sessions. There’s an unfolding sensation that happened in me when I would always listen back to the acoustic demo I had recorded to reflect on. In the studio, it took total shape by what came together in the rhythm section. As soon as Jay [Enriquez]’s bass riff clicked with Chris [Kamrada]’s drum groove, the whole feel of the song was plain and clear. It’s ironic how the momentum of the music really feeds off of the lyrical content of being on a hunt. The steady and persistent pulse could be the soundtrack to any intense search or journey. There are always the people who will tell you the exact opposite of what you want to hear. In this case, the naysayers were the fuel to my creative fire when making this song. All those times that you are underestimated will really help you found yourself.

“Circle Of Lies”
I have only experienced what I think is true romantic love one time in my life. I dated a girl for about three years and was introduced to tons of emotions and impulses I had never experienced before the relationship (including the ridiculously heavenly sexual connection we had during it all). As time had its way with the two of us, there was a strong departure as I began discovering some success with the band, while she was straying off to college. Although it’s been years since it was called off, there are still repercussions and memories that pop up on repeated occasions.
    When writing the song, I remember we were at a bit of a standstill after the intro and opening phrases were laid out. I started singing off the top of my head and right there in front of everyone, the whole verse up through the chorus was written within five minutes. It was bringing me back to the grueling times when I came to certain heartbreaking realizations about her and I never being able to equal out the balance. Right after we broke up, we both went on a bit of a party rebound spree, like most 20-year-olds do anyways. A lot of these thoughts in the song are the dark images I used to create in my head about what she might be doing at all times of the day and night, fabricating the worst kinds of ideas about how she was handling herself around all those boat-shoe-and-Dockers-wearing college tools after our breakup. This song helps me break away from the unsaid and untold feelings I still have towards it all.

“Get It”
We were listening to so much music from the ‘90s throughout the whole recording process. That’s what we grew up on. The raw and fierce edge that was so existent in rock music in those times. The bands from that time are our idols, even though half of them were heroin addicts. Since Elvis came from these times and had some of his most successful albums during that decade, a lot of the album and production is inspired by bands like Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, 311, Foo Fighters and Deftones.
    The riff that comes alive in the chorus of “Get It” was a pre-existing phrase that was a part of a much more upbeat backbone for a song. We kind of hated it because of the cliché and generic context we were using it in. From here, we went on to form one of the most left-field arrangements we’ve ever put together. The eeriness and down-tempo vibe of the song took me into this twisted and dark fantasyland. There’s sexual connotation throughout all of the lyrical content, and I’m not so sure I intended it. I’m not so sure it even came from me. It sounds a lot less like the romantic that I am and more like a serial killer amidst his pleasurable thoughts of seeing off his helpless victims. Hey, I’m allowed to be a serial killer if I want. It’s art, after all.

 

“18”
Some of my best memories come from high school. Things were a lot simpler. Your whole schedule and system from week to week is figured out for you based off of your academic and extracurricular activities. That’s exactly what I hated, though. I was always a bit defiant towards the idea of belonging to some pre-existing operation made to fabricate a bunch of little robots to go on and get their PhD, DVD or PCP, or whatever… Much love and huge respect towards anyone who pursues those career paths, but we knew what we wanted to do in middle school. I think I had “senioritis” when I was a freshman. This song portrays some of the struggles we had trying to break the mold as young kids simply wanting to do something different from everyone else. But the best part of art is the viewer, watcher or listener’s interpretation of the piece. I’m very open-minded as to how people perceive my lyrics. After all, what matters most to us is if the lyrics speak to them in the first place. What’s it saying? “If pleasure is the ultimate weapon, then what’s to say about all the pain? With passion like a school in session, you better think up something clever to say. You look desperate by befriending the cool kids, cause how long will the popular take? The tension’s building up like a fever, you gotta wonder when the hell it’ll break.”

“Slip Inside (The Barrel Of Your Gun)”
This is where the album falls into its most vulnerable couple of songs. Throughout this song is a journey through the mindset of someone who is starting to second-guess him/herself. Every so often, we all begin to sink into ourselves to have a real re-evaluation of how we handle ourselves in the situations we face. What really defines us as humans is how we deal with the trials of our lifetimes. There’s an obvious turning point in the song that really reminds me of a rising sun during the build back into the chorus. This is where the enlightenment period happens. Those times when every little thing that exists can inspire and touch you in ways that are unexplainable. It’s so rewarding after making through any tough period of your life, because in the end, those experiences become the best tools in how to recoup from the downfalls that are sure to come again.

“BLU”
This is the gem of the album, where TFT tried something new, where we let the walls fall and let all expectations and pressures fizzle out on their own. This was something magical. I just slowly started introducing myself to the blissful instrument known as the piano months ago. The verse and the pre-chorus melodies were the first real attempts I had ever made at writing a song with piano accompaniment. At Paint It Black Studios in Orlando, where we did the record, there is a beautiful grand piano tucked away in this dimly lit isolation room on the side of the live room. I would lose myself in there. This was my first real chance of taking shots at composing and constructing material with a piano without worrying about offending the owner of the instrument or playing too loud in a music store.     Every time I sat down, something new would come. I wrote the intro phrasing to “BLU” and then all of the sudden, all of these intricate key changes were just throwing themselves at me. Once I had a basis of the lyrical and melodic direction with the chord progressions, we structured out the song with Chris, Jay, Elvis and I. (Christian [Climer, guitarist] was at an [Orlando] Magic [basketball] game, which is a totally acceptable reason for not being at the studio.) We put together the structure of the song in 45 minutes, and it was the most minimalistic, effortless music-making experience I had ever been through. But it really came alive the first time I heard what Christian did on guitar for it. Ballads can so easily cross the “cheese factor” line and go into the land of no credible return, but we wanted to keep this vulnerable. We wanted it real. It was a musical escapade from the start, and it still is just that.
    The whole song refers to the ways of the ocean in metaphors. My father grew up on an island, so the ocean has always been a place of pondering and solace. This song is about the push and pull effect that my emotions have on me when it comes to dealing with my father’s death.

“Stopwatch Affair”
With this song being one of the last songs we put together, it was hard for us to decide where to run with it. So we didn’t decide; we let it decide for itself. It’s the longest song of the record, and it has an electronic outro that I put together to really end the song with a soothing touch, like the sounds are caressing the song into completion. If I had one wish for some sort of supernatural power, it would to be in control of time. Time is the reason for regrets. It is what creates pressures and anxiety because our time will inevitably end.     I’ve gotten many inquisitions about the meaning of the “Stopwatch Affair.” The “stopwatch affair” is the relationship we have as humans with time. There’s a tug-of-war between our appreciation and hatred towards time. We celebrate our existence with holidays or birthdays. On the other hand, we often regret our experiences and how we have dealt with things in the past. In the musical layout, there is tension here, a moment of bliss there. One phrase will be frantic and fast-moving; the next will be dream-like and floating like a love/hate rollercoaster.

“I’d Be Changing If I Were You”
This is a big “fuck you” to media. Sorry for the curse words mom, since I know you’re reading this. But we all gotta realize that the people who program the news and entertainment we watch have full control over what our perceptions of the world should be. This is why you have to take everything with a grain of salt. A “life-like pantomime” is my personal metaphor for someone living with that fictional sort of façade that many people adopt in order to fit standards. The things you see on television and the things you hear during your local pastor’s sermon scare you into acting this way. You can easily lose grip of what’s actually happening in our revolving world if you don’t detach yourself from it sometimes.
    Since we’ve seen many different ways of life from world travel, we’ve started to see how similar we all are as people. This is our wake-up call to all the people who take the easy road, cause we definitely aren’t. “There you go pulling favors like you would. Best of luck crossing fingers like you should. I’ve read thru all your lies and I’m watching from a distance. Your Life-Like Pantomime.” Musically, this is the only song we’ve written in 7/8. Wanted to end the album with a bang. So, bang! “Are you done giving in to every role that you’ve been playing? You spread the message of exactly what you aren’t.”