Major League: ‘There's Nothing Wrong With Me’ Track by Track
Today Major League released their sophomore album There's Nothing Wrong With Me on No Sleep Records. For the occasion, we had asked vocalist/guitarist Brian Joyce to tell us about each track. What follows is his commentary on the full album.
1. “Wallflower”
“Wallflower” starts the record with a time period. It was the last time I recall my parents ever being together. From there, the song gradually brings you into this world I grew up in and am now living in. It's the evolution of a lot in my life, from clinical depression to addictions and so on.
2. “Graves”
This song really came together beautifully as far as us working as a unit. It started as this one guitar riff and suddenly exploded into what it is right there, on the spot, in one constant flow. Lyrically, the song is just my struggle with believing in any sort of afterlife and just wanting to live to the fullest now.
3. “Pillow Talk”
This was the first song we wrote for the record. It all came together in the studio lyrically as I was going through a very difficult break up. We had spent three years together—the best three years of my life—and it was just my plea to stay.
4. “Kaleidoscopes”
One of my favorites, for sure. While recording, [producer] Will Yip was like, “Why don't we change the lyrics of each chorus and let it evolve through the story?” It was a total “I could've had a V8” moment of like, “Why didn't I think of that?” The song is about all the firsts in my life, growing up and looking back and not realizing I was living in the good old days, I just didn't know it.
5. “Just As I Am”
Probably my mom’s least favorite. This song really just focuses on my struggle with growing up in the Catholic church and how I truly feel it destroyed faith for me. I'm the last boy in my family so I have this fear of not passing on my family name. It's my battle between feeling this pressure and feeling as if it all may be for nothing anyway. But in case I'm wrong, I just want to live a good, honest life so at least I'll have a fighting chance.
6. “Montreal”
This is a song for my parents, literally from me to them, that I wasn't even sure I wanted to release. I've grown up my whole life dealing with depression and the highs and lows. My father is also chemically imbalanced and it's where it's believed I get it from. It was just personal from me to them, but now it’s also for anyone who struggles daily, as well. It never gets easier, it just gets a little better each time.
7. “Little Eyes”
Last May, my Aunt Rose (my mother’s sister) passed away. Then in October my grandfather (her father) passed. Their last name is Occhiolini. In Italian it means “little eyes.” I wrote the song on my flight home from Vegas to say goodbye to my grandfather. It was just such a surreal time because we were losing so much so fast.
8. “Recovery”
The same week my grandfather passed, one of my childhood best friends, who had been in a bad way for a long time, fell into a coma for three weeks after a bad accident involving drugs and alcohol. I don't think anyone in our little circle of friends really understood the severity of his addiction until that moment. It's just my way of letting him know he's never alone.
9. “Devil’s Advocate”
This is the first of two songs about a relationship I was involved in where the person was just a real shithead. The song is just me playing devil’s advocate and trying to see their side of it, but ultimately realizing, no, you're just a bad person.
10. “Bruiser”
“Bruiser” is the follow up to “Devil’s Advocate.” It’s a my-side-of-the-story-type thing and it reiterates just how one-sided the friendship was. Yet because of lack of details (details I don't care to discuss), everyone just chose to make their own ignorant assumptions.
11. “Rittenhouse”
This is the last song on the record, and rightfully so. It was the last song recorded vocally and it drained everything in me to say those words. They're not the most clever; there's not much to them; they're just honest. From me to her. Apologizing for my end of things and the way I let it end. We kept it just instrumental throughout the ending and let it just speak for itself through the music’s own passion. Rittenhouse is a park in Philadelphia where we had plans to move but called it off.
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