The latest of our Mood Board features we spoke to Living With Lions vocalist Chase Brenneman about some of of the things that influence them and their new album 'Island'
Donald Trump
We’re not a political band at all. I think we all have similar ideas and views on things but our music isn’t really a place that we like to share that kind of stuff. The music we write is generally just something fun for us so we typically don’t want to bring those kinds of elements into songs. However, this time around I really felt the need to kind of say something even though it is a little cryptic and metaphorical. The lead-off song on our record ‘All The Same’ references everything that has been going on over the last couple years, especially in the US. Everything is so polarising these days, it seems almost impossible to find common ground with people from the opposite side of the political spectrum. The theme of that song is really about how people are so quick to point the finger at each other and be against one another but really, in the end, we’re all the same. ‘You’re wrong’, ‘I’m right’, ‘Fuck you’.. It’s all the same bullshit, no one really seems interested in finding common ground and actually have a conversation to heal the divide. We didn’t really want to get deep into anything political, but I felt like the idea is something that people are always having to deal with.. trying to understand one another.
Vancouver’s Downtown East Side (Neighbourhood)
There has been a huge crisis going on in western Canada and especially Vancouver over the last few years. Most people probably don’t realize this but Vancouver has a huge drug problem. It’s a really complicated situation and there are so many layers to it so I won’t get too in depth into the history but there is a neighbourhood in downtown Vancouver called East Hastings. It’s where you’ll find a lot of the low-income housing in the lower mainland and has become the neighbourhood to be in if you’re using/buying/selling drugs or have mental health issues. What has really compounded the situation is drugs in Vancouver are now being laced with fentanyl and carfentanil which are very very dangerous strong opiates. There have been record numbers of overdoses, not only with hardcore drug users but casual drug users as well.. It’s a really scary, surreal situation that, needless to say, affects everyone that lives in the city on a daily basis. On top of that we have had friends that have had to deal with addiction and mental health issues and that’s something I was never expecting to have to see or help people through when I was younger. I thought I really needed to write a song that hopefully gave, not a happy ending necessarily, but a positive outlook on having to go through addiction. The title track on our album ‘Island’ is all about people we know having to go through that difficult process and us being there for them always. I feel like it’s hard for people going through that to know that the people around them support them and love them always.. and on the flip side, I feel like it can be difficult for people to express their support and understanding in the right ways to people dealing with addiction.
Chase wrote a more in depth blog on this for Already Heard. Check it out here
Curt Alden
I know that this is something every single record in history is influenced by, but ours is no different. Most of the songs I write are directly influenced by relationships with partners, friends, family. I tend to think about things that affected me in a really negative or positive way and elaborate on those circumstances. I feel like its really easy for people to listen to songs and interpret them in their own way. My uncle passed away while we were writing this record and that something that was really hard to deal with for our whole family. We were really close ever since I was born, I haven’t experienced a loss like that in my life. It wasn’t so much I felt a need to write a song about my uncle (Dusty Records) due to how sad I was.. It was really more a matter of having something permanent to dedicate in his memory. It gave me a chance to reflect on all the time I spent with him and everything I would have done differently had I have known we wouldn’t have more time together.
‘Island’ is out now