Pop-punk quartet SHADED release their latest EP ‘The Better Man in Me’ on September 1 and we’re bringing you an exclusive stream and track-by-track guide of the record. Press play below and scroll down to read the band’s guide through each song.
Better With You
This is definitely our most ‘out there’ track. We are a pop punk band, but we think ‘Better With You’ shows a more versatile side to us. We’re all massively influenced by pop music in general so it almost came as second nature to construct our songs with a few mainstream elements. It was the last track we wrote for the EP and we knew straight away that it needed to be the single and, since dropping the music video last week, it’s had a really positive reaction.
Here’s To Starting Again
Definitely one of our heavier songs, it’s played fairly early on in our set so it’s a good one to get people moving. Lyrically, it’s in the name… it’s about starting fresh. Often people go through shit times and just want to disappear and start again and that’s what I addressed when writing the lyrics for the track.
Tendencies
This was the first song that Callum and I wrote before officially starting the band. The main riff was actually written on piano and we had plans for the track to be more of a slower ballad type, however we were in practice when, for a laugh, Callum played the riff on guitar but much faster than its original tempo and it worked. This pretty much sparked the idea of making it a heavier and darker track. Having Miles feature on this song really made it whole. His input was absolutely key in topping off this track and we couldn’t be happier.
Too Far Distant
This was definitely the most difficult to write, lyrically. Without getting into too much personal detail about anyone in the band, it revolves around the idea of loss, whether it be family, a friend or a loved one and the struggle that comes with dealing with that. It’s emotional, it’s powerful… the track is everything that we needed it to be in order to open up about this kind of thing. It was difficult, writing about this sort of thing and opening up, but, by doing so, I think we pulled off one of our best tracks with ‘Too Far Distant’.
Bitter Cold
The next track on the EP is ‘Bitter Cold’. It was written when I had just moved out of home, away from my girlfriend… it was tough. But it’s a fun song to play live; she got to hear us play it for the first time a few weeks back which was cool! It’s a really bouncy track with the fall on the floor beat during the chorus – it’s a really good track to lead into the last track of the EP.
Deal My Hand
Probably our favourite song on the EP. It’s bouncy, it’s catchy, we get to show off a bit on this track haha! It’s definitely the most ‘pop punk’ song on the EP too which makes it a great way to end our set. Our live show looks to bring a lot of energy and this track is nothing but that.
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