There’s a familiar saying particularly among music fans, “Music Is Therapy”, that in relation to The High Plains Drifters and their new, upcoming EP ‘Songs Of Love And Loss’, is both powerful and poignant. The collection turns emotions into music, with lead single “Since You’ve Been Gone” written from a very personal perspective, as it tells the story of a break-up lead singer and lyricist Larry went through in his 20’s. PopWrapped chatted with the band to discover more about the EP and what they’ve learned about themselves over the years as people and artists as well as which track fans will get to hear next.
Tell us about your EP’s lead single “Since You’ve Been Gone.”
“Since You’ve Been Gone” introduces fans of The High Plains Drifters to the sound that is dominant on our 2nd album, being released this Fall. Musically, the band and our producer, Greg Cohen, are children of the eighties. In different ways, most of the album’s tunes showcase 80’s New Wave and other influences. Even so, as the lyricist, I’ve tried also to mesh 80’s musical influences with the “storyteller” approach to songs that flourished in the 70’s – when I first became obsessed with music. I like to call the resulting amalgamation The Eagles Meet New Order.
The song’s story is, unlike most of what I sing on the new album’s other tracks, a very true and a very sad tale. It’s the story of how a naïve Larry Studnicky fell in love in his mid-20’s, only to learn that true love doesn’t always last forever. For me, it was a crushing breakup. We’ve tried to capture the feelings of loss and desolation in both of the song’s music videos. I think we succeeded – thanks largely to the brilliance of producer/director Lars Skaland.
What have you learned about yourself through pursuing your passion of music?
I’ve learned the cardinal rule that any artist must learn: Don’t worry about what “the public” thinks. You cannot predict how any particular work of art will be received. So, you stick to your vision and create what you deem fit. But I’ve also learned that “sticking to one’s vision” does not mean being a creative “dictator.”
When a band starts work on a song, there are limitless directions in which it can be taken. I’ve learned that the preconceptions that I introduce into the mix, with the guys when we’re working out a song’s basic structure and the various musical parts, are not always the “best ideas”. Every song of mine on this 2nd record has benefitted in untold ways from the brilliant contributions and suggestions of my bandmates and our producer. When I think about the process now, compared to a few years ago, I recall what New York Yankees legend Reggie Jackson said about his role on the team: “I am the straw that stirs the drink.”
What can fans expect from the second album/EP?
We are coming out first with a 6-song EP, called Songs of Love and Loss. We are doing the EP in large part because the current single has generated a strong interest at radio in hearing new stuff from us sooner than later. But later, in the Fall, the entire album will be released.
We think that the new album will please the many fans and critics who praised our debut album for being “genre bending”. But it will have more up-tempo tracks and will be sonically more consistent – more like, as I said earlier, The Eagles Meet New Order. I don’t think the 2nd album will draw some of the comparisons made about the debut album, where songs of ours were likened to the works of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Simon & Garfunkel.
What sounds influenced this album?
Oh man . . . there were so many influences, including The Eagles, New Order, The Beatles, The Byrds, The Cure, Yaz, Erasure, Depeche Mode, and on the album’s one truly genre-bending track, titled “How Did I Write This Song”, we were influenced by such great bossa tunes as “The Girl From Ipanema” and some of Burt Bacharach’s classic hits.
Can you tell us anything about your next single? Have you decided which track you’ll release next?
The next single is titled “The One That Got Away.” Like the current single, this one is up-tempo and 80’s influenced, but rhythmically it’s much funkier. Also like the current single, this one speaks about a love that was lost.
The story’s narrator begins the tune convinced that someone has told his ex-girlfriend that he’s dead. It’s two years since the couple split, but the narrator still gets fired up when he thinks about her. The song follows him, over another two years – one year for each of verse 2 and then verse 3 – as he tries to figure out where she’s gone; what is she doing; and has she found happiness without him. WELL OF COURSE SHE HAS, or the song wouldn’t have the same sting to it.
Lost chances and blown choices. That pretty much sums up a lot of people’s love lives, if they stayed single, as I did, for a few decades. And that’s what the coming EP is all about. I hope your readers will track down ‘Songs of Love and Loss’ this month and give it a spin. I think they’ll find on it at least a few stories they can relate to.
Check out the video for “Since You’ve Been Gone” below and for more information on The High Plains Drifters, give their page a like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.
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