The American Scene and Daybreaker’s new split EP is officially out via our good friends at Pure Noise Records. The American Scene and Daybreaker were kind enough to do a Track-By-Track for PropertyOfZack to discuss the meaning behind each of the songs on the split. Check them out below!

“Why I’m Not Where You Are” // The American Scene
The lyrics to this song were written back in April on the final drive of a tour we were on. Not unlike many other songs by many other bands, this one was inspired by a couple of friends from back home who I had been keeping in touch with over the course of that trip. It’s a song about the different directions life can take us, and those close to us, as we grow older. It’s about the constant struggle we experience in maintaining relationships and friendships as time passes, and it’s about ultimately deciding to do what is right for yourself in spite of strained relationships. The title was taken from a chapter of an excellent book by Jonathan Foer called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”. I highly recommend it.

“Grip” // The American Scene
This song was written by our guitar player at the time David Taylor who is no longer in the band, so i can’t get too in depth with the lyrics. I can say that this is probably the song we spent the most time on of anything we have written in the past. From the song structure to the guitar tone in studio we spent hours making sure that it came out just the way we all envisioned. This was actually the first and only song Dave sang the entirety of the lead vocals on and I think he did a great job. The guitar intro was supposed to sound like
the Goo Goo Dolls. I’m not sure if that came across or not.

“We’re Still Singing” // Daybreaker
We started recording this split in September, right after I had gotten home from a summer of touring doing merch for ska band Streetlight Manifesto, and I wanted to write a song about it. I had the perspective that most songs you hear about touring seem to focus more on the negative aspects of touring (loneliness, bad food, bad sleep) than the positives. I, on the other hand, really like touring at any level, whether it be in a van or in a bus, I just like the whole experience, the travel, the camaraderie, and I wanted to document that summer in the most meaningful way I knew how.

“Sleep Well, Angel” // Daybreaker
This song has a bit of a story behind it.  For about five years now I have been working with kids when I’m at home, namely at an afterschool program for teens and a summer camp. Through these programs, you meet a lot of amazing kids. This summer was the first summer in five years that I didn’t spend at camp, but a lot of my core friend group from home did still work there. When I got home from tour, there was a large group gathering and the topic of camp came up. I wanted to know how the summer went, how my favorite kids were, and the usual gossip that you naturally get working at a summer camp. Eventually, it was brought up that one of my favorite kids had had a pretty rough summer; her baby cousin had died in her sleep, so now she wasn’t sleeping because she thought it was going to happen to her as well. My heart dropped. An eleven year old girl couldn’t sleep the entire summer because she was worried about death. “Sleep Well, Angel” was written the night I found out about it.