PropertyOfZack is extremely glad to be bringing you a brand new Track-By-Track from our good friends in The American Scene. The American Scene are releasing their brand new record today, By Way Of Introduction, on Pure Noise Records and it’s certainly something you do not want to miss out on. Check out the meaning behind each track on By Way Of Introduction below!

BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
Though it is the intro to the album this was actually the last track we wrote for it. It came together the afternoon before we hit the studio. Matt (vocals/guitar) had these lyrics that hadn’t been put to a song yet and he thought they perfectly summed up why we were in a band in the first place. It’s almost our band mission statement. It’s about being in that awkward transition period in your life. For all of us it’s about having this voice in our heads constantly calling us to music and finding likeminded friends to share that with. Without music I know we would all be directionless.

DID YOU HEAR ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS IN CALIFORNIA?
This song thematically is about putting distance between yourself and the people you love, for the sake of trying to grow as an individual. That is only half of it though. There is also a second underlying theme of having a permanent connection to the people you love/loved no matter the distance or circumstances. Even though the distance may be self inflicted it also hurts to see the people you love putting their own distance between you. Not specifically physical distance but also emotional. The title of the song is actually a modified quote from the television show The Office, a show we watched copious amounts of during the writing process of this album.

LAST SHOPPER OUT OF SAIGON
Instrumentally this is the first song we wrote. This is simply about making the decision to move on after a breakup. It’s about realizing that you let another person control your emotions for an extended amount of time and coming to the realization that you in fact control the way you feel. Only you have the power to decide how you feel and what your outlook on life is.

HOME
This song is about returning to your home town after being away for a period of time. Seeing all your friends and peers unhappy, though they may be making progress in their lives through school or relationships there still seems to be a general lack of direction. It’s about coming to terms with not having direction and being ok with it. Maybe we aren’t the people we hoped we would become but at the same time maybe we are better off that way. People in our age group get really caught up in having some sort of life purpose. Many of them don’t realize that everyone feels like that, so it is also about having a general connection with your peers through this lack of direction.

MARTY MCFLY NOSTRADAMUS AND I
The chorus is about thinking you have a plan for your life, or that you once had a specific course set and that course being drastically changed. It’s about struggling to see where your life is going. Though you once had a life vision everything has suddenly become open ended. Once nothing is planned out, some serious life decisions come up when trying to find something new to work towards.

KILLED OFF IN THE SECOND ACT
The first verse was written while taking a train ride from Berkeley to San Francisco to meet up with some old friends. The imagery of the train going beneath the bay and coming back up is a representation of feeling the same emotional highs and lows over and over again and wanting to feel something new. The song goes into the theme of not being satisfied with the way your life has progressed. The verses being focused on everyday life events like taking the train to go to a party or having an innocent crush. The chorus ties these events together alluding to a general emotional discontentment. 

ANOTHER WORLD BEATER
The most upbeat song on the record this was written mainly for our more pop-punk oriented crowd. Though we are by no stretch of the imagination a pop-punk band, the first year of our band was spent playing with bands like The Story So Far, Transit, Man Overboard, Handguns, (bands that don’t necessarily sound like us). After touring with The Story So Far and Handguns I think this song will fit in really well when added to our live set. We wanted something fun with high energy that kids could get stoked on at pop-punk shows. We feel really connected to the DIY pop-punk scene that is up and coming right now. We all loved pop-punk growing up and then hardcore. I see a huge correlation between this new scene and the early/mid 2000s hardcore scene. It’s really what we feel connected to and are passionate about.

THIS IS REBIRTH
One of our oldest songs it reflects on growing up playing music. Literally all of our first loves were music and the connection we found through playing it. It’s about coming back to that after an extended period of pursuing things that didn’t add up to that first love. Music literally has the power to change people’s lives. The connection that people feel to songs and musicians is real and permanent. Many times the emotions stirred by music can feel much more intense than physical connection. I still hear songs I listened to years ago and am instantly time warped back to specific life events. Falling in love, falling out of love, summer drives, late nights with good friends, growing up in general. This song is us saying never take music for granted; it’s powerful.
  
A MILLION MINUTES IN THE MAKING
The last full song we wrote I think this is the most atypical song on the record. It was us intentionally stepping out of the sonic form we had established throughout the album. We were hoping to create a song that summed up one of the themes in the record which is a pursuit of happiness in the midst of discontentment. It is a narrative between the person you are and the person you want to become. We all have a specific idea of who we think we are and who we want to be. This song is Matt struggling between those two ideas and making himself the person that he ultimately wants to be. The tell in the song and ultimately the thesis is when in the post chorus he sings “You are the person that I swore that I could be, if I could just lift this heaviness from inside of me.” The song also features guest harmonies by one of our best friends Aaron Pauley who also recorded this record.