Last Call have officially released their new EP, Stay On The Outside, via Mightier Than Sword Records, and the band was kind enough to write a Track-By-Track guide for PropertyOfZack. Make sure to read up to get an in-depth analysis behind each of the tracks on the EP! 

Long Distance 
Long Distance is loosely written about an incident that took place involving our band about a year ago. Some of our best and closest friends were involved, and it was something that has affected friendships and relationships forever. Nothing in the song is too blunt about what it was, and only a few people know exactly what happened. Chances are, if you weren’t there, you don’t know. We wrote the music for it in only a few hours, and everything just kind of fell into place. We knew what this song was going to be about, but didn’t really have it penned quite the right way. After tracking all of the music for it, we all sat in the studio the night before tracking vocals and tried a bunch of ideas. Austin had a few ideas for the verses, and Adam had an idea of what the chorus would be like and about. Slowly, we hammered away at it, line-by-line, with the music replaying over and over. The lines began to form, and the melody came to life. By the next morning, we had it right where we wanted it. Conceptually, what the song boils down to is that if someone that’s a generally shitty person dislikes you for whatever reason, you’re probably doing something right. There are certain people, and certain types of people that you’re better off not surrounding yourself with.
 
Keyholes
About a week before we went into the studio to record ‘Stay On The Outside’ we decided to scrap a bunch of the songs we had written. We had the skeletons of a few songs that we felt were stronger, and just more fun to play, one of them being Keyholes. We tried a bunch of different things with this song. Everything sounded rad, but once we tweaked the music a bit, and wrote about 3 sets of completely different lyrics, we landed on what felt right. We wanted this record to have a short, to-the-point punk song, and this satisfied that. The chorus was so catchy, so taking Paul’s [Miner] advice, we tacked another half chorus onto the end of the song.
Austin: Lyrically, this is about some choices I made in a relationship that I was in, and ultimately realized I was becoming a person that I didn’t like, and doing things that I wasn’t proud of. Literally taking from the lyrics, I was running away from the truth and my feelings, and hiding behind trophies.
Adam: I relate this song to the rough patches that we all go through with people that we care about. When something is said or done that isn’t really meant, you wonder how the other person feels, and hope that they’re feeling that same shitty feeling that you are. Whether you’re “looking through keyholes”, staring at pictures, or keeping in touch with someone else just to ask how they’re doing, ultimately, you do still care.
 
Old News
This was the first song we wrote after we released ‘12:57’, and was “this close” to not being on the record. This song is pretty much about my [Austin] anxiety, and having the fear of telling too much about myself in my lyrics. I didn’t know if I was supposed to hold nothing back and be completely honest, or if I was consciously supposed to make our songs openly relatable to listeners. Ultimately, I decided that I would put my faith in anyone who listens to this record, and hope that they take from my anxieties and idiosyncrasies what they feel is important. At the same time, like I convey in the chorus, don’t take me too literally.
 
Disconnected
Disconnected was kind of the base idea of the entire EP. Shortly after ‘12:57’ came out, we wrote this song, and it had a set of lyrics that were completely different from what ended up on the record. The content, however, remained the same. Sometimes, no matter who you’re around, what you’re doing, or what situations you’re going through at any given time, you can’t help but to feel alone. Sometimes, It’s the exact opposite; you need to be alone, or have some time to yourself for whatever reason. About a month before we went into the studio, I [Adam] thought that the pre-chorus should have a little something more. I had this line that I had been toying around with that said ‘…Stay On The Outside”.  It worked perfectly, both in context, and feel. When we got into the studio, we played this song a few times, and before we were finished, Paul was already singing that line. Being the most memorable part in the song, he suggested scrapping the then-chorus, and replacing it with this. Admittedly, at first we were skeptical, but after playing it through a few times, we quickly agreed that it made the song much better. That line tied the song together perfectly, as it did to the feel and idea of the entire EP. There wasn’t anything that we thought represented this EP as a whole better than this single line. Hence, ‘Stay On The Outside.’
 
It’s Like This Place Isn’t Even Real
This was the last song that we wrote for the record, and probably ended up being one of the most effortless songs we’ve written. We had the guitar riffs and vocals for the chorus written right when we scrapped a bunch of the other songs, but put it on the back burner until a day or two before heading down to California. We revisited the idea, and everything started flowing really well., We had this song complete, lyrics and all, within a couple of hours. The writing for this record was done. Weeks after we finished recording, we were still stuck on official track names of some of the songs, one of them being this song. We were hanging out in Vegas with our friend Dave [Mackinder], and he randomly said “It’s Like This Place Isn’t Even Real” in reference to the city of Las Vegas. Immediately, Austin and I [Adam] looked at each other, and thought the exact same thing. That was going to be the title of what was then known as “Chorus Galores.”
Austin: I’m a person that is prone to panic attacks, anxiety attacks and depression, which usually tends to keep me in a negative place. “This Place” is about me letting go of that negativity and trying to find the positive in things. I don’t want to let my negativity seep through in everything I write, but like I say in the first verse, sometimes that gets a reaction out of me that helps me see the positive in things. This song is really kind of self-deprecating until the last chorus. I accept that I’m bringing that negativity onto myself, and I’m going to get past it.
Adam: The end is too damn catchy.
 
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After a close analysis of these songs, we realize that we just wrote the most negative record of the year. Congratulations to us.