Roam - Head Down (Track By Track)
“When we began writing for ‘Head Down’ back in January, we had quite a clear vision on what we wanted it to sound like; A more angsty, shouty, epic version of what we'd done before, trying to aggregate all of the aspects that make this genre great.
We spent pretty much the whole year, even up to the minutes before we were recording, writing, rewriting and demoing the material, in both a live and recording sense. I think it's really important to have new material for a long time before you set it in stone and record it. We played Head Rush on a weekender we did in February and it went down well, but it was nothing like it is now.
Track 1: You Never Said
This was the second song we'd written for the EP after Head Rush. It came from the intro riff, which Sam had been playing for a while and we'd all jammed our parts onto it, later adding/rewriting and perfecting the rest of the song. The song kind of sums up the stage we're all at in life right now in terms of growing up - we're not quite adults yet but the pressures to be and act like one are there. It's something that can be a bit overbearing sometimes so it's a very therapeutic song for us in that sense; "I've had time to rest my head, it's temporary". There's a lot of people willing to tell you things you can't be at this stage and it's easy to let that get you down, but you just can't.
Track 2: Stickerslap
Named after the mission from Tony Hawks PS, this song is such a release for us as a band, it's fast, shouty and over within a minute and a half. It's very much a positive song - it's kind of the other side of growing up and just not caring and being reckless in your decisions, instead of wasting time dwelling on mistakes.
Track 3: Nothing in Return
This song came into being literally 2 weeks before recording, and quickly became everyone's favourite. It's very much in theme with the rest of the songs in that it's about not wanting to look back in the future and think you've made the wrong choices in life. It's also about how easy it can be to put everything on the line for your passion fully knowing there's a chance you'll get nothing back "I gave up everything for this and got back nothing in return".
Track 4: Foresight
This started with a riff I'd been playing around with for a while, and took many forms before it ended up as it is now. I think it's the most musically interesting, with a lot of cool sections and a gang shout on the middle 8. The chorus on this one is the catchiest for me too.
Track 5: Head Rush
This was the first track written for the new EP and for us was the first step into a more coherent sound, it sounded a lot more how we wanted to sound. The song's about how people can sometimes lose their sense of self-worth when they become infatuated, putting their feelings and how they're treated aside in order to treasure someone else. The final line of the song "This was for you" is a kind of giving up motion in a positive way - moving on and saying it was for you, but it's not anymore.
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