In tumultuous times there is a tendency to turn inward; however, self-examination can yield a limited perspective. It’s through the mosaic of perspectives that a clearer and more revealing picture begins to emerge.
After over two decades of releases with the fan-adored band Gameface, Jeff Caudill returns with a new project, Low Coast, and a debut record – Existing the Dream (available May 26th – PRE-ORDER). A departure from the SoCal melodic punk rock world and a foray into the direction of bands like Whiskeytown, Wilco, and Death Cab for Cutie. What began as a stripped down solo record, soon began to amplify as the individual songs took shape. “I thought I was making an acoustic record, but as the subject matter got more broad, the need for more instrumentation grew,” says Caudill. “I could hear the songs in my head as big rock songs, and I knew I wasn’t writing a Gameface album, but I also didn’t want to retrace the same old steps as I’d done with my solo records – writing all of the parts and asking people to play them. I needed it to be a true collaboration.” It was from this point that Low Coast was born.
Without a clear map or archetype to follow for the record, Existing the Dream took shape in a truly organic way. Recording in Fratantuno and Yoshiaki’s studio, each song followed its own creative leanings. “We all come from slightly different music scenes but still have a lot of common ground,” says Caudill, “while writing the songs it wasn’t weird to hear things like ‘…the one with the Son Volt verse and the Black Sabbath bridge,’ ‘Let’s go full Wilco on this part’ or ‘It’s like if Elvis Costello sang for the Descendents’.”
Thematically, Existing the Dream attempts to unravel the tension of growing older in an uncertain world ruled by monotony, responsibility, and isolation. Veering from the directly autobiographical lyrical tendencies of Gameface, Existing the Dream zooms out to examine a broader landscape from a variety of different angles. “Now that middle age is coming down like a ton of bricks, we have bigger concerns than we did in our twenties,” says Caudill, “We worry about the world in a serious, real way. [When I started writing the project I was] thinking about people in my life who have died. There’s a song about one of my friends who died in the eighth grade and how I just stopped talking to my other friends that knew him. It was really messed up. We all just had no idea how to deal with tragedy like that. But the record isn’t really about death. It’s more about understanding someone else’s life and their perspective.”
Today Glide is premiering the official lyric video for the standout track “Out There” (PRE-SAVE), which properly captures the punk spirit of this band. The band describes it as a love song, but this is also a hard rocking, punk-inflected anthem that is brimming big guitars, soaring organ, and infectious grit. We get crashing guitars alongside loose and lively vocals to make for a freewheeling song that would surely have been a hit in the 90s.
Jeff Caudill describes the inspiration behind the song:
“Out There” is a love song. It may not sound like it at first but the sentiment is really sweet. It’s about loving all of your partner’s quirks and imperfections. The riff is fire – burned into my brain. It had been on a constant loop in my head long before it turned into a song. It was one of those things that I just kept playing and the lyrics just sort of presented themselves.
WATCH:
