In early 2017, the band was playing regularly and working on our new video and single, but I was having something of a dry spell in terms of writing. I’ve never been a terribly prolific songwriter, or a disciplined one, but I do often find that when I put time into sitting down regularly with a keyboard or guitar, a few will start to pour out at once.
Something like this happened in March of 2017 when I got back from SXSW newly inspired by new bands and old friends. “Dirty Little Secret” was a rare song for me–one that I wrote start to finish in just a week or two. It’s about the late nights and bad decisions of my late 20s, and looking back on them 10 years on.
Once “Dirty Little Secret” came together with the band, a second tune I’d been playing around with for a year or so crystalized as well: “Miss the Life”. This one has some of the same themes of looking back at an earlier time, but in a more contemplative, resigned way: “I’m not sorry for the way I left / Won’t weigh the memories with regret / Romanticize a troubled past / But I miss the life I thought I’d have.” In a sense, it’s an ode to the life I gave up to make the bad decisions of “Dirty Little Secret”, and the acceptance of that fact that I wouldn’t be who I am today without both.
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