Brighton rockers The RPMs are gearing up to release their new EP "Agents Of Change" on June 2nd and to celebrate we asked frontman Jack Valero to tell us about the lead single "Oh My God." Here is the story:
I've always been interested in current events and social commentary and music that reflects it's time. I'd spend most of my late teens listening to songs from the sixties singing about Vietnam, civil rights and the many other issues of that period. I would almost feel jealous of the singer-songwriters back then for having so much to right and talk about, but you know what they say 'be careful what you wish for'. And of course in the last few years I've had no end of things to write about, however what hasn't seemed to change is my generation's lack of identity. Most of the generations before us especially in the previous century have had something to define them such as war or cultural changes. But my generation seems more lethargic and blas� when finding something that brings us all together. Which made me feel somewhat alone. And one day I was thinking all this through and feeling pretty helpless in the face of it all. As I watched the world seem to twist and change out of shape and go backwards completely out of my control I felt somewhat foolish for even caring. I mean what was the point? Even with all my faith in humanity and all the emotional energy put in it all seemed to just end up the same way. And that is where I got the first line of 'Oh My God'.
It was literally what I said in my head, 'Oh my god, what even is the point of it?'. Just a sincere and honest question I kept asking myself, expressing my exasperated frustration at the world. I kept saying it over and over again as I was driving down the road on my own late one night. Then a girl I knew suddenly popped into my head and I thought about how all the girls I'd been with had smoked and how they all tasted like ash when I kissed them. Thats when the final part of the chorus appeared in my mind 'Stuck here counting my regrets, another girl that tastes like cigarettes'. Then the chords came rushing to me, I was humming the top line and the song came into existence! I actually got so excited that I did't realise I was speeding and ended up getting caught by a camera, but the 5 hour long speed awareness course gave me lots of time to think up more lyrics.
As I continued to write the rest the lyrics they very naturally began to from around my frustrations with the world and my feelings of helplessness already set up by the sentiment of the chorus. They came fast and smooth, almost like I'd already written it and was copying it down. Every lyric absolutely nailing the worries and feelings I had been wrestling with. I then brought it to a rehearsal with the others, who began to add their own musical flares to it. Callum (drummer) made the great suggestion we hit the chords once and let them ring out on the chorus as to emphasise the emotion it was expressing and Miguel (bass player) adding bass licks that made the simple chord structure far more interesting. We played it together and made some changes here and there, but we pretty much had the thing done in a week.
It's weird creativeness and inspiration, it's not something you can just switch on and off. It just appears out of nowhere and flows like a river before disappearing again. It's always there on the peripherals of your mind and if you focus on it too much, it'll never work. But ignore it and it'll come and find you and your best work yet may just fall into your lap when you least expect it.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the album right here!
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