Singled Out: Tab The Band's She Said No (I Love You)

"She Said No (I Love You)" was a departure for the band both musically and lyrically. Musically, we hadn't released a track before that was focused on percussion. It was a tune I wrote on an acoustic that had been tuned to some weird "D" tuning that I made up. The whole thing spilled out in about five minutes. When you play it by itself it has that real bluesy, chugging vibe, like a tune you might hear down south in the 30s, rolling down the bayou. Once we got hold of it as a band, though, it really became about the percussion. Ben layered several different instruments to create this wall of percussion that we could pull in and out of the mix, and create the dynamics. There's a lot of room in the track. The bassline has that "Ramble On" vibe, and the guitar parts are subtle. The vocals are really bare, as well, which connects with the message of the tune, which is one that combines blind confidence with insecurity. A defiant, yet wavering sound.

Lyrically, my songs typically are tongue in cheek. There'll be a bit of sarcasm in there, a lascivious story, something biting. But each record will have a couple of songs that are more honest and revealing I suppose, and this record has a few of them. "She Said No" is the most autobiographical tune I've written, which at times makes it awkward to perform. It's about the struggle to have the courage to reach for your dreams, while trying to reconcile that with the pull of a "real life", in this case represented by a normal job and a significant relationship. The tune is quite literal. I spend a lot of time going back and forth meeting the rest of the band via train to do shows, trying my best to keep my day job so I can support myself and my wife. I'm faced with constant uncertainty about whether we're on the brink of making it, or if I'm wasting my time. Playing in a band is a grueling process as any musician, successful or not, can attest to. This song attempts to deal with that. It has a constant beat for a reason. You just have to keep pushing forward, like a freight train going downhill. The problem is you don't know where the train is going.