"Illuminate" is one of those songs that just kind of fell out of the sky and into our laps one day during a rehearsal. Just playing with melody and different feels, it just appeared. Within about 15 minutes, the bones of everything was there, melody, arrangement moods. Some of my favorite songs happen like that, just a lightening quick moment of inspiration.

We've been playing it live for a while and it's always gotten a great response. Our bassist Joe [Bourgeois] was kind of a hero on this record. He joined the band a week before we went to Ardent Studios to start working on the record. He learned the song as we'd been doing it, but once we got working in the studio, he really rebuilt the part completely and put a great groove into it that wasn't there before.

The lyric of the song is about feeling trapped, frustrated, and beat down where you are, and looking to that person next to you that you love and saying "wouldn't it be great to just run away and get the hell out of here together?" There's a real tension in the verses musically, especially in the 2nd verse where the drums, bass and guitar lock in a driving, pushing groove, and then as it gets to the chorus (the escape), the playing opens up, it's a really neat movement we put together that we're really proud of.

This was the first song we did for this EP, and the first thing we recorded in Studio A at Ardent. It's the room where all the Big Star records were done, which are some of my favorite albums. I actually ended up using the old Hi Watt amp and cabinet that was used on "Radio City" and "Third", which was a thrill in and of itself, but it's one of the best sounding guitar tones I've ever had. That room has an amazing vibe and sound, and we tracked live in there, so the energy really comes out in the recording. It's one of the best things we've ever done, and we're so proud of how it came out.

As a side note, playing this song live taught me a great lesson. A few people had come up to me and said how much they liked our song "Lemonade." The first time I heard that, I had to stop and think about what they were talking about it. Then I realized that maybe I ought to annunciate better when I sing.