Singled Out: Lorne Behrman's When I Hit The Floor

Keavin Wiggins | 08-13-2021

NYC rocker Lorne Behrman (The Dimestore Haloes, L.E.S. Stitches, The Dead Tricks and The Sweet Things) just released a video for his debut solo single "When I Hit The Floor" and to celebrate he tells us about the track. Here is the story:

The song: In January 2020, I was kicked out of my previous band, The Sweet Things. I was really depressed. I had played music for 30 years, and for the first time ever, I felt like it was over for me. Up until then, I had been a lead guitar player, and an occasional songwriter. All those years my focus was really just on playing solos and being a gunslinger-playing fast and showing off. This song changed everything.

When I wrote this song, I was single, and living alone at the time. I have a young daughter who is with me every other weekend. That summer of 2020, after I was kicked out the band, I would go into her room, I guess for strength and to not feel alone. While there, I heard the leaf blowers and lawnmowers, and it made me sad-hearing that noise made me feel like life was passing me by. One Friday this song came to me, I shared it with my friend, Darren-former drummer of The Sweet Things. He said it was really good, and that gave me the confidence to try and record a solo song. It felt like a sign, and from there I wrote the three other songs on the EP.

"When I Hit The Floor" is about substance abuse; it's about hitting bottom. Consequences come and go, and you stop caring. You scare people away or alienate them by your actions. They worry about you, but then let go. All these feelings closed in on me when I was in my daughter's room during the time of writing the song.

Before I got sober, every night I would go to bed I would pray to God to take my life. I didn't want to wake up. I hoped everything I ingested would take me away. I remember one time my daughter said something about me dying; she said "you would never see me again." That is etched in my mind, and is one of the lyrics in the song. It took a minute to clean up, but on November 30th 2018 I became sober. The chorus in this song is about the faith you find when you fall down the stairs and you're still alive. It's sad but triumphant-you come to the edge of the cliff but you don't jump. Instead, you change the course of your life.

The EP is like a concept record. This first song tells the overarching story-feeling life has passed me by, feeling lost in pain, losing parts of my life that I thought made me who I am, and coming close to throwing life away. It's about desperation, and that desperation leading to positive change. Doing something drastic that isn't killing yourself-saving yourself.

The video: I had a small budget to make this video, and me and the director David J Barron decided we would film it near where the drama unfolded. I have since moved away from the area, so it was emotional to go back there. We had a handheld film camera from the 1970s, and it felt like we had to do it in a series of one-takes. I had to be "on point" and convey the emotions and narrative of the song without a lot of chances. It was kind of exhilarating to rise up to this role. There was no rehearsal, and I had no idea what I wanted to do or how I wanted to move. I just made up my mind to let what comes naturally flow.

It's funny the first version of the video had no images of me playing guitar. I played every guitar part on the EP, and playing guitar is my life. I think I was just so focused on the sentiment I forgot that. Then it was strongly suggested we add in the guitar footage. We shot me playing in a Brooklyn warehouse one rainy night. I think we did it in 3 minutes of film-we were in and out.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about Lorne's debut solo EP (out October 15th) here