It was never the intent of Our Nameless Boy to take so long to deliver their latest EP. However, some things are much more important than being in a band. Formed in 2014, the Bristol quartet had around 30 ideas for songs by the time frontman Iain Gorrie was diagnosed with testicular cancer in late 2015. Through the support of his family, friends and dedicated medical professionals, Gorrie would go on a long road to recovery. The imminent release of ‘Tomorrow I’ll Be Scared Again’ is considered the climax of his recovery yet simultaneously begins an exciting new, positive chapter for Our Nameless Boy.
Its five songs comfortably display an effective brand of emotive rock akin to Manchester Orchestra, highlighted by brooding lyricism and a muscular musical spine. Throughout, the four-piece brilliantly pull-off a familiar quiet-loud dynamic proving to be thoroughly engaging.
As part of our ongoing trend of championing new music, we’re pleased to be giving you an exclusive first listen to ‘Tomorrow I’ll Be Scared Again’. We also spoke to Iain Gorrie to get a track-by-track insight into the EP.
Nothing On My Mind
So most of the EP songs were actually almost- or fully completed right before I was diagnosed. The exception is ‘Nothing On My Mind’, mostly written in the times I could stand and hold a guitar between early chemo cycles. I see that song as a “gateway song” to the stuff we’re writing for the possible album, as it was my first attempt to really understand myself as I was undergoing chemo. It’s interesting for me to listen back as it essentially describes many themes one might imagine with cancer – denial, battling with ageing, the idea that you’re in some way removed from your social circles, and how to be around the people you care about – but it doesn’t dive deep into any given part of what I was going through because I hadn’t had time to fully process it. But the new songs we’re working on do exactly that, hence “gateway'”.
Once An Island
‘Once An Island’ was my attempt to describe and deal with the frustrations many experiences of trying to be close to someone, whose past experiences have led them to push others away as a form of self-defence. The idea of this song came from Richie (Steadman – guitar/vocals). I think his original made-up-words demo is still on a Garageband file somewhere. I then took it and emo-d it up a bit and it came together rather smoothly in practice, which is unusual. I think the lyrics actually took cues from some of the random things Richie had sung in his demo.
All It Is
‘All It Is’, through happenstance, gets close to themes associated with the big C, of being wide-eyed, naive and lacking a drive to create a better self, which in real life ultimately became something I’d blame myself for when diagnosed, which is why it made sense to make the video we did for this song during my recovery. Those ideas are also set against the backdrop of being fairly early in a relationship, and there’s an awareness of that dynamic in the lyrics.
Waste Away
‘Waste Away’ touches on both being defined by one’s actions and how you project yourself to the world. Like ‘All It Is’, there’s the context of a significant other in there, and I wanted to show how insecurities related to those projections and relationships can come through in a manner that wants to shift the blame for those insecurities wholly to those people. There is a wildly overt reference to Instagram in the 2nd verse. Musically, this song wasn’t completely finished by the time we went to The Ranch. The original intro was far too classic rock but an acoustic run through of the song by myself and it naturally became what it is now. The mid-8 was essentially written whilst Will (Purcell) was tracking drums. That section has probably my favourite lyric on the EP.
Nover
‘Nover’ is about the drive to succeed, how it can so easily fade behind the challenges of everyday life. The title is just a stupid play on “not over”. The main riff is straight from The Early November playbook and now that I’ve told you that, you won’t be able to unhear it. I actually did change the chorus/outro lyric slightly as a nod to some of my feelings around being diagnosed with cancer. It felt right to shout “I’m older now” over and over live and in recording.
‘Tomorrow I’ll Be Scared Again’ EP by Our Nameless Boy is released on 1st March on Beth Shalom Records.
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