In a digital age dominated by social media, our interaction with one another can effect how lives in many ways. It is one of the subjects Bristol’s Beyond Recall take on with their second EP – ‘Selfish Scars’.
Over the course of six songs, the trio provide an arsenal of explosive hooks and heavy riffs with an underlying groove. It’s a mish-mash of ideas as they seamlessly blur the genre lines of alt-rock, post-hardcore, and metal with blistering results.
‘Selfish Scars’ is set to be released next Friday (13th January), however we recently spoke to the band to find out what ‘Selfish Scars’ is all about, track-by-track. While vocalist Zaid Elgahmi gave us a more detailed account about the EP.
140 Characters
‘140 Characters’ is all about making it to the end of that bad break-up’ and finally recovery. After an on-and-off relationship Zaid struggled to put the past behind him.
Zaid: I found myself obsessed with what she was writing on Twitter and posting on any social media. Every morning when I woke up I checked, also every night before I went to bed. I used to check her friends accounts just to see what they’d say, it was like I was looking for trouble. I also found out she was messaging and dating other guys towards the end of the relationship and my head exploded, but I wasn’t surprised – ‘Once a cheat, always a girl’. I’m happy to say I’m now over it.
Selfish Scars
‘Selfish Scars’ is a warning to anyone who’s found themselves in a position where all they do is hurt others, and by doing so it hurts them. That’s what ‘selfish scars’ means. The song is all about how Zaid has f**cked things up in the past and because that’s all he knows he’s afraid that’s all he’s gonna do in the future.
Zaid: I wrote it because I was worried. I’ve now got an incredible girl in my life who I’d anything for but all these past relationships started the same. It’s all new and exciting but I find a way of ruining it all. I knew this time around it had to be different, and putting pen to paper and admitting all my faults was probably the best thing I’ve ever done. It was like therapy. And I learnt a lot about myself.
Get It Right
Our friends and family are the most supportive people in our lives, however sometimes it’s hard for them to understand why we’re struggling and how we’re not rolling in the money with our music.
Zaid: We occasionally get told that we’re doing this ‘music thing’ wrong. Every so often by people who think the X-Factor and a record contract is the golden ticket for every musician… it’s not. This track is all about how much belief we have in ourselves, and in this dream, and in this music. We wouldn’t put our blood, sweat and sometimes tears into Beyond Recall if we didn’t think that it was worth something. Our spirit will never be killed, cause we’re gonna get this right.
On-lies
Social media these days is one big popularity contest, which forces people to say the first thing that comes to mind and post some slightly unrealistic images. And for a lot of these kids, our fans, they find it necessary to edit every picture, exaggerate every moment and live through their phones, and we don’t blame them because… we’re exactly the same.
Zaid: I realised my phone was constantly in my hand, Facebook was like my oxygen and not going an hour without checking it made me feel anxious and uncomfortable. I felt ashamed of myself because our fans look-up to us, why would anyone want to be the guy who’s constantly looking for a new filter as their ‘idol’. Having that 24 hour distraction made me realise I wasn’t living life to the full, however music brought me back to life and I hope this track helps them realise that: one, they’re not alone in this, and two, they will always have music.
Almost
Girls pop up online all the time, but it’s not always just a ‘hello’. This track was basically Zaid outing the certain females who send nudes, may we add, without us asking and expect us to send certain pics back – then proceed to get angry with us because we ignore the rest of the messages… But let’s just clarify, we all know girls go through this too so it’s not just a “lad song”.
Zaid: This song’s funny because the girl I was writing about at the time literately messaged me out of nowhere, there was no small talk… just nudes. And so I thought instead of writing a song about this girl and how much time she has on her hands (clearly), I created this character for myself who’s the guy who likes to lead this behaviour on. Then I suddenly realised we’re a generation of ‘almost relationships’. Thanks to Tinder and many other dating apps all we do is flirt and try to pick up girls/guys online and it goes nowhere.
Tomorrow
Our fans mean the absolute world to us, that’s why we created #TeamRecall. We wanted them to know that we’re all in it together and they’re as important to Beyond Recall as one of us, they’re the 4th member of this band. Over time we’ve got to know a lot of them, and by doing so we see things that unfortunately affect them mentally. So many of them care way too much about what other people think about them. So many of them are not comfortable in their own skin.
Zaid: These were the most easiest lyrics I’ve ever had to write. I questioned nothing that came to mind because I’d recently seen pain on a young fans face. It was after a show and he came up to me, hugged me and instantly started crying. The first words that came out his mouth were “sorry” and he apologised for his emotions. I told him he never has to apologise for tears. His mum thanked me and explained that we meant a hell of a lot to him, and that the only place he feels accepted is at our shows. The kid clearly is having a rough time in life and it reminded me why we do this. Ever since that day I’ve preached ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, the colour of the skin, the gender you associate with or sexual orientation – we are all human. And the moment you put someone else’s negativity before your own happiness is the moment things need to change, and Beyond Recall are always here to help.
‘Selfish Scars’ by Beyond Recall is released on 13th January.