Track Guide: Right on, Kid! – Carry What You Need

Ever since emerging out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Right on, Kid! have carved out a reputation as being one of pop-punks’ hidden gems. Their new EP, ‘Carry What You Need’, sees the quintet evolve to embrace emotive alt-rock with impressive results. Its five tracks surge with infectious melodies, and introspective lyrics examining change, and loss.

Songs such as ‘Bad Feeling’ and ‘Stuck on Repeat’ are delivered with summer-made choruses. Whereas ‘Sterling’ and ‘To Have and Have Not’ thoroughly pack an emotional punch. Along with ‘DREAM EATER!’, ‘Carry What You Need’ is a perfect re-introduction to Right on, Kid! after three years away.

Made up of vocalist Zach Rose, Nick Encinias (guitar/vocals), RJ Butler (lead guitar), Matt Jaramillo (bass), and drummer Eli Shinn, Right on, Kid! are reinvigorated, embracing organic changes, and all the challenges life throws at them.

For an insight into ‘Carry What You Need’, Right on, Kid! penned this track-by-track breakdown of the EP.

Bad Feeling

We wrote this song in the basement of (producer) Seth Henderson’s house the night before we were due to track guitars and vocals. ‘Bad Feeling’ is the quintessential comeback song for us, especially since our last release was almost three years ago. We felt like we needed to write a song that was raw, unapologetic, and loud. Lyrically, it is about the idea of quiet self-destruction and feeling like you are misunderstood. We wanted to capture the feeling you get when you wake up in the morning with no motivation to keep yourself together.

DREAM EATER!

We wrote ‘DREAM EATER!’ before any other song on this project. We had the opening riff in a Dropbox folder pretty much since we released our LP (2021’s ‘Life is a Movie’) and It was not until we got in the studio and began pre-production for ‘Carry What You Need’ that we decided to attempt to finish writing the song.

Lyrically, this song is about the importance of meaningful attachment and the difficulties that can come with not being able to comfortably attach or ‘attune’ to people or feelings. Seth, our producer/engineer, really pushed us to embrace unconventional guitar tones and sounds while we were tracking this song.

Musically, ‘DREAM EATER!’ is the “weirdest” song we have written. Somehow Seth was able to reel us back in and ensure that this track is cohesive with the entire project while allowing us to get familiar with being in uncharted territory as artists.

Stuck on Repeat

‘Stuck On Repeat’ was one of the last songs we wrote for ‘Carry What You Need’. The lyrics themselves are pretty straightforward. This song is about the fear of growing older and the monotony that comes with ageing which can sometimes make someone feel like they are running out of time.

Right on, Kid has been a band for nearly a decade, which means we have all been doing this since we were in high school/early college. We have all gone through so many changes as we get older but the band has always been a constant thing that we all have committed to. Ultimately, this song talks about becoming okay with change and learning to make time for the things that you love.

Sterling

We wanted ‘Carry What You Need’ to focus on themes such as growth, maturity, trauma, and to also talk about identifying what is important to us. ‘Sterling’ is written about familial troubles and how difficult it can be to stay connected to someone when you are so far away. This is also the song that allowed us to be the most creative in terms of “sound” and was a fun way to practice getting out of our comfort zones as musicians.

To Have and Have Not

‘To Have and Have Not ‘was written after a short conversation about loss and how unexpected loss can leave some lasting trauma. Since we are all getting older, it is natural that we are all experiencing loss more often than when we started making music. We wanted to write a song about that feeling. This song specifically speaks on how we, as a band, have dealt with loss and is one of the few songs where each one of us wrote a piece of the lyrics or melody.