High Tides - I'm Not Giving Up, I'm Just Starting Over (Track By Track)

Nottingham's High Tides classify themselves as ‘putting emo into pop punk since 2015’. The members have for the most part, been in each other’s lives for many years, some even from school age: “We’ve all been in bands previously both together and separately, but this final line up just clicked instantly both musically and socially”. Within the busy sphere pop punk, they comment that what sets them apart from their contemporaries is both their music and their live show: “We feel our sound brings some fresh elements to the UK Pop punk sound, being a bit deeper and more mature than other bands on the scene, tending to stray from the typical ‘In sound’ currently being shared. Live it’s always crazy energetic and we put absolutely everything into it, we don’t feel we’ve done a good enough job unless we come off stage looking like we’ve had a bath in sweat.” With their upcoming mini-album set for release on March 17th via Scylla Records, the band give us an insight into what to expect with their track by track…

1. Resolution: We don't really class Resolution as a 'proper' track on the record, more of just a little introduction. The main theme of the lyrics, for what little there is, is one of… you guessed it: resolution. The desperate plea I'm sure we've all been through in relationships, friendships, work or home life of "I'll never F*** up again". This simple song is also a bit of a teaser into later songs on the album.

2. 52: 52 was one of the last songs we wrote and recorded, but one that we all instantly loved. We decided to make this our lead single because it has a fair bit of impact straight away, coming in with the fast verse and leading into a bouncy chorus. The meaning is quite a personal one to Chris, the '52' represents 52 playing cards on which his ex wrote a reason on each one why she loved him. Unfortunately things turned sour and events happened which are also mentioned within the song. Featuring Miles Kent from Catch Fire was an easy choice as we’re from the same city, we're similar ages, and we're in the same genre/scene. We support everything each other does.

3. Yet To Be Told: This too was one of the last tracks we wrote for the record. It starts with that guitar build up that just gets you pumped up, then coming straight in with one of the catchiest choruses we have written to date! It's packed full of energy and twist and turns, and just has a great up beat feeling.

4. Heart: Heart has that familiar meaning for many people of when you've broken up with a person and you do the stupid thing of continuing to sleep together, causing more damage.  You just can't just be friends, at least not after a fresh break up. It's also about always keeping what you had in your heart and not looking back at the experience as a bad thing, because it makes you who you are in the long run.

5. Realisation: We decided to put a little interlude into the album and that is Realisation. It marks the theme switching from that at the start of the album of "I'll never F--- up again", to one of "I guess I f---ed up again", an eye opener in which I'm sure we've all experienced. We decided to go with the Phone Call style spoken word for the song inbetween two soft choruses. The spoken words were unscripted or practiced to give a more raw, heartfelt, and meaningful theme to the words.

6. Bridges: A song that hits you like a tonne of bricks. The intro to it is so deceiving that when the fist verse comes in, it hits hard! Such an energetic song with, in our opinion, the best pre-chorus on the release, with the chant "I'll never f--- up again". This is where the overall theme for the EP really originated from. I think everyone has been haunted by a road not taken and think about it from time to time, this song is a representation of that feeling. We had a blast writing this song with was one of those experiences where everything just clicks and everyone has grins on their faces as it came together.

7. Lucky For Some: Lucky For Some is about having suspicions about someone and then having them confirmed. it also has another layer to it which is one of being jealous about anyone that is happy in a relationship. It includes the lyrics: "lucky for some, but in the end you'll be numb. cause the deck is stacked and I'm sorry for being a pessimist", which have the meaning of being cheated out of something and finding out because of your pessimistic attitude, instead of being ignorant. 

8. Home: Home is our closer and another soft song on the album… or at least it appears so to begin with. The song features a clean sounding guitar and some soft vocals, giving a nice calm ending to the album. Or rather, it is until it blasts back in with the full band and hard hitting, passionate vocals for one last rush of emotion. We’re happy to close the whole album's journey, leaving the end of the song, and the album, on a rung out, powerful heartfelt vocal note.

Pre-order via iTunes and Scylla Records.