One Life To Lead - Sound In The Signals Interview

I recently had the chance to interview One Life To Lead. Check out the full interview below.



Your new EP ‘Visions Of Grandeur’ comes out in July. Can you tell me a little about the writing and recording process of the EP?
Matt Demorest - When we write music, each of us will usually come up with different ideas that end up making it into the final version of the song. Each of us brings different ideas to the table, and we value each other's opinions when it comes to music. Before we went into the studio, we had about 5-6 songs that we were really excited about. At the end of it all, only 4 of those songs ended up making it onto the EP; we replaced the other songs with Visions of Grandeur and Be Honest. Visions was a song Ronnie wrote awhile back that we ended up tweaking and making super funky, but still punk-like and very big - it's your typical opening song. Be Honest was a song we wrote completely in studio as a collaborative effort with our producer - it's unlike anything we've ever done before. Really, in short, the recording process for this EP can be described in three words: fun, productive, and experimental.

You released your new single “Just Like You” at the end of April. Can you tell me about writing that song specifically and why you chose it as a single for the EP?
Trey Miller - Early versions of Just Like You first came out when we were jamming sometime in the fall of 2017. Lyrically, I was thinking about a relationship I'd just gotten out of recently and Just Like You surfaced. We thought it would be a good single because it's got some bounce to it, but the lyrics are sort of emotional and people can relate to it; it's a sad bop.

Matt Demorest - When we brought the song to the studio, we immediately knew it was going to be the first single we were going to release for the EP. It has a very upbeat and energetic vibe to it; something that people can nod their head to and listen to with the car windows down. It's the ideal song to have as a single.

You worked with Eric Taft. What was it like working with him and how do you think he helped you from a production standpoint?
Ronnie Sherman - He was a huge help when it came to production and introducing new ideas. Prior to working with Eric, we were just working with engineers. On our first two EP's, the tunes that we came up with were what we left with. Being in the studio with Eric was the easiest studio session I've been a part of. It wasn't always work, work, work; we would work on parts, go off on tangents, then he would bring it back in to continue working on the track. This next release is special because Eric pushed us to get the best product possible and it really shows in comparison to our previous releases.

I’ve had the chance to listen to the EP and I like how diverse it is and how you draw from different genres. Songs like “Hometown” and “Open Letter” are really different, but you have found a way to make them work. How did you find the sound and style of the band?
Matt Demorest - We've always been a band that draws from multiple different genres; each one of us listens to different types of music. Trey and Ron listen to a lot of hip-hop and rap; Chris & I listen to a lot of pop-punk and alternative music. We're also a huge fans of nu-metal bands like Linkin Park. We like a lot of the same artists, but we are also diverse in our tastes. Trey & I also have different vocal styles; there's always been interest in mixing rap with his melodic style and my heavier, gritter style. So over the last year as a band, we realized that there isn't really a band that mixes all of these elements together. We really wanted to be a band that fused all of this, and when we got into the studio Eric was an important piece in helping us figure out how to make all of the different sounds flow together seamlessly. It was during the recording of the EP where we finally able to define our sound: nu-punk, a mixture of the up-beat optimism of pop-punk and the aggressiveness of old school hip-hop and nu-metal.

The artwork for the EP is really cool. Who created it and who came up with the concept for it?
Matt Demorest - Cypres Watson, a good friend of ours from the Baltimore music scene, drew up the artwork for the EP. There was no concept going in; we told him to listen to the EP in its entirety, and to then draw what he envisioned while listening. Metaphorically, it depicts us (the lion) stepping out into the scene (the snake) and trying to make our presence known to a world full of chaos.




Pre-order 'Visions of Grandeur': HERE.