Modern Life – Song Preview – The Second Spirit

“Modern Life” all started off one day when I went over to my drummer friend Joey Hennigan’s house.   I brought a little Casio SK-1 sampler keyboard and Joey played some cool stuff on it.   He played that awesome intro keyboard lick.   We didn’t do much with it, but a year or so later I found that lick in my recordings and started playing with it.

I was busking every night, submerged in the tall Las Vegas buildings.   Between the people going to the dance clubs and the buildings, I was living a Metropolitan, futuristic life.   I would come home early in the morning and have this residual energy from the crowd.  When I drove home I always wanted to keep driving into the sunrise.  So pumped from singing, and the people, I just wanted to keep driving but I new eventually the sleep deprivation would catch up.   It was a weird feeling.  That is where the line “will you try to catch the morning sun” came from.

The instruments all came together easily with minimal tracks.  When writing it I always thought of it as a sultry David Bowie labyrinth song.  But like I said, most of my busking crowds were coming out of the nightclubs and EDM scene here in Vegas.  So I think it influenced the song into a kind of futuristic cosmopolitan feel.    I was also listening to Empire of the Sun a lot.  It all came together.

My brother Justin Stills played drums on it.  I love what he did with it.  He gave it such a unique 80s sound with the stop splashes and stuff. It was so original what he did.   Mixed with the electronic beats I think it really set it into its own world.

“Modern Life” will be released 11-01-2016 10-11-2016 as a single.  It will also be on my album Modern Life which is going to be released on 11-15-2016.