Track-By-Track: Rough Dreams Release New Covers EP “From the Graves of Better Days”
Tenessee pop punkers Rough Dreams have teamed up with 59 X Records to release a covers EP titled From the Graves of Better Days. The album features covers of iconic tracks from Thrice, Saves The Day, Lucero, and Grade. As preparation for the release, the band dropped a video for their cover of Thrice’s “The Artist In The Ambulance” which was filmed in an abandoned school and directed by Kurt Fowles of Sirius Cenema.
Tracklist
- “The Artist in the Ambulance” (Thrice)
- “Termites Hollow” (Grade)
- “Nights Like These” (Lucero)
- “At Your Funeral” (Saves The Day)
You can stream From the Graves of Better Days on Spotify HERE.
Rough Dreams is Jake Jones (Vocals/Guitar) Chris Suggs (Vocals/Guitar) Matt Isbell (Bass) Paul Lowe (Drums). The band provided a track-by-track breakdown of the new release specifying just what went into the creation process.
The Artist And The Ambulance
“We chose “The Artist in the Ambulance” as the leadoff single for the EP because it is such an immediately passionate, hard-hitting, yet catchy song. Capturing the energy and intricacy of the original was a challenge we pushed ourselves to the limit for. We knew that we had to step up our game to do justice to the fluttering, spastic guitar work, and soaring vocals and couldn’t be happier with the end result.”
“We decided to make a video for The Artist in The Ambulance because the song perfectly sums up the vibe of the early 2000’s underground emo/punk/post-hardcore era. That time period in music is so nostalgic and brings back such great memories for so many people.”
The band drove from Knoxville to Philadelphia on a fall weekend in October to work with Fowles on the video. Chris Suggs, vocalist/guitarist says:
“Filming the video in a massive, multi-level, abandoned school in the middle of nowhere in Pennsylvania could’ve been a disastrous proposal, but Kurt was on top of every detail, and it ended up being an incredible experience. He captured the lonesome, forgotten beauty of the once-majestic school in every shot, and it fit the style and theme of the song perfectly. From the time we arrived, until the time we left, we never ran out of things to explore, or potentially dangerous situations to put ourselves in, and somehow in-between all the fun we had, we managed to make a video we are extremely proud of.”
Produced by the band and 59 X Records founder, Peter Catalano, ‘Ambulance’ kicks off a series of reimagined songs from Lucero, Saves the Day, and more.
We spent a few weeks learning and practicing these songs over and over. These are some of our all-time favorite bands and we knew going into this project that we had to really crush these covers and do the songs justice. Peter, our producer, really pushed us to the limit in the studio and we’re truly proud of the final product.” says Jones.
Termites Hollow
Vocalist/guitarist Jake Jones says, “When we were picking songs to cover for our covers EP, I knew that there needed to be at least one seemingly obscure song on the record. I pitched “Termites Hollow” by Grade to the band because they are one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to songwriting. The guys weren’t familiar with the band, but I played them the track, and everyone agreed that it’s a killer song and needed a new life in new times.”
“Termites Hollow is probably the least known track on here, but an absolute powerhouse of a song by a very underrated band, Grade. It gave us a chance to utilize all three vocalists in the band, and push ourselves to extremes to capture the tortured, guttural yells of the original. This one translated to our sound very naturally, although it was definitely a step outside of our comfort zone. The end result is a track that even the original band got behind and shared very encouraging words with us over. That support was a major motivation to us that reinforced that what we are doing here was purposeful and worthwhile.”
Jones adds, “It was probably one of the most fun tracks to record especially after Chris suggested throwing in the acoustic guitar in the bridge. However, the vocals on this song were quite taxing and both Chris and I completely blew out our voices while tracking.”
Nights Like These
“At first glance, this song seems like the wild card pick for the EP, but at its core, Nights Like These is lyrically and emotionally incredibly similar to the other songs we wanted to honor. Being a band from Tennessee, Lucero has been a massive influence on all of us, and we’ve each spent many nights drinking whiskey and listening to their records on repeat with tears in our eyes. Our song “Her Name was the Road” from our first EP is a major nod to Lucero, as well as being one of our most requested songs, so including them on here was an easy choice. While we kept the core of this song the same, we used our own instrumentation and approach, and the result is even more heavy and deep than we expected.”
At Your Funeral
“This song has been a staple of our live set since our very first show. Even after playing this song for so long, it has lost none of its spark or emotion to us and is one of those songs that we know will always get a good response. The combination of the upbeat music with such mournful, distressed lyrics is a formula that is close to our hearts, and the influence can be heard on many of our originals.”
Rough Drams Band Biography
Rough Dreams initially formed in the summer of 2018 as a side project by singer/guitarist Jake Jones and drummer Paul Lowe. The idea was to create a sound reminiscent of late 90’s/early 2000’s emo with a pinch of grunge and shoegaze. The band quickly became their prime focus and they soon found themselves a full lineup with enough songs to record and hit the road. The band recruited ex-Swellers vocalist, Nick Diener and Whitechapel guitarist Zach Householder to help engineer what would become their debut 4 song EP.
After releasing the record on Knoxville based indie label Coffin Curse Records in the winter of 2019, Rough Dreams immediately hit the road to support the release. After clocking in 50 shows across the Midwest, Southeast, and east coast United States in their first year as a band, Rough Dreams then signed with Atlanta, GA based 59 X Records.
The band has also completed their first LP that will be out in 2021 via 59 X Records. If you want to know more about Rough Drams you can check them out on Bandcamp, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
