After reigniting their musical flame earlier this year with the outstanding ‘Supervillain’, Between You & Me are back with their latest single ‘Deadbeat’! Its release is not merely a second taste of new music, but an assertion of direction, growth, and newfound skill for the band. In their fluctuating soundscape, ‘Deadbeat’ adds to the collection of the band’s mastery, their ability to adapt, and to rework styles to suit their story. So too, the track sees the band go to places they’ve never been before, throwing the listener an intense and inspiring breakdown! Through all this experimentation, the prominence of the band’s storytelling has not faded, with ‘Deadbeat’ discussing the importance of self-reflection, recognition, and change.
‘Deadbeat’ proves that the next move of Between You & Me is always one step ahead! Both musically and thematically, the development of these past two singles has shifted the band’s trajectory into a new world! We had a chat with frontman, Jake Wilson, about the past, present, and what is to come!
‘Deadbeat’ is acting as our second taste of new music! How do you think this single represents you / what do you feel it brings to the table in terms of redefining your sound?
‘Deadbeat’ is certainly a step in a new direction for us. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is a reflection of our new sound, but certainly a taste of our new songwriting style. We’ve certainly made a conscious decision to just write the best songs that we can, regardless of what ‘genre’ they are. ‘Deadbeat’ has a breakdown in it - we’d never thought we’d have a breakdown in a song, but it made sense for the moment in the track.
The new single includes a generally unseen heavier side to the band, featuring some insanely emotive screams! How did this side of the band rear its head, what influenced this heavier side to show?
As above, ‘Deadbeat’ has some heavy guitars, a breakdown, and even some screams which is probably not ‘typical’ of BYAM songs. Whilst writing ‘Deadbeat’, we kept hearing the ending resolving in a breakdown section. We certainly didn’t intend to write a heavy song, but I guess that's just how it evolved and we were all vibing it. Also, the screams are actually Bassy (James) - he did an awesome job!
‘Deadbeat’, below the surface, deals with some pretty serious topics- at the forefront of this, a serious self-reflection of love, life and prioritizations. When writing with such serious themes, do you feel it's important that all members resonate or experience such feelings, or is it a matter of everyone just adopting their roles as storytellers?
I mean, I generally just write lyrics that mean something to me and hope that others connect with them. The story behind ‘Deadbeat’ though is probably something that everyone in our band has to go through in one way or another. We dedicate so much time and energy to this band and sometimes our friends, family and loved ones are impacted by that.
‘Deadbeat’ and ‘Supervillian’ have both been born out of some pretty tumultuous times (and for you especially, more than most musicians care to imagine). Despite the hardships, what have been some of your favourite memories associated with the new music?
We’ve been forced to work so hard to bring these tracks together, so they genuinely mean so much to us. It’s been so long since we’ve put out new music, but I don’t feel like I’ve ever been so attached to our new music. Seeing the response from everyone (except the internet plebs) has been incredibly rewarding.
Of course, despite the buzz and hype of the new tracks, no one is immune to criticism (especially the usual “you’ve changed too much”)! What is your response to these types of remarks, and how do they affect you (does it fuel you to branch out even more, or does it ever make you reconsider and reflect on your roots)?
I have definitely been calling it out every time I see an online comment about “you’ve changed”. I’m pretty nonchalant about these responses because I know all of our new music is infinitely better than anything that we’ve ever written. I get that some people might have got into us with a four-chord pop-punk track, but it is ignorant to think after so long between releases that we’d be putting out similar music. We’ve become much better songwriters and it would be disappointing for us to restrict ourselves to cater to a specific audience.
I suppose in connection to the last question, you really defined yourself with the release of ‘Everything Is Temporary’! What are some of the main things you learned from that release, and how has it affected the new tracks such as ‘Deadbeat’.
‘Everything Is Temporary’ was a different album for us on so many levels. I feel like we went into the studio for that album with a specific sound that we wanted to achieve. We had a similar songwriting formula for most of the songs on that album and as such, it was less collaborative and somewhat restrictive as we wanted to have a super cohesive sound. This latest release is a collection of songs that don’t serve a specific purpose - they are just fu*king sick songs!
‘Supervillian’ and ‘Deadbeat’ are dripping in a mature, revitalised sound that we CANNOT get enough of! Can you give us any hints as to where these tracks will take us next?
No surprises that ‘Supervillain’ and ‘Deadbeat’ are off our second album, which has yet to be officially announced. You’ll be hearing more about that eventually. As per what I’ve said above, the two tracks we’ve released are not necessarily reflective of the rest of the record…
How are you guys staying connected in such exciting times? Do you have any tips for staying connected?
As a band, we are all currently in different locations and states and have for quite a while. We typically catch up via Zoom calls every couple of days and talk about whatever our current priorities are. More broadly, it's a super important time to stay connected via any means possible. We’ve been doing quite a few Discord calls and playing games and whatnot. Otherwise, our band group messenger is always a fun way to stay in contact!