Every Hell vocalist Will Gardner guides us through the band’s new EP ‘Vertebrate’, out now via Froob Entertainment.
BAD COP
“This was one of the later tracks in the writing process of the EP. We rewrote this three or four times as it just didn’t have the right vibe, and I was worried that the lyrics and vocal hooks were a bit too obvious. I remember we had this awesome jam at a studio in Guildford (we often end up jamming in Guildford as it’s a halfway point between Sussex and Bristol) where we sort of went, “Toby, fix this riff.” He spent about five minutes, and then BAM! There was the intro and main riff to the tune. The rest of the writing process was super fun and quick since we already had the ending, and I had written the chorus a while back. Recording this in the studio was a three-take vibe, where I think we ended up using the second take, warts and all. The only thing added was some backing vocals and extra spicy sax parts as overdubs to the tape. Lyrically, the track is about imagining the fight for attention in a family as two cowboys having a shootout in a western town.”
FREAKING OUT
“This was our first released track and part of a slightly different recording session. We spent a bit more time multitracking and layering all the bits in this song. This is one of the super early tracks that I had written and jammed with a few different players. I had pretty much the whole structure and riffs worked out when Mark and I jammed it with Jamie Lenman. I knew it was a good track, but Jamie was like, “Cool riffs, dude,” and it gave me a lot more confidence hearing it from his royal highness. The song is about how life got totally turned upside down after having my firstborn son and how much I kept losing my mind due to lack of sleep and overall exhaustion from having a newborn. This song always slaps when we play it live, and I think it’s one of the ones that people know the best in the set. There were a lot of people singing along when we were touring and playing festivals this year.”
GHOST
“This song means an awful lot to me for so many reasons. I just couldn’t get the main riff out of my head for weeks and weeks. Every time we met up for a jam, I was like, “PLEASE let me get this thing out of my head and onto some instruments.” It was a rare occasion where I was really specific about how the drum parts, and even the chorus bass part, had to be a certain way. Once we started jamming it properly with Toby, it just came together so quickly. It’s kind of a weird song really, as it’s just verse-chorus-verse-chorus. I had always imagined this as some larger, big prog epic, but when we got to the studio and finalized the arrangement, it was very much like, “No, that’s it, man.” Sometimes you have to trust each other and trust your judgment. This song is about somebody very close to me who passed away, and I discovered they were not who I thought they were. I had so much love for them and had known them my whole life. The entire experience was very complicated and layered. This song is so moving to play live, and lots of people have said they really connect with it when we perform it. I am so excited for everyone to hear this song, particularly.”
THE WATCHER
“I wrote this groove back in 2021 and jammed it with some friends during lockdown. It wasn’t until we jammed it together in 2023 that this weird bastard of a track really came together. We all love Weezer so much; it was a massive influence on the chorus. The outro riff came to me in another late-night, can’t-sleep session. This song is so fun to play live despite its dark lyrical origins. The song is about when a fan of the old band (Black Peaks) attempted to abduct me late one night in Brighton on my way home. Luckily, I escaped to tell the tale!”
REVERY
“This was another tune for which I had written the main riffs way back in 2021. Mark and I jammed out a bunch of the riffs with Jamie Lenman, and it just felt really good. I had the melody for the verses and most of the lyrics written back then. We struggled to find a good chorus for months, and then one night (to the frustration of my long-suffering partner), I couldn’t sleep at all as the chorus melody and chords came to my mind. I ran downstairs at about 4am and sat at the piano with my phone, recording the melody idea. I was so nervous bringing it to the guys as it felt like one of those moments where it’s like, “It HAS to be this, I swear.” Luckily, everyone loved the idea, and I think it works really well. Revery is about when anxiety and depression manifest, and the lies and things we do to avoid admitting we aren’t well.”
ANOTHER KILLER
“This track was a super fun collaboration between myself, Mark, and Andrew during one of our awesome little writing sessions at Mark’s house. One of the things we are always incredibly grateful for is having a world-class producer as a drummer in the band. I had this Death From Above 1979 kind of riff that had been going round my head for weeks, and I gave it to Andrew. He was like, “WOAH, YEAH!” This formed the foundation of the whole tune. Then we basically jammed out the whole thing in one evening. There’s a demo somewhere of us playing it through, and you can hear us all vibing off the bass parts. It was wicked fun. I think vocally, this track had a lot of inspiration from bands like The Hives and even a bit of Weezer. It actually took a while to get into the pocket and find the right sound and tone, but we got there in the end.”