[Track By Track] Still Flyin – ‘Never Gonna Touch The Ground’

Still Flyin’ release their debut album Never Gonna Touch The Ground through Moshi Moshi Records on the 6th April.  The band recently just wowed SXSW, being named as one of the best bands at the festival according to Village Voice.

Still Flyin’ will be back for a UK tour and to play some festivals in summer.
Check out the videos for recent singles as follows:

‘Good Thing It’s A Ghost Town Around Here’

‘Forever Dudes’

We got Still Flyin’s Sean Rawls to give us a track-by-track run down of their debut album…

1. Never Gonna Touch The Ground
The doorbell rings and the first group of people has arrived at your party.  They’ve got a twelver of brews with them and your buddy Ice cracks one and hands it to you before he even sets foot in your house.  You’ve gotta put on some jamz QUICK!  The boring haze of everyday life lingers for a few seconds but then everything becomes clear and you realize you are about to have a hammjamm with people that you love.

[This was the song that created this band.  It was a live staple in my bro band Je Suis France and I decided to make a band based on this song.  In the early days we'd start every show with this abbreviated version of the song - kind of a warm-up.  Eventually we got tired of doing that and now when we play it it's the opposite - an up to fifteen minute, sprawling, ridiculous version only brought out during the encore.]

2. Following The Itinerary
A slew of people show up all at once and you are starting to feel your party high.  Hugs and high-fives and fist-points to so many friends, a lot of which you wished you saw more often but are glad to be hanging out with tonight.  Even your weird neighbor who stole your dog’s frisbee shows up, but you don’t worry about that trivial shit.  This is life.  This is living.  You march right up to the dude, hand him a brew, and cheers him.

[This one is about the tour itineraries our guru writes for us when we head out on tour.  As if we weren't busy enough jamming life to the bone and playing tons of shows and trying to keep everyone in the same town, our guru gives us a list of objectives that always enhances the already-awesome experience.  This song is about the joy we get reading the itinerary for the new tour, and in turn the joy of being on tour, and really just the joy of being with loved ones.]

3. Forever Dudes
Your party high is quickly spreading to a party-wide party high.  Everyone is feeling the love, smiling, laughing, telling stupid stories, and generally jamming life.  People start tapping some toes, doing some head moves, some low-key arm whips.  You know, nothing too fancy yet.  You notice some of the high-fives seem to be timed with the beat of the music.  Seems like a dance hammjamm is on the verge of breaking out.

[This is the ultimate ode to friendship.  Specifically it's about twenty dudes getting together for a pal's bachelor party - a road trip on a party bus.  The song can also function as a straight-up song about the importance of friends in a person's life.]

4. Good Thing It’s A Ghost Town Around Here
Like wildfire, a dance hammjamm has broken out full-tilt!  Everyone at the party has packed their way into the room with the stereo blasting.  The lights are off and people are going all the way.  Sweatjams.  Elbows hitting people, brews getting spilled, people passing around a bottle of champagne – this is a real dance party.  The floor is shaking.  You think for a second about possibility of the floor caving in but quickly decide it doesn’t matter – it would only make the party more legendary.  Being a good host, you head to the cooler and grab a twelver and squeeze back into the dance party room to replenish beers for dancers in need.

[Whoa here is the first thunderjam on the record.  It's about jamming it too hard and being hungover at work the next day.  Was it all worth it?  Probably.  Besides, it's a ghost town at work.  No one's around so it's easy to just put my head down on the desk and rest.]

5. The Act Of Jamming
After the pure sweatjam of Ghost Town, some of the more out of shape people need to catch their breath.  Some others need to step outside to cool off for sec.  Even more need new brews.  However, a lot of other people are frothing at the mouth for more dancing.  An off-the-cuff goof-off jam starts.  It’s funky, it’s got some rhythm.  You look around and people are doing some stupid dances and laughing.  This night is going good.

[This song is literally the act of jamming.  At practice we sometimes devolve into jamming on some dumb riff and laugh afterwards.  This is us doing it in the studio.  Figured some people might need a break after Ghost Town.]

6. The Hott Chord Is Struck
People start returning to the dance room after their various breaks.  The next tune come on and it’s sweatjam world again.  You have to open the windows – shit is getting steamy in there.  At the end of the song everyone starts chanting along with the record and stomping on the floor.

[This is a tribute to some inspirational songs to me.  Trying to feed off of their good vibes and thanking them for it.  The songs referenced in the lyrics are Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant, Funkytown by Lipps Inc., All Night Long by Lionel Richie, Walk Of Life by Dire Straits, Turn To Stone by ELO, and What A Fool Believes by the Doobie Brothers.]

7. No Go-Kart Ideas
After the sweatjam, people pile out of the party room and spread out throughout the house and porch and yard.  Everyone needs a break after that last one.  You get into a funny conversation about all the crazy things you used to do as a kid, like the time you tied a rope above a trampoline and attached a bungee cord between your belt and the rope and jumped really high and in slow motion on the trampoline, until the bungee cord snapped and hit you in the back of the head and you had to get stitches.

[When I was a kid we had a term called "go-kart ideas".  It was named after the kid who would in all seriousness tell you he planned to build a go-kart complete with smoke screen, oil slick, weapons, etc.  You knew it would never happen but the kid was serious about it.  This song is about following through on all the crazy promises you make, no matter how unlikely they may seem.  The band Still Flyin' seems like a go-kart idea, but we exist.]

8. Haunted Houses
The stories continue amongst friends and you guys make some crazy plan to go to explore the abandoned warehouse after the party’s over.  Some people are too scared but it only makes you want to go even more.

[This song is about my extreme love of haunted houses.  My favorite thing to do is get the crap scared out of me at a haunted house.  It's a brooding yet fun song, which is exactly what I like about haunted houses.]

9. Dead Memory Man
The first chord slams of the next song start and people start screaming and sprinting towards the dance party room.  Some people are struck so hard by the jam bug that they don’t even try to get to the dance room and just start contorting right where they are in the kitchen or bathroom or street in front of the house.  People are ready to get down after that two song breather and they take it all the way, pushing it further than they thought was inside of them.  After the song’s breakdown people start crowd surfing.  One wild dude licks the ceiling.  Someone punches a hole in the wall.  Some other stuff gets knocked over on accident.  Brew and bottles are passed around the crowd liberally.  Everyone is at their peak.  You are so glad you had this party.

[We we play live I sing through a delay pedal called a memory man.  So much beer gets spilled onto it that it breaks pretty easily.  This song is simultaneously about that and about not remembering things after drinking too much.  I tried to get every lyric to conceivably be about either thing.  A dark tune but also a true thunderjam.]

10. Ginkgo Biloba
The party is winding down and people start to say their goodbyes and head into the night.  The last tune drained them of all their energy and the party is coming to a close.  A soft jam puts a good capper on the night and everyone is thankful for the great party.

[This one's about having a terrible memory in general.  One time I forgot the name of the town I was born in and was too embarrassed to ask my parents.  After a month it finally came back to me.  I only lived there for less than a year but still...  I started taking ginkgo biloba pills to give my brain some help but I couldn't ever remember to take the pills.]

11. Aerosmith, Take Me To The Other Side
The next morning you wake up and even though you’re feeling pretty rough, you have warm feelings from the night before.  You start cleaning up the house a little bit – picking up the beer cans mainly, and the post-party-reflection mood has you feeling so right that you want one last jam.  You put on the last song of the record and it does the trick.  With the long drone out ending, the house is clean and life is exactly what you want it to be.

[The last song is a metaphorical song about wanting to be famous and doing anything it takes to make it to the bigtime.  Aerosmith seemed like the best band to sing about but you could exchange their name with Creed or Fall Out Boy or Coldplay or Matchbox Twenty.  Creed, Take Me To The Other Side wouldn't sound nearly as good though.]

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