“I Didn’t Use To” feels like rebirth and tastes like the raindrops in spring that nourishes the wounds left by a harsh season. The Wrecks opens INSIDE : with a kind of emotional messiness that you wouldn’t be prepared for, and it hits deep. With lyrics that go back between the naive believes at 19 and the brutal realization at 25, the song chronics the the journey of growing up.
The betrayals, the insecurities, the regrets, the lack of direction, etc — everything is being poured into the sounds of a song all at once, and that’s what makes The Wrecks who they are. Messiness and innocence are in their DNA, which makes each song feels like a storm that’s overwhelmingly immersive and cleansing at the same time.
But at the same time, there’s a kind of innocence to this album as if a younger self being preserved in the songs while the proganist is running and growing, being vulnerable about the gut-wrenching experiences. “Speed” is about running away and being trapped in the routines. The mind is seeking an escape, but the reality is someone who tries and fails at running away, which makes the high-energy song a drastic contract from the lyrics.
“Always, Everytime” and “Milwaukee’s Best” feel more grounded and authentic. Unlike the previous three songs that remain inside of what’s being expected of them, The Wrecks rips off that safety net to experiment with a different narration. Beers, sheets, and dates — life and the realiness of it took over. Instead of telling the listeners how they should feel, The Wrecks throw that question to the listeners and let them shape it into something that resontate.
INSIDE : is only the first half of a full album the band have planned to release.
Press Q&A with The Wrecks
Q: The upcoming project, INSIDE :, is highly anticipated. Can you share the inspiration behind the project and how it differs from your previous releases?
Nick Anderson: After our last album, Sonder, which was just about a breakup with someone who doesn’t seem to understand that other people exist, that was cathartic, and I got a lot of things off my chest. But then, after that, there wasn’t much left in the tank as far as perspective. I was getting into all of these artists that I felt had a really interesting point of view, and suddenly I didn’t think that mine was all that interesting. Instead of maybe implementing a steady routine or getting out or maybe eating better or sleeping better, I just kept going. I just kept trying. It just kept not working until it did. I suddenly had a perspective and a point of view that was just based on the lack of that for a year or so, and then the lyrics started pouring in.
Q: Nick once said The Wreck’s MO was to share an honest articulation of pain, struggles, happiness – any real experience so that fans could apply their own feelings to it – does that still apply, and how do you all feel you accomplished that in this project?
Anderson: The record is about being locked away for so long that the outside world eventually starts growing in through the cracks in the walls because Mother Nature is trying to set the score even or something. Like you could spend so much time indoors that it feels like foliage starts creeping in through the cracks and almost reaching out.
Q: As teasers for the full album came out at the beginning of the year, you announced that INSIDE :, was the 1st half of the album. What brought the decision to break the album into two projects and release them at separate times? Are they very much like a past/present or yin and yang idea?
Anderson: There are a of things that I needed to distill, like really understand and put into something and not have 40 things I was staring at to finish. So I kind of told everyone I can’t finish a record right now, but I can finish half a record really clearly. And the moment I said that, everything got exciting again and wasn’t so scary and so frustrating and confusing because I realized I wasn’t trying to live multiple different lives at once while making this record.
Q: From the setlist to the stage design, what can fans look forward to on the INSIDE: OUTSIDE Tour?
Anderson: We had a setlist debate with our Discord community. The recommenders, and they recommended all of their setlist things and we debated them like one v one, like band versus fans, and then fans went against each other on the Discord and they made arguments for something. It was pretty brutal and pretty awesome…there was certainly some staples on our set that maybe we’ll be making our way out because we were convinced pretty hard by some fans what they think that we should be playing, and they made some great arguments…It was like great to hear that point of view cause we can hypothesize why certain songs do well or show certain shows work and the pacing works. But being able to just tap in once in while…to take the temperature, and get some perspective.
Q: You’ve shared a lot of the behind-the-scenes for creating the music videos and visualizers for Speed and Always, Everytime. How important is the visual side of things to you in telling the story of the project?
Anderson: I’m looking at this four bedroom house that’s empty and I have no roommates and I’m like, okay, so that sucks. But how often do I have a house to myself to just make arts and crafts in all the rooms? So I decided to take this opportunity to build out the set.
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