august 2015
los angeles, ca
While in LA, Awsten, Geoff and Otto have been staying with their friend Jawn, who had moved out for college a couple of years ago, to live with his sister.
He and Awsten have been best friends for years, and Jawn probably knows him better than anyone, which makes it easy for him to notice something odd about him, as soon as he steps through the door that evening.
"Is he okay?" Jawn asks Geoff, quietly, once Awsten had disappeared elsewhere to finish up his song.
"I think so," he shrugs. "I mean, he locked himself away to write for a while earlier. Said he got real' caught up in it...I'm not sure what he was writing about, though."
"Was it break-up related?" Jawn raises an eyebrow. "Maybe that's why he's being weird."
"I don't think so," Geoff shakes his head, slowly. "He hasn't shown us anything yet, but
he must be finishing it up now," he informs.
Over the next couple of days, the band end up being a little ahead of schedule with their pace of recording, which will leave them an extra day or so in Los Angeles.
On the morning of their last day in the studio, Awsten decides to bring up the song that he wrote; he's kept it to himself so far, but with the extra time they've got, he thinks it'd be a good addition to the EP.
"Is this what you did when you disappeared the other day?" Courtney question when Awsten shows him the song, earning a sheepish nod. "This is great," he compliments, with a smile.
"I know we're almost done, but...It feels like it belongs with this body of work, you know?" Awsten explains, shooting a look towards Otto and Geoff.
"I love it already," Otto grins.
"Yeah, me too," Geoff agrees, easily.
They spend the rest of the day beginning to build the song up from the rough, acoustic demo that Awsten had recorded in his voice memos; he often had to stop and elaborate on some things, changing a couple details, trying to make sure that the song turns out exactly how he wants it to.
"So, here, after that chorus, I just want a sick instrumental break," Awsten explains, his hands gesturing animatedly. "Otto, for the end of it, I just want you to go crazy on the drums, yeah?"
"Sounds good to me," Otto nods, happily.
"Then, we go into the pre-chorus. And right before we go into the chorus, I want three claps, as like a segue into it," Awsten continues, before demonstrating. "And, right when you think it's gonna hit with the huge chorus, I wanna bring it all down, real' softly, and that acts as the bridge section."
Geoff sits back momentarily and watches Awsten, intrigued by the way that this is the most lively he's been the whole time they've been here.
He's got his own suspicions about who or what the song might be about, but he's keeping it to himself for now, and just letting Awsten do this thing.
It's obvious that writing this song has been like lifting a weight off of Awsten's shoulders; as if the lyrics are words that he's been waiting to get off of his chest for a while.
