I just love writing songs and reading songwriting books is one of the ways that I geek out about writing”
Best known for their hits “Candy Store” and “When I’m With You”, Canadian pop punk band Faber Drive has finally released a new music – after six years. MNL Online News spoke with frontman Dave Faber to talk about the making of “Surrender“. Read what he had to say!
The Subject
Basically, it’s a song about a crazy relationship that means a lot to me personally. It’s personal because it’s the way I feel most of the time towards my wife. The moral of the story is that I don’t ever wanna give up or call it quits on my marriage but it’s said in a more poetic way. [Smiles.]
The Background
I almost cancelled the writing session with Troy Sampson and Jeremy “Krikit” Liddle as I was so distraught about my marriage. It literally felt like me and my wife were fighting about everything. We were fighting about groceries, physical touch, the dishes, our children, toothpaste, money and the list goes on. We were arguing so much that we were arguing about arguing (as per the lyric):
“Dont ask me why we gotta keep on fighting
We’re fighting just to make it right”
It just seemed so counter productive to what a healthy marriage should be or what we think it should be but yet I knew that no matter what we were gonna stick it out. I’ve been reading some really cool marriage books since then and here’s a couple of my faves that have really opened my eyes to how whacked a lot of peoples marriages get. Relationship Rescue by Phillip McGraw and No More Perfect Marriages by Mark and Jill Savage.
The Writing
When we wrote the song I remember saying that we should start the song with a question: “When did this love become a war?” I believe I got that idea from Jason Blume who wrote the book “6 Steps To Songwriting Success” but it might have been “Songwriters On Songwriting” by Paul Zollo. They mention that traditionally a song should start with a question and then the rest of the song should answer that question. I just love writing songs and reading songwriting books is one of the ways that I geek out about writing.
The Song
So the opening lyrics (are quite visual):
“When did this love become a war?
I dont know what we’re fighting for
These angry words just leave us numb
We used to kiss into the night
gentle hands in candle light
I can’t believe what we’ve become…”
I think the song is fairly relatable to anyone who has gone through rough times with someone they love. I remember drinking a beer or two after we wrote the song and then trying to sing it but I was so emotionally spent from pouring my heart into the song that I could barely sing for the demo. I still sang it but my vocal was quite weak on the demo because I was so messed up.
When we went to produce it with Dan Swinimer (Jojo Mason, Billy Currington) and JVP (Jason Van Poederooyen, Boys Like Girls, Simple Plan, Skillet, Hinder) Dan came up with the HUGE verse harmonies. When Dan first showed me, I hated them! Looking back now, I’m so so glad that Dan fought to keep them in the song as I think they are one of the best parts now! [Smiles.]
The Video
In my head, I imagine a video with tons of slow motion like our past videos, “Tongue Tied” and “You and I Tonight” but maybe a little more theatrical like Greenday’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends“.
LISTEN to Faber Drive’s latest single “Surrender” on Spotify. You can also download the song on iTunes.
