Track By Track: James Deacon - 'Renegade'
James Deacon has just released his new EP ‘Renegade’ - and it sees him sticking two fingers up to the system. He took a moment to talk to us about the EP - track by track.
HERO aka Rich
“This song is a very important one for me. I wrote this song about my relationship with my brother that went from an inseparable bond and a decade worth of good times and life shaping events to an abrupt end in a fiery mess of emotions.
The track has changed about 100 times since I first wrote it, because the longer you sit with a song that really means something, the more it will adapt and change and take on a life of its own, and in this case if I played you the first draft you wouldn’t recognise it. The beauty of this, for me, is that in our live shows we play this song more in the style that the song started off in. So if you know this track from the live show, you will be pleasantly surprised by this one.”
Reason
“Reason is the first song I’ve written that details romantic love. It’s my thank you note to a very important person who was the catalyst for my decision to quit my job and become a full time musician. The chorus is a thank you to her and the verses are about how we met and how she’s helped shape the man I am today,”
Rain On Me
“I wrote “Rain On Me” a few weeks after having surgery on my vocal cords. The whole experience made me reflect on my previous injury (I fell on a bottle and nearly lost my arm) that nearly ended my career as a guitarist, and now all of a sudden I needed to have surgery on my voice that may change my tone and singing voice permanently. The verses and chorus lyrics are about being in a fight because it felt like the universe was beating me up and raining punches down on me. The line “three long weeks with no words spoken” is referring to the three weeks post surgery when I was not allowed to speak or make any sounds at all, which nearly drove me insane! The overall ‘feel’ of the song is that I don’t care what life throws at me, “let it rain on me” because the obstacles that I’ve faced so far have all made me stronger.”
Mr Misery
“I try to be a positive guy for the most part, but sometimes I have trouble with the cynical, negative Debbie-Downer side of myself. This song came about at around 4:00am, as I stumbled to the kitchen to get some water, the melody and chanted delivery of the opening line for the song came to me and it kinda developed from there. It’s basically the dark side to my debut track “Not Givin’ Up”, because as much as I believe that persistence and positivity are the keys to success, I think a healthy tolerance and understanding of the undesirable aspects of one's mind is just as important. Mr Misery is a metaphor for my bad side, and the song itself is a kind of resilient juxtaposition to my debut track.”
Shine
"Shine" is all about good wishes and positivity. It's the yin to Mr Misery's yang. It's all about letting go of the past and moving forward! I feel like a lot of the time we get caught up in the past and dwell on how things were better or worse and end up forgetting to appreciate the stuff right in-front of us. It’s also kind of a reminder to not hold grudges because they’re f**king useless!
Renegade
“This is the title track of the EP, and it's a loud, angry “F*%k you” to all the haters. I never felt like I fit in at school, I never fit in working as a chef or a bartender and I never fit in selling insurance. This song is for the people who don’t fit in, because there’s nothing wrong with being a “Renegade”.
This song expresses who I want to be. I wish I was a renegade or a war machine. I wish I was invincible and strong like that, but I’m not. I scream those words in the song because I'm pretending to be a renegade and I want to be convincing.”