Denials feat. Tobias Hawkins is the most recent release of Oakland based post-punk and alt rock artist Everything But The Everything, a track that gets us up close and personal with feelings of hopelessness and despair through the mold of a sick punk song.
Izzy The Gent (the mastermind writer and producer behind Everything But The Everything) began to write the song and sent over the bass line to a friend, Andrew Gomez, and wrote the guitar line while he waited for the recordings to arrive – only to find when they united that the song was headed towards magic. Opened by a synth line, we are given the feeling of walking down the stairs into a dimly-lit basement party, complete with the fog machine and regrets.
Lyrics constantly ending with the line “somebody help me” and sounds of a full band leaving little room to breathe, Denials paints a picture of stress and chaos, in a powerful and confident way. Not only backed by the strong presence of the band, the song solidifies it’s conviction through the vocals of Tobias Hawkins, who played drums as a founding member of Counting Crows, and brings his all into this song, singing with “such emotion and despair that it’s hard not to sing along,” according to Izzy himself.
“Tobias is the most rock and roll person I have ever met. His vocal delivery teetered from hair metal to glam, always dark and delivered with power. I totally dug it. This will be our fourth collaboration together and I hope there’s more to come.” Taking us from ‘somebody help me’ to the sudden shift of request at the end of the song, really seals the deal on how powerful the piece is.
Written by Yannick Mirko
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