UTG TRACK-BY-TRACK: Framing Hanley – ‘The Sum of Who We Are’

August 5th, 2014

Matthew Leimkuehler

Framing Hanley‘s new record, The Sum of Who We Are, is a diverse rock album ready for radio success. Released last spring, the record is an effort that helps define the band’s career and is ready to propel the act into mainstream success. The single, “Criminal,” which was released exclusively via Billboard earlier this year, is a bittersweet and forthright honest number from the band.

Frontman Kenneth Nixon said the track came from an unlikely inspiration: “You’d probably never believe me if I told you the original inspiration behind the chorus lyric was my 4-year-old son’s affinity for Taylor Swift. Well, believe it.”

Today, Under The Gun is bringing you an exclusive track-by-track of the band’s new record, written by Nixon, which you can find by clicking the “Read More” button. Be sure to leave your thoughts on the record in the comments below.

“Criminal” — We wanted the opening track to be a song that immediately grabbed the listener (says Captain Obvious). If anything, playing this song live has proven that we had the right gut feeling about it; it’s a song that by the end of it, everyone is singing along. You’d probably never believe me if I told you the original inspiration behind the chorus lyric was my 4-year-old son’s affinity for Taylor Swift. Well, believe it.

“Twisted Halos” — “Criminal” & “Twisted Halos” were the last two songs we recorded for the album; almost 2 1/2 years after we first started working on what would later be the album. This song is a statement about how entitled our generation feels. We have all this power in our hands, in our smartphones, but instead of using that powerful tool for knowledge, we’re more wrapped up in pictures of what we had for breakfast.

“Collide” — My favorite high-energy rock song that our band has ever recorded. This is a fun song live. Interesting tidbit: the bridge lyric, “we’re just bodies tonight / there’s no sin / ain’t no wrong / everything will be fine,” was a lyric in a b-side from our previous album that never saw the light of day.

“Crooked Smiles” — Everyone has had that one boss who they don’t see eye to eye with, right? C’mon! Just us?! [Laughs] We wrote this song at a time in our lives and career where we were very angry. This is the heaviest track on the album. Feel the anger — let it soak in.

“Simple Life” — Now, I’m not saying we have tough lives or jobs; but I think everyone has a “the grass is greener…” moment from time to time. That’s what this song was written about. Ready to call it a day and trade it all in for something, I dunno…simpler?

“Rollercoaster” — Lindsey Stamey from Oh No Fiasco is my favorite female vocalist in rock ‘n’ roll. We’ve had that band out on the road with us quite a bit over the years, so as a fan, it was an honor that she said “yes” when I asked her to be on this track. This was originally a simple acoustic idea I had that took on a whole new identity as the pieces were added, and Lindsey was the icing on the cake. Such a fun tune.

“No Saving Me” — This was written during and about a pretty low time in my life. With how long this album took, and all the pushbacks, and setbacks, we started to wonder if it would ever in fact see the light of day. We wondered if we had played our last show…if we had given all we had to give. At the end of the day, though, I realized how much of my life had been dedicated to this and with this being the only thing I’ve ever had this kind of passion for. I knew there was simply “no saving me” even if I wanted to call it a day.

“Unbreakable” — Okay, even a rock guy is allowed to write a song about his wedding day, right? That’s what this song is about. Three of us in the band all got married within a 3 month period, so it was something that was fresh and something that just naturally came out when writing.

“Science” — Some of my favorite, most close-to-home lyrics on the album and of my entire life of writing. This song was literally written about the aforementioned “low point” in my life (see: “No Saving Me”) and about, quite frankly, feeling like you’re just going crazy. Not sure that I feel any less crazy now, but goddamn, it’s good to be back on the road playing music for people.

“Streetlights And Silhouettes” — A bit of a different side of our band. I feel like there’s some Wallflowers influence in this song, particularly on my end at least. But dat bridge doe…

“Crash & Burn” — Ryan first played the guitar lick in this song for me about 4 years ago. I fell in love, but just couldn’t get anything written for it that resonated with me. So we put it on the shelf, and revisited a few years later. I think you can hear how much of a fan of the big beefy Foo Fighters-esque guitars we are in this song. And we all have pasts that haunt us, but it’s about putting on your big boy pants and realizing what’s done is done, now how can we rectify where we’re headed.

“Forever Till The End” — one special thing about this song is the fact that a fan of our’s actually named the song (Kickstarter reward). “When did we let ignorance become the gun?” is a favorite lyric of mine. #humblebrag

“Castaway” — Without a doubt, the most meaningful song on the album to me. It was the moment we really all just realized, after beating our heads into the wall working on this album for nearly 3 years, after all the ups and downs, it hit us how special it really is that 7 years later, there are people out there that make connections with songs we write. That’s a pretty powerful thing to realize as a musician. I never did this for anyone else, but to realize that regardless of that, it actually means something to others, it was special moment. This is kind of a mission statement to our fans; an “as long as you’re wanting to hear it, we’ll keep playing,” if you will.