ooc: Huge thanks to Kandii for the awesome artwork here :)
Artist: Senior Year
Title: Run Away
Genre: Pop-punk
Label: N/A
Produced: Scott Rose-Hilton
All lyrics and music by: Cassie Summers, Bryan Jennings
Vocals: Cassie Summers
Guitars: Jason Andrews
Drums: Farley Jenner
Bass: Adam Kane
Run Away is the debut single from American pop-punk outfit Senior Year! The track sees the long awaited return of former Cosmic Beauty Contest and Big Light Show frontwoman Cassie Summers to the world of music. Despite being better known as a columnist and media tycoon, Cassie has a strong affinity for pop-punk and a rich history in releasing music. From her early, and very controversial, work with CBC, who launched a UK tour aged just 15, to her hostile takeover of post-hardcore band Big Light Show at the age of 17, Cassie graduated to country pop, where she scored two number one hits in early 2012 at the age of just 18 with Cryin' on My Own and Mindmap. More than three years later and with a wealth of industry experience, Cassie returns with a more mature, raw pop-punk sound and a brand new band, ripping off the band aid and diving straight in with a sharp, bouncy return that brings to life the delicate knife-edged balance inherent in many a young relationship.
Coming home"The idea to get back into music again was something that was never really, at least not consciously, on the cards for a number of years for me. It was sort of a case of "been there, done that" in the past with my old pop-punk bands, post-hardcore bands and even a couple of country songs. I felt like I had explored that side of the industry in my younger years and then moved away from it to be more involved with the media side, which has always been really great to me and gave me opportunities I never would have had without it. However, I guess sometimes things change, and for me it definitely did just like a couple of months back. It was when my wife Karoliena was on tour recently and I went out there to visit. When I saw Atomic War Bride on stage and witnessed how much they were enjoying being up there, I just got this appetite to get back into it again, you know? I wanted to experience that atmosphere of live music myself again. And not just live music, but the whole creation process that I hadn't been a part of for a number of years. It definitely ignited something in me that had been dormant, I guess, for some time. That was really cool to discover.
"When I decided that I wanted to get back into music again, pop-punk was the immediate go-to genre for me. I had some success in other areas, but nothing was ever as fun or as real as when I was doing pop-punk back when I was like 15. It was the best time of my musical career for sure, and I wanted to recapture it and not go down a different route. Besides, I'm still a big fan of that kinda music, and I think that breeds some of the best creation when you're writing as a fan for the fan. After making the decision to come back into this walk of life again, I had to find a band, and for a while it was a consideration to reform something from days gone by. I spoke to the guys from Cosmic Beauty Contest first and foremost, because that was where I came from originally, but in the end that didn't work out. Similar with Big Light Show, so in the end I just decided it was probably best to start afresh. Those two bands were last active six years ago and five years ago respectively, so I guess it was just time to let sleeping dogs lie. I'm a different, more fun and much stronger person now, in a far happier place than I was when I was 15 or 16, and I don't wanna get hung up on that whole thing. I don't want the old days to weigh me down, really.
"I wrote this song almost immediately when I got back from the Atomic War Bride tour, when the electric feeling I was getting about music and creation was still so fresh and hot in my mind. It was a case of locking myself away and just dreaming up the idea. I won't lie and tell you that I'm the best musician in the world, but it was a case of sitting there with a guitar and a pen and just...everything just flowed out. It was a fun process, probably for the first time in a hell of a lot of years, actually. I'm used to having worked with ghost writers on songs in the past, regardless of what genre I was in, as well as singing things that someone else has written entirely. Neither of those were really for me. I think anyone who knows me knows that I have a little smidge of an ego, and sometimes that needs to be stroked. Singing something someone else did doesn't allow you to feel that. When someone praises someone else's music and it's nothing more than your voice on it...that dilutes it a little. At least it does for me, I'm not telling anyone else how to feel. So, yeah, this process was an important discovery for me. It was a long time in coming that I just got into a room and penned that pop-punk tune I've had subconsciously stored away for years."
Running Away"Lyrically, the track is about the power balance in a relationship and the way it can always shift. It's not about my relationship, I should point out. These lesbians have got this marriage game nailed down. This is more about the sort of volatile relationship that I experienced earlier in my life. I'm not gonna go naming names, but I dated rock stars, solo artists, a guy from a boy band, all different guys from different walks of life. But it always seemed to be the same in those relationships where nothing was really ever gonna work out. There was always this delicate power imbalance, and it swung both ways - ironically. So, yeah, this song is about that sort of notion, and how you can easily go from being the one with absolute power in a couple, who the other one just needs so badly and will do anything for, to being the sort of sad bag of hopelessness almost begging the other person not to leave them. It explores that kind of ebb and flow nature that permeates through those relationships and how toxic it can be to always have someone have the upper hand on someone else. The chorus also discusses the idea of it all coming to an end, and the notion of running away, where the song takes its title from, revolves around how easy it would be to just step away from it all...almost making everything better. I honestly never get how couples who experience the sort of thing the song talks about can stay together for long, especially with that notion of running away, either party, hanging over them.
"For me, it was a fun topic to explore and run through in my mind. When you're in a relationship that's as stable and solid as mine is at the moment, it gives you that freedom to look back at things that perhaps haven't gone as well with other people in the past. If you don't have that security, then it can be scary to look over your shoulder in case the mistakes from your past are creeping up on you again. When you know everything's good, though, you can turn and stare the past straight in the eye, analyse everything and run it through your head. It's kinda fun to explore where things have gone wrong in the past.
"In terms of the musical direction of the song...I mean, it's nothing that's gonna take your breath away and knock you off your feet. But then I don't think it has to be. I think there's this weird overarching pressure these days in music to be innovating and doing something new all the time. You don't have to do that. Sometimes there are formulas in place that are there and so well established for one reason - they work. Pop-punk is one place like that. We've had girls doing this genre for years now, with the likes of Paramore and Versa really elevating it, and I think they gave us a sound that's almost become timeless within the genre. So, yeah, this is a track that sticks with that bouncy happy overarching sound of pop-punk pretty steadfastly. I hope the lyrics speak for themselves without the need for something huge and fancy musically, anyway. That's the main goal when you're writing anything at the end of the day - that the message is loud and clear. That's not to say you shouldn't enjpoy the music. It's happy, it's punchy, it has a cool intro and quite a big happy chorus. I like the way it sounds a lot. It's definitely a song that I am happy with and one I'm proud to call my own."
Senior Year"Naming the band was such a tough process for me. After I spoke with the old members of my other two bands, I decided that it wouldn't be right to work with any of them again. It just didn't feel like the right moment in time to do that, so I hired some of the wonderful friends I grew up with around Orange County to come and work with me, first of all on this track and then later as a whole band. We were in a scene in Orange County around the late 2000s that was really talented, so to have the chance to work with guys that are just so professional and tight was a wonderful opportunity for me. Like I said, when we decided it was gonna be an actual band thing, getting the name right was hard. I had the blessing of the guys to use the name Cosmic Beauty Contest if I wanted, but that didn't sit right with me. For one, it would be wrong of me to use that name without it being the band that made the name. Besides, do people even remember Cosmic Beauty Contest? I mean that was more than half a decade ago now. And for two, I think it would be the wrong move to be looking at the past like that. Sure, it was my baby, and I was its baby in a way too, and that's what launched me into the minds of people, but it was a long time ago. To try to hold onto something that's been so long gone just looks a bit desperate to me. I didn't want that. I want people to be able to view this as something fresh and new, a new chapter in my career, and not just some retro 2009 band getting back and doing pop-punk all over again.
"We eventually settled on the name Senior Year for two main reasons. One is that I first got into this...life, on a full time basis...I suppose you might say, when I was in my senior year of high school, and it was such a fantastic dawn of Cassie that year. I got to live the dream and really experience things that most people could only ever dream of. And they do say that pop-punk is all about nostalgia and looking back at your teenage years, so that seemed perfect. The second reason was to do more with...my age? I know I'm only 21, but in my life in the spotlight I feel like I've worked through so many different places, so many different aspects of this industry and so so many years, that I almost feel like this is it - I'm an old head of music now, you know? I feel like I've had to pull myself up to this point, and this is the time where I get to sit at the top table and wear varsity jackets and whatever else the cool senior kids do. It's like I did all this crap as a young kid as I tried to find myself, and here I am, senior year, ready to go into the future knowing that I'm set for whatever the world can throw at me. It was supposed to be a funny little name, and hopefully people pick up on that. We're gonna have fun as a band. Sure, we'll take it seriously and give it our all, but at the same time we never want to get away from the idea that we are just a bunch of kids with a common love for music, having fun and doing the things we wanna do."
Sounds like:
Where do you go when you're on your own?
When every last chance I gave you is blown
Taken the long road and I'm still alone
Cos that's the way I like it
No I can't stay the night
So hush hush with your secrets, your lips are sewn
Eyes closed tight, but you can't sleep all alone
Lipstick smudges crawl across your collar bone
And now I try to fight it
Cos I can see the light
Everything I've learned tells me I can't stay
But it's no escape if you keep taking the easy way
I've tripped over and over on each word you say
Maybe now I'll roll the dice and I'll force you to play
We could run away
We could run awaySleep tight little baby, cos now I'm gone
Just another piece in my game, such a pawn
Eyes glow slow like the crack of dawn
Because this is how I show you
That I will always go
Piece by piece, your world falls so slow
Watch brick by brick as it all starts to go
Night comes quick in the dark you now know
And now I slip between your fingers
Just a ghost of what you knew
Everything I've learned tells me I can't stay
But it's no escape if you keep taking the easy way
I've tripped over and over on each word you say
Maybe now I'll roll the dice and I'll force you to play
We could run away
We could run awayMy greatest escape will be the day I leave
Taking back with me everything you believe
Stole your heart and now you can't even breathe
Maybe I'm just playing
But you'll never forget me, no
This is the last time you'll ever call me baby
Breaking your spirit, please don't tell me maybe
Your dreams torn apart by this little lady
Because I'm giving you up
And you can't tell me to stay
Everything I've learned tells me I can't stay
But it's no escape if you keep taking the easy way
I've tripped over and over on each word you say
Maybe now I'll roll the dice and I'll force you to play
We could run away
We could run away
Everything I've learned tells me I can't stay
But it's no escape if you keep taking the easy way
I've tripped over and over on each word you say
Maybe now I'll roll the dice and I'll force you to play
We could run away
We could run away 