Title: “Going Down Together”
Artist: Alex Simms
From: Enigma (2013)
Release Date: September 8, 2013
Length: 4:44
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, 7” Single, Weekly Airplay
Recorded: May 2013 – Orlando, Florida
Genre: Pop-Punk, Post-Hardcore
Label: Songs to Love and Die By
Written: February 2013
Writer(s): Alex Simms
Producer(s): Alex Simms, Amy Meyer

“Going Down Together” is a song written by the American pop-punk solo artist ‘Alex Simms’, taken from his debut album ‘Enigma’ which was released earlier in the summer to generally positive reviews. This latest track will mark the still relatively new musicians third official single to be released in his career so far, following on from the moderate success of previous singles ‘Golden Hearts Shine Forever’ which peaked at number three and ‘Dirty Little Heart’ which peaked at number five in the singles charts. It marks a steady rise for the young musician, who was signed to the Amy Meyer owned record label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ in early April following a string of low-key but well received performances in the New York City area, he was quickly put into a recording studio to begin work on his debut album which peaked at number two on the album charts and has gone on to sell over two million copies worldwide since its release in June 2013, making a relatively quick rise into the music industry.
Throughout the summer ‘Alex Simms’ had been part of the popular Carnival of Sounds touring festival which helped him expand his fanbase a little further and give his songs the platform to be heard by many more fans, the support for the musician has been so rapid that he recently announced a string of headlining tour dates in the UK, all of which at relatively smaller venues that he performed at on the Carnival of Sounds tour, but still rather promising from an act that was a complete unknown at the beginning of the year, the support of record label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ has gone some way in helping establish ‘Alex Simms’ as a promising musician in the industry as well as creating their very own scene bubbling up within the pop-punk echelons of music with acts like both Alex Simms, Maddie Urie and a couple of future bands helping in some small way to add to the ever growing list of Alternative music returning to the forefront of the industry.

The track has been described as punchy rock anthem, it’s use of the lead guitar and drum combination has been noted in early reviews of the single. The lead guitar dominates the song and the drumming throughout add a little bit of a dramatic feel to the weight of the song’s lyrics. Vocally the song is sung with a tender rock voice, Kerrang magazine noted “The vocals during the opening lines to the song are enough to make a herd of scene girls melt instantly. It’s f*cked up love and ‘we’re in this together’ lyrical theme are tailor made for a late teen audience and throughout the song there are some golden lyric Soundbites for teenage girls everywhere, lines like ‘Our cuts and bruises will blend into one’ and ‘She walks the streets in solitary magnitude/All eyes staring at her/f*ck it, she’s got attitude’ are the sort of lines that just fit perfectly into the diary of any girl with a tendency toward rock music and skinny jean wearing lead singers”

The song was reportedly written in February 2013, it made its live debut during a performance at a New York based nightclub called ‘Pacha’ which was the show that convinced Amy Meyer to sign Alex Simms to her record label ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ having on the radar of the indie label for a number of months. The track was then recorded at a studio in Simms hometown of Orlando, Florida during the sessions for his debut album at some time in May 2013. It was considered as the lead single from the album initially but ‘Golden Hearts Shine Forever’ was chosen ahead of this track, it was then re-considered as the follow-up single but rejected by Alex as he preferred to release ‘Dirty Little Heart’ and finally ‘Going Down Together’ was chosen as the third single from his debut album. The track was written solely by Alex Simms and was produced by the musician alongside Amy Meyer, it will be officially released in three formats, CD Single, Digital Download and 7” Single and will also be made available for Airplay and it will be released on September 8, 2013 through ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ and the Alex Simms official website.

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SONGWRITERS COMMENTS

“I had been struggling to make that final breakthrough into the music industry, I had been searching for the moment for a couple of years, that defining moment when I’m asked what I do and I no longer say session musician or in-between jobs. I always felt that there would be some point where somebody asks me what I do and I’d be able to say ‘I’m a musician’, it had taken a longer time for that to happen though, longer than I had hoped. I had been close to signing record contracts in the past but for whatever reasons it just didn’t materialize, but I had heard of the interest from Amy Meyer for maybe two months, I think the story is that her band mate saw me perform at this grotty little bar just outside of Brooklyn and mentioned my name to Amy, then maybe three weeks later I heard that she was gonna be at a show that I was performing at, I wasn’t nervous but I don’t think I quite had that one song to convince her of my ability.

Then at the beginning of the year, I finished writing a couple of songs and one of those songs were ‘Going Down Together’, I performed at a show in Trenton, New Jersey and I was going to perform this track for the first ever time, there was a power cut in the neighbourhood so I wasn’t able to finish the show with that song, a couple of days later I was performing at a night club in New York, I had played night clubs before but this wasn’t a rock night club, they play all of these dance and house songs at this venue called ‘Pacha’ and so naturally I thought I was a little out of my depth, there’s these people that are used to rave music, neon lights and foam and I show up with my backing band and start playing my own music, but they were surprisingly supportive, I’m guessing it was the cheap booze but whatever it was doesn’t really matter because the show went well, I debuted ‘Going Down Together’ at this show, I opened with the song because I thought knowing my luck there’d be another power cut or something.
Anyway, the next day I get a phone call from an unknown number and to my surprise it’s Amy. I had never met her before, I heard she saw a gig and that was it, but she started talking about how enthused I made her feel about rock music again and that she’d like me to go see her at the label’s building in New York. When I got there, she talked about my performance and whether I had many songs written, I played her a couple of other songs, two of which ended up on my debut album and then she asked me if I would play ‘Going Down Together’ acoustically, I did and we talked a little more, she told me about how her band had got signed and about the music that influenced her, it was an eclectic mix to say the least but I could see the passion when she was talking about music, I knew that if I could get the chance to be signed to a label run by Amy that I would be making a good decision. We talked a little more and she seemed to really enjoy my song ‘Going Down Together’, she asked about why I had wrote the song and if I had wrote it about anybody in particular. I told her the story about how it was about a friend in high school, how we weren’t exactly popular and so we just stuck together and Amy expressed her love for the song a couple of more times, she talked about how it would be a great single and how it had the potential to be hugely popular with sixteen to twenty-two year old girls and all of this positive stuff about the song, she was a little disappointed when I told her that I didn’t want to release it as my debut single but she’s constantly supported the song ever since she first heard it and finally I’ve decided to release it as a single. Hopefully you enjoy it.”
- Alex Simms

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LYRICS

“She was my sweet sixteen
My screwed up little drama queen
Just constantly firing her shots in the dark
Hoping they’d go straight to my heart
We both got the bruises and we both got the scars
These souls aren’t destined for the stars

No, no, no, no, no!
They’re smeared in blood across the wall
It’s a long way down to nothing at all
But darlin’ if I’m gonna fall
I’m gonna need you to heed the call
Cause I ain’t going alone

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together
Our cuts and bruises will blend into one
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together
And before you know it, we’ll be dead and gone
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together, for now and forever
Before you know it, we’ll be gone
Our cuts and bruises will blend into one

She was my rebel without a cause
Made a deal with the devil with no escape clause
Now she’s living on the edge
And destruction is her middle name
Setting fire to my things
Now she’s got me joining in

On a path to destruction
On a path to denial
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
If we’re going down together, we’re going down in style
She walks the streets in solitary magnitude
All eyes staring at her
F*ck it, she’s got attitude

She’s my rebel without a cause
Made a deal with the devil with no escape clause
Now she’s living on the edge
And destruction is her middle name
She’s setting fire to my things
Now she’s got me joining in

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together
Our cuts and bruises will blend into one
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together
And before you know it, we’ll be dead and gone
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
We’re going down together, for now and forever
Before you know it, we’ll be gone
Our cuts and bruises will blend into one”

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PERSONNEL

Alex Simms – lead vocals, lead guitar, lyrics, production
Frankie Fallon – bass guitar, backing vocals
Josh Kingston – drums, percussion
Amy Meyer – production
Amelia Fontaine – cover art design

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SOUND ALIKE

Pierce The Veil – Hold On Till’ May