Behind The Tracks: Andrew Thomases - Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone (Single) (2021)

“Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone” started out with me on my guitar, jamming on a few chords with a cool rhythm. I then got a melody in my head that became the main guitar riff (and later formed the basis of the vocal melody). Next, I picked up my trusty bass guitar and started laying down a bass line. My first bass part was quite simple, but then a bass player friend played a more intricate bass line for me, and I built upon that to develop a pretty driving bass riff. Next, I added drums that matched the energy of the bass line. I added layered guitars on top, plus a screaming guitar solo, and then the musical part of the song was close to complete.

The song has a bit of a classic rock sound, but with a modern flare. There is some distortion on the guitars, big boom on the drums, plus, some wah in the guitar solo. I did all of the initial recording and mixing in my home studio, but then had it professionally mixed and mastered once all of the vocals were recorded with an initial mix.

As for the lyrics, the initial guitar riff very naturally led me to the main refrain of “will you miss me when I’m gone” and the “oh oh’s.” Not sure why, but I just heard those in my head whenever I played the riff. From there, I knew I wanted to write a song about climate change and our environment. The “me” in the refrain was intended to have two meanings. First, it was in the voice of the environment, and the song asks if humans will miss the environment once it is gone. The second idea is a bit more subtle: the “me” can represent my generation, where the song is asking if future generations would miss me and my generation when we are gone, or would they be so angry at how we left the environment that they would not even miss us.

I wrote the rest of the lyrics to provide a pretty stark reality about what we are doing to the planet. Oceans rising, smoke filling the skies, rivers flowing brown, trees being cut down, and the like. The chorus is a warning and a call to action. People need to see the hazard and have to understand the urgency needed to stop climate change and save our planet for future generations.