Track By Tracks: Bourbon House - Into The Red (2021)

1. Dead in the Water:

Picking the opening track for an album is so important. We knew we wanted it to be a kick-in-the-teeth kind of song, and Dead in the Water is that song on this album. It was also our most current single at the time of the album release and our first active rock radio song, so it made sense to put something familiar right up front. The song is about lifting yourself up, with rock bottom ("Rock bottom never felt so safe") mentioned several times in the lyrics, even when and if others want to keep you down. 

2. 6000 Miles:

We wanted this album to be a bit of a rollercoaster ride and 6000 Miles was the next logical choice. Dead in the Water ends with a cold stop after a lot of high energy and goes straight into a solo bass riff, bringing everything down a little before the second part of 6000 Miles kicks in to bring the energy back up. What's unique about this song is that it's really a roller coaster ride in itself. It has a nice groove at the beginning, gets intense in the middle, and finishes with a jungle of noises before it fades out. This song is about that one ex that makes you realized you dodged a bullet by ending that relationship. 6000 miles ain't no place too far from a crazy ex. 

3. Bad For Me:

This is our sexy song, because every rock album needs at least one, although it's not a common topic for us. This is the first track on the album that was not released as a single and we wanted to make sure that it was a song that packed a lot of punch but also had that familiar heavy blues-rock sound. Bad for Me is about a toxic, lust-driven relationship that seems impossible to get out of. 

4. Too High to Care:

This is another previously released single. This song was intentionally written to be all fun and carefree as the title suggests, which is why it doesn't have an intro. Sequentially, going from the high energy ending of Bad For Me straight into the high energy main riff of Too High to Care, it holds the intensity right at the peak of the ride. This song was inspired by those that we all like to "people watch" - maybe a guy who walks around downtown wearing a cape and booty shorts in the dead of winter without a care in the world about what anyone thinks of him. It's about living as ourselves and expressing ourselves fearlessly. 

5. I Got Trouble:

We wanted this album to have depth and attitude and more introspection. When we decided we wanted to write a ballad, I Got Trouble came naturally. We've always been drawn to the ballads from our favorite bands and we feel they hold something special that a straight-up rock song doesn't. I Got Trouble might be a downer, but it's also relatable and has a lot of heart and soul poured into it and spilling out of it. At least, that's what we hope people hear when they listen to it. This song is about our own internal demons, not about fighting them but acknowledging that they exist. 

6. Love Sick:

This song keeps with the down-with-the-blues theme started by I Got Trouble and builds it up with a groove, making the message a little less somber. This is the song on this album that was written by our drummer, Ryan. Although we're actually a pretty clean band, whiskey and rock and roll are synonymous when we think of the classic bands that inspired us. Heartbreak is a familiar topic and it's popular in every genre because it's so relatable. It's about dealing with heartbreak in an unhealthy way. 

7. Devil on my Heels:

Fun fact: We almost didn't add Devil on My Heels to the Into the Red album. This song was the first we released as a single. Previously, we had released two full albums and quickly realized that singles were the way to go after this release. Before the success of Dead in the Water, this song was the one that previously got us the most attention; a Classic Rock Magazine Track of the Week win, a spot on their covermount compilation CD, a shoutout endorsement from Eddie Trunk, topping some independent radio charts, etc. We didn't have any intentions of adding this to the album initially but people kept asking for a physical version of it so we decided to include it and we're glad we did. This song is about suffering from heartbreak after the end of a relationship and finding it hard to overcome it. 

8. Keep Your Head:

When we think of groove rock as a subgenre of what we create, this is the kind of song that comes to mind. This is an earlier song we wrote at the same time as Devil on My Heels and so we've been playing it live for some time. It's one of our favorite live songs and we've been including it in every set since. This song is about reassuring our loved ones that they will be fine without us. 

9. Slow Burn:

This song had a specific sound that we were aiming for. We were going for outlaw, western, lonely, and were inspired after listening to "John the Revelator" by Curtis Stigers off of the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack, an extra dark and moody version of the song. Once we had that idea in mind, this song came together in about an hour. Slow Burn looks at those personal demons again and refers to those toxic relationships or situations and urges us to look at them too so that we can escape and overcome them. 

10. Unavailable:

This is the last song we wrote for the album. We wanted to have one more song and we had all of these ideas, riffs, and song titles left over (Fun fact: NYC radio host, Jay Conroy, gave us the title and story for this song) and we decided to do something unconventional with them. We decided we wanted to write a song that never repeats itself. There is no chorus, no tag line and none of the six riffs are repeated. This song is about missed connections due to the fact that both parties in the relationship were never actually available to each other, even if they wanted to be.