This video is our second last track from 'A Sea of Heroes', and although we only put out about 3 of these a month, time just seems to be flying by. There's just been such a wonderful flurry of positive reactions from all around the world to these covers. I hope this latest track makes no exception!
If you're a singer-songwriter there's no way around Ryan Adams. You just need to know what he does and you have to be able to name your personal favourite Ryan Adams album – me, I'm torn between 'Gold' and 'Love is Hell'. Just can't decide between two equally brilliant but so different albums. Besides his unique songwriting skills I have to say I admire how prolific the man is. The amount of records he's put out is astonishing.
So when I tried to think of a Ryan Adams cover to do I was leaning towards something off 'Gold' just because those songs are more accessible than the ones on 'Love is Hell' I suppose. But then one time after listening to 'Love is Hell' on my headphones I picked up the guitar that I'd left in a bit of unusual tuning but had forgotten about it. So I started to play two chords over and over until I spontaneously started singing the lyrics of 'Political Scientist' over them. I immediately thought it sounded cool – the chords had a special kind of vibe to them, same way the chords in the original have although my take was not nearly as dark as the original. But the cover caught that slight air of eeriness and adding in that recurring bass line made it sound almost like some slightly spaced out prog thing at times. Well, at least to my ears anyway.
The rest of the song I pretty much made up on the go, so yeah, I guess this is the song that probably sounds least like its original counterpart. Still, I hope you'll enjoy this one as well!
Last part of 'A Sea of Heroes' coming in ten days!
Until then, peace!
-Jon
P.S. Here's the original: