What were you doing fresh out of high school? Applying for college? Traveling abroad? How about signing a record contract with the prestigious Roadrunner Records?
Well, for teenage trio Mess Of Wires, it was the latter as the SoCal rock group prepared to release their electrifying five-track EP No Control.
Sounding like something you’d find in your dad’s college cassette player – think Stone Temple Pilots mixed with a pinch of Filter and Led Zeppelin – No Control is a grunge-soaked, hard rock ode to the rock n roll greats who came before us.
Sharing insight into what should be the start of a very promising discography, Niko Nicholas [lead vocals, guitar], Sam Edelman [drums, vocals], and Jersey Sullivan [bass, vocals] teamed up with The Noise for a exclusive track-by-track rundown of their brand new release.
To check out what the band had to say about their striking single “Hard To Tell,” the guitar-led “Stand Alone” and more, be sure to see below. Afterward, make sure to stream No Control here.
HARD TO TELL
“Hard to Tell” is a song that takes off pretty quickly, which is why we chose it to start the EP. The riff was written at 2:00am in Niko’s back house and we knew it was going to be a good song. It really dives into all of our different styles. There’s a bit of everything in this track which gives it a unique vibe and we loved seeing people at our shows singing along. This is our most listened to song on our EP so we think more new fans will come to love it too.
HUNTED
“Hunted” really just started as a jam in rehearsal that we ended up making into a whole song. From the dirty and sloppy verses and the hard-hitting chorus melody, it’s one of our heaviest songs. The fast break has a dirty echoey guitar that breaks up the sludginess of the first half. It’s a great moshing song that we think people will have a lot of fun listening to.
TAKE ME
“Take Me” is one of the earliest written songs out of the five on the EP. The chords were something we came up with on the spot during rehearsal, and we finished the song on the same day. We wanted to play with the dynamics a lot on this track, which adds to the impact throughout. There are some really cool tones and effects in the background that you wouldn’t normally hear, but they add a lot of depth to the track. The song is basically a conversation with yourself about not being the best person you can be. This is definitely one of our favorites to play live, because it usually makes the crowd get into it and dance.
STAND ALONE
“Stand Alone” is a track that showcases the dirtier side of our songwriting and it’s a fun one for the rhythm section to really lock in and drive. Its catchy chorus and sick guitar solo make it a great song for classic rock fans. This is one that we think our fans will love singing along to!
NO CONTROL
“No Control” has always been the song that closes our live sets, making it the perfect closer on the EP. We like the slower, drawn-out drone vibe of this track, and the payoffs after the dynamic buildups are some of our favorite moments of the tracklist. The song is about seeing change in ways that you can’t always control and the pain of having to go through that. It’s definitely a track we think a lot of fans can relate to, no matter what they’ve been through.
