Encompassing ex-Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato, former Every Time I Die members Jordan Buckley, Clayton “Goose” Holyoak, and Stephen Micciche, plus Fit for an Autopsy guitarist (and expert metal producer) Will Putney, Better Lovers are a formidable supergroup on the rise. When they first formed last year, Putney promised that their “collective best work is ahead of us,” and the band make good on that with the arrival of their first full-length, Highly Irresponsible. Although Better Lovers excel at high-octane chaos, their debut LP brings light to their calmer side, too, showing that the songs don’t always have to rip to hold weight.
“I love the entire record, but when these slower more open moments come, like ‘White Horse’ and ‘Lie Between the Lines,’ it really allows everyone time to breathe and shine and have more creative freedom and more nuanced expression with the parts,” Puciato tells us ahead of their fall tour. More than that, it’s easy to sense that the band love playing together and like each other as people, exuding confidence, purpose, and proficiency across the album’s 10 tracks.
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Below, the heavy supergroup take us through every song on Highly Irresponsible.
“Lie Between The Lines”
JORDAN BUCKLEY: When Will sent a demo of this over a week before recording started, I think we unanimously all replied, “That’s track one.” It’s unlike anything I currently hear anyone doing in heavy music. In any music. Greg is one of one, and Will, Steve, and Goose sound just as maniacal as he does. I have listened to this song over 100 times, and each time I think about how lucky I am to be in a band with this these outliers. This song is a masterpiece.
“Your Misplaced Self”
BUCKLEY: Working title was “Halloween” because, get this, it was written on Halloween. Not often will a song only take a day to write, but with rippers like “Future,” “Superman,” and “Rebellion” scratching your itch for unpredictable chaos, it’s nice to counter that with a straightforward four-riffer. A great one-two punch after the mood’s been set with “Lie.” Keeps the listener guessing and the stage divers diving!
“A White Horse Covered In Blood”
WILL PUTNEY: We had a lot of the record in the bag by the time this song showed up. I was itching for a midtempo tune to break up some chaos, so I pulled this one out at the final hour. Goose’s drums sold the verses so well, and I love Steve’s chorus bass runs. It’s always great when you have an idea and then your bandmates elevate it even further.
“Future Myopia”
PUTNEY: This is one of my favorites because it was one of the earlier real collaby ones Jordan and I ripped together. He had the core of this song, and then we hit the bridge, and I went wild. It was an early tell I was gonna love writing this record together. And of course Greg pulled some gem vocal dynamics into this song. Sometimes you think you know what a vocal is going to do, and then he shows up so out of the box and inspiring. Can’t wait to play it live this fall!
“Deliver Us From Life”
GREG PUCIATO: Similar to what Mitch says below about “At All Times,” this song and the others that are less “crazy” were really important for me in terms of being able to see a glimpse of the full potential of what this group of people can do together. I love the entire record, but when these slower more open moments come, like “White Horse” and “Lie Between the Lines,” too, it really allows everyone time to breathe and shine and have more creative freedom and more nuanced expression with the parts. The chorus riff is one of the catchiest things on the record — I find that stuck in my head all the time, and I love the solo after the vocal in the second verse, and the handoff from the vocal to the solo, that transitions and the solo itself is one of my favorite moments on the record.
“Drowning In A Burning World”
PUTNEY: This was the first BL song I wrote on our first tour — and first “new song” on the LP since we already had a few we had been playing. I asked myself WWJD (what would Jordan do?) for that intro hammer on riff. D-beat heavy, chuggy, touch of math, all the stuff I like. Shoutout to Greg for that Alice In Chains-esque hook in the breakdown. That man knows how to elevate a song. One of my favorite Goose performances as well. This is a tough song on drums, and he smokes it.
“Everything Was Put Here For Me”
BUCKLEY: If you’ve seen Better Lovers live, you’ve heard this song. It’s been played every show. Written at the same time as the EP/before the band even had a name or a singer. Most musicians nowadays don’t play unreleased songs. We all know it will get filmed and put online, and no one wants an audience’s first impression to be a shitty iPhone video, but I guess we just don’t give a fuck. You can probably go on YouTube and see 10 different versions of this song right now. It’s fun to work out the kinks onstage. Create a rare opportunity for new ideas. Plus, that end breakdown… We couldn’t keep that caged.
“Superman Died Paralyzed”
PUCIATO: I was, and am, absolutely geeked on the double bass thrash part in the middle of this song. We don’t have anything like that anywhere else, and it’s so out of nowhere. When it happens, I’m fucking hyped every single time I hear it. The song is so furious the whole way through, and I wanted to throw some contrast to the relentlessness of that part, singing over it instead of screaming. The vocal reminds me of Joey Belladonna at that point. Middle school me drawing the Anthrax logo on my binders and books and shit is psyched about that. Lyrically, it’s pretty straight forward, about making the most of your time because this whole life thing is going by really fast, and shit can and does switch up on you out of nowhere. Or to get morbid, the big end could come at any moment, and when it does, it’s gonna be a surprise.
“At All Times”
STEPHEN “MITCH” MICCICHE: We had a softer rocker back from the EP demo days that’s still in the vault somewhere that I’d like to think inspired and helped shape this monster Hit You In The Feels tear-jerker. Songs like these are hands down my personal favorites; the less riff-rocky and more open/big guitars where I can sit down and really get some fun/interesting bass stuff to pop through. It came together pretty quickly. Jordan had most of the riff structure, and Will shredded that haunting solo, which I love. Then Greg came in with the hooks, and when we finally heard it, I was like, “Oh OK, we can be in a band like this now. Hell yeah.”
“Love As An Act Of Rebellion”
PUCIATO: This was the last song I tracked, and I wanna say that these vocals were the first ones recorded in Will’s new vocal booth that he had built, which is cool to know. Nice to be the one to break it in. I really love this song. It sorta feels like a sampler platter of the entire record in a way. It’s got a lot of flavors. This was a really fun one to write vocals to for that reason. I knew right away that this was gonna be the final song of the tracklisting, just from the instrumental. It also feels to me like the most vicious song on the record musically in a lot of ways. It feels very scathing to me. There’s a sense of desperation about the whole thing. The lyrics mostly end up being about how we all need to be communicating with love and empathy and compassion in interpersonal relationships and not allowing ourselves to become consumed or driven by difference or negativity. We tracked the vocals really quickly on this, maybe two or three hours, and I think that Will and I hit a new level in the producer/vocalist working flow/relationship while doing so, which is also really exciting to me for going forward, because that dynamic and developing a certain flow and vocabulary together so to speak is a really important and meaningful part of the creative process for me.