Tag: Scott Stevens

My Sunday Song – “How Did You Love?” by Shinedown

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For My Sunday Song #328, we will dive in to the song “How Did You Love?” by Shinedown. The song is off their 2015 album ‘Threat to Survival’. It was released as a single on October 4, 2016 and went to #1 on the Mainstream Rock Chart. It was written by Brent Smith and Scott Stevens who you know from the band The Exies. He’s also co-written a ton of songs and a lot with Halestorm on their album ‘Into the Wild Life’.

The song is about making sure you understand that you are going to die and being okay with that. Once you are, make sure you live each day to the fullest. When you think back, are you at peace with how you loved during your lifetime. Are you comfortable with that? If not, do something about it. Go out inspire people…and love people.

The song starts off with a slow melody that keeps building with the vocals. It is accented with a beautiful piano and some great rhythm guitar by Zach Myers. The song explodes at the chorus and it turns in to an 80’s power ballad in style. Barry Kerch’s drums are powerful, almost tribal. Brent’s vocals are melodic and heartfelt as they sweep through the verses and soar in the chorus. I love a good power ballad and this fits that mold nicely. The band also released an acoustic version of the song that is quite haunting and beautiful. Check it out as well.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Are you happy with how you’ve loved? I also included the acoustic version as well for your listening pleasure. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you all have a wonderful and Happy Sunday.

“How Did You Love?”

You can have the sound of a thousand voices calling your name
You can have the light of the world blind you, bathe you in grace
But I don’t see so easily what you hold in your hands
Cause castles crumble, kingdoms fall and turn into sand

You can be an angel of mercy or give into hate
You can try to buy it just like it every other careless mistake
How do you justify I’m mystified by the ways of your heart
With a million lies the truth will rise to tear you apart
Woah!

No one gets out alive, every day is do or die
The one thing you leave behind
Is how did you love, how did you love?
It’s not what you believe; those prayers will make you bleed
But while you’re on your knees
How did you love, how did you love, how did you love?

Nothing ever feels quite the same when you are what you dreamed
And you will never look at anything the same when you see what I see
How we forget ourselves, lose our way from the cradle to the grave
You can’t replicate or duplicate, gotta find your own way
Yeah!

No one gets out alive, every day is do or die
The one thing you leave behind
Is how did you love, how did you love?
It’s not what you believe; those prayers will make you bleed
But while you’re on your knees
How did you love, how did you love, how did you love?

This ain’t no cross to carry
We are the judge and jury; we are the judge and jury

No one gets out alive, every day is do or die
The one thing you leave behind
Is how did you love, how did you love?
It’s not what you believe; those prayers will make you bleed
But while you’re on your knees

How did you love, how did you love, how did you love?

This ain’t no cross to carry
We are the judge and jury, we are the judge and jury

How did you love, how did you love?
How did you love, how did you love?

Written by Brent Smith and Scott Stevens

My Sunday Song – “Amen” by Halestorm

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic12 Comments

For My Sunday Song #235, we are going to look at the song “Amen” by Halestorm off their 2015 album ‘Into the Wild Life’. The song was released as the second single and went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock tracks, but didn’t chart on the Top 40 because this is not a Top 40 song. It was written by Lzzy Hale, Joe Hottinger and Scott Stevens (who we’ve seen a lot so far on these songs as I seem to gravitate to his songs unknowingly).

The song is real simple lyrically. It is about doing whatever the fuck you want, but owning it at the same time which you have to if you going to have that attitude. According to Lzzy in a Kerrang interview, the idea for the song came from a Tweet she did that stated…‘This is my life, my love, my sex, my drug, my lust.’… Her friend showed that tweet back to her and told that she needed to turn that in to a song and well, she did just that.

The song was actually recorded in a church, but written prior to knowing they were going to do that. Ironically enough, the song is done in a preaching, church style vocal delivery and it is backed up with that vibe musically as well. It isn’t the heaviest song they have done, but it is a rocker and has short guitar solo that is fitting for the song. The whole song has a Big F.U. feel to it which shows the band is doing things their way and they don’t care what you think. I think we all feel that way at one time or another.

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My Sunday Song – “Painkiller” by Halestorm

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For My Sunday Song #233, we are discussing the song “Painkiller” by the band Halestorm. The song is off their 2018 album ‘Vicious’ which went to #8 on the Billboard 200 Album chart. The album produced 5 singles, however, this was not one of them. This is a deep cut that is one of my favorite songs on the album. The song was written by Lzzy Hale, Joe Hottinger and Scott Stevens who helped write the song “Mz. Hyde”.

The song doesn’t really have any deep meaning. It focuses on how you get so in to a person that you become addicted to them. They take all the pain away and make you feel so good. You end up craving them, wanting them ever second. You can never get enough of them. The become the drug to feed your addiction. Simple enough.

Musically, the song is so freaking heavy. Josh Smith’s bass is a beast as it lays down this nasty bass line. Arejay Hale’s drum sound is immense and sounds like an explosive cloud of thunder and is only missing the lightning. But I guess the guitar work by Joe would be the lightning as it flashes in with some nasty riffs. Lzzy’s vocals are strong, powerful and one of the best vocalist in the rock scene today. She sings on this with that addict intensity and is what the song needs to take it over the top. It is brilliant.

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My Sunday Song – “Mz. Hyde” by Halestorm

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic13 Comments

For My Sunday Song #231, we kick off this 10 Set of Halestorm songs with “Mz. Hyde” off the band’s second album ‘The Strange Case of…” The song was the 5th single of this incredible album and went to #15 on the Rock Mainstream Chart. It helped push the album to #15 on the Billboard 200 album chart and brought the album to Gold status of over 500,000 copies sold. If you haven’t heard the album, prepare to have your head explode at its awesomeness!

The song was written by Lzzy Hale and songwriter Scott Stevens who you might know as the lead singer of The Exies. Lzzy wanted to capture in a song the fact she has two totally different personalities. One is her personal life and the other is her stage life. They took the theme from the fantastic novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Lzzy was very shy when she was younger and yet she wanted to be a rock star. She created this “Mz. Hyde” personae to turn in to the rock star she wanted to be. I know a lot of people that their work personae and personal life personae are totally different so I believe a lot of people have this dichotomy in their lives.

Musically, hold on to everything as this song explodes out of the gate with an awesome drum opening from Arejay Hale that then rips into an electronica “Mz. Hyde” before Lzzy comes in like a monster with the verses and the chorus. It is an extremely uptempo rocker that has all the elements you want in a rock song. Powerful drums fro Arejay, rip roaring guitars from Joel Hottinger, thumping bass from Josh Smith and a powerhouse vocal performance from Lzzy. If this song doesn’t get you moving, I don’t know what will.

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