The idea for L.A. came to me during a bout of anxiety whilst watching reality TV set in L.A.. I wrote it as a kind of an ode to wanting to be away from your anxieties. The lyrics contain mentions of typical anxiety symptoms like losing your teeth in dreams, and self-destructive tendencies in relationships like the line ‘I lose a friend every single day’. This is in reference to me having anxiety surrounding my friendships and relationship where I presume that through one action of mine and then ruminating on the subject is going to be the death of all interactions that I ever have that person.
During the chorus the line ‘I drive to L.A. In the dark’ is a plea better times in future but still the ‘shadow of anxiety’ ever present in my mind. The references to ‘I won’t take a side road because I’ll fall apart’ is in reference a severe problem with change and a hope to develop a resolve to this. This 2nd verse has reference to the death of my father which my anxiety grew massively around this time. The final line is ‘I’ll drive to L.A.” Which is referential to a hope of good times without the shadow of anxiety.
If I was to write a letter to myself about what I was going through at the time, L.A. would be that letter.
L.A. really gave us a clear direction to go in as a band. We knew we were a Midwest Emo Band from the start but this track pushed us forward more downs that path than even our fist release. Our first release was centred around pop punk rhythm guitars in the verse and chorus since we had two guitarists at the time. One of the guitarists left after the release, so we focused on influencing the guitar parts around bands who have one guitarist such as Tiny Moving Parts. This allows us to play the song live true to its recorded form, whilst also leaving gaps in the rhythm sections for Midwest Emo leads and twinkly verses.
Since this is our first release as a proper 3 piece, we were a bit worried about how we’d make it work in the beginning. We intended to solve this by working on L.A. to try and craft the sound that would fit well into emerging North West Emo scene, and took influence from bands such as Arm’s Length and Tiny Moving Parts. Through this we learned how we write music our way, and how to keep in those twinkly Midwestern Melodies that we love.
We remember getting the first mix back for L.A. on our drive home from the studio the same night we finished recording. There was a silence during and after the track finished playing that signified how speechless we all were at how huge the song was sounding. For us it felt like we had arrived on the scene as a proper band, and had produced a song we were all extremely proud of. We all felt like the song sounded in a place with all of our favorite bands in the scene at the moment and was a huge stepping stone for us to developing as a band.
Our previous release, Dreaming, was recorded in a day and made us feel rushed and like it wasn’t as good as we could have made it. With L.A. we gave ourselves two days to record and managed to add all of the layers, backing vocals and extra lines to it that we intended to. We are extremely happy and proud with how it has turned out and would love to show it to as many people as we can!
About Hospital Radio
Hospital Radio are a three-piece Midwest Emo band from Manchester UK, weaving sad and painful songs with a raw, emotional edge. Combining intricate, beautiful guitar work with driving energy and heartfelt lyrics, their music captures the intensity of life’s struggles while delivering cathartic, powerful soundscapes.
SOURCE: Official Bio