Cleveland hardcore band Last Gasp are gearing up to follow their 2021 debut LP The Storied Weight of It All and their fall 2022 promo with their sophomore album, Who Wants to Die Tonight?, on October 31 via WAR Records (pre-order). Its next single “October 13th” is coming out tomorrow (naturally), but it gets an early premiere right here, and it’s about something a lot more serious than just another heavy band with a Friday the 13th reference. Vocalist Ryan Hardwick explains:
October 13th is a song about my father. He passed away from a sudden heart attack 23 years ago on this date. Oddly enough it was Friday the 13th, 2000. My father was a complicated man but he was a good Dad. A year or two ago it came to light through 23andMe that he had a secret daughter, which meant that my sisters and I had a secret half sibling. Talk about a wave of emotions. My parents were together since they were teenagers and I just couldn’t process how or when this could’ve happened. After speaking with my “new” sister we found out it had to be around the time that my parents first got together which softened the news but it still just didn’t sit right with me. My mom swears that he knew about this little girl. They come from a tiny little town and people talk, ya know?
So the song is about my father keeping such a wild secret all that time. He really wasn’t the type of guy to just bail on a kid but it was a different time and he was young. I try to put myself in those shoes but it still doesn’t feel right. He’s been gone for twenty three years so I guess we’ll never really know. I feel for this lady finding out that the man that she thought was her father all this time, really wasn’t. I mean imagine that… how do you approach your mother? I really don’t like to get too personal with my lyrics but it was heavy for my family and pretty current when we were writing the record. Probably some of the realest lyrics I’ve ever written.
Ryan channels the emotions behind this life-changing experience through a vessel of ripping, fast-paced hardcore, and for some more background on the influences behind the track, guitarist Dave Kuhlman adds:
When we started writing this record we didn’t know what the finished product would be, but we knew we wanted to stick to the formula we’ve always used. Keep the songs short and fast. Last Gasp initially started because of mine and Ryan’s love for fast early 2000s bands like Carry On and The Final Plan. I also grew up spin kicking as a youngster so I definitely wanted to add more of that vibe to the new songs, since I was the one writing them for the new record.
The actual writing process itself was fairly easy. These songs are heavily influenced by the bands that influenced me the most growing up (Madball, Biohazard, Terror, etc). I would record riffs on voice memo and send them to the group chat. By the time we got together to practice the following week Tony would already have a drum part that worked. Joe, our bass player is such a solid guitarist I knew just letting him do his thing on bass would work out just fine. Everything came together fairly quickly this way!
Recording was a breeze. Ben Schegal at Spyder studios is an absolute wizard. It took us about 4 days to track everything and then we sent it off to Nick Jett for mixing and mastering. Couldn’t be happier with the final product. I’m really excited for everyone to hear it.
Check it out: