Brotherhood

Your experience could be very different. But when I was younger, I had no shortage of close male friendships. Teammates, bandmates, roommates, classmates, neighborhood friends… There were plenty, and we were thick as thieves. 

I am married with children now. And yes, those relationships ARE more valuable than a friendship with a teammate or bandmate. They’re sacred, and I don’t think friendships are designed to be more important than the relationship with spouses or children. BUT that doesn’t mean friendships don’t matter. They matter a great deal. And in my late twenties, I was feeling the loneliness that comes when those friendships atrophy. It seemed sudden.

I also felt hopeless that those kinds of friendships would never exist again. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see how they could realistically return until later in life. 

When this song was being mixed, I told Lucas Winkler (@32sevenaudio) that it was OK for the mix to a be a little crowded and sloppy. I said I wanted it to sound “like a big party of sad rock’n’roll millennials.”

Would I trade my marriage or my children for the friendships I had in high school and college? Hell no. But am I allowed to miss those friendships and look back on them with a kind of bittersweet nostalgia? Yes, I am. And I do.