Moncton’s The Swiftkicks have returned with their first single in more than a year. Their latest is an uplifting message brimming with positivity, and a reminder to look on the bright side of life, however short, titled “Toxic Bliss.”
You might mistake from the lyrics, tone, and general intention of the song, that “Toxic Bliss” is anything but the boost you need to be living your best life. Sure, the band describe it as being about how we’re all consuming garbage and how it’s killing us and our planet, but really that just means we have so much room to improve! Everything is looking up from here!
Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered at The Swiftkicks vocalist, guitarist, and lyricist Ross Cola’s studio Slanted Glass Productions in Moncton, New Brunswick, the song is the first recording for the band that has featured both new drummer Matt Hector, and former Swiftkicks bassist Alexandre LeBlanc.
Cola explains that in craft “Toxic Bliss” it was essential to start with the music as a bass for the song.
“I jammed out some riffs on my guitar ’til I found one that ended up being the intro riff. I built the whole song around that,” says Cola. “Got a decent instrumental version of the song going then I started experimenting with the vocals until I found some lyrics that stuck.”
It wasn’t always the easiest of processes. Cola took the long approach to putting the song together, leaving much of the original inspiration behind the single lost to time and the haze.
In the end it took the band more than two and a half years to put “Toxic Bliss” together.
“I like to incorporate lots of cannabis into the song-writing process, so it’s hard to remember how I came up with it,” laughs Cola. “A thing that’s on my mind a lot though is how badly we treat ourselves, the planet, and how much we ignore the reality of it all. There’s the saying that ‘ignorance is bliss’ and I think it applies to this song. Humans have a bad habit of ignoring uncomfortable truths and it’s killing us.”
That will ring true with anyone who’s read the current IPCC Report. Remember to look for the positives and always wear sunscreen. Reduce, reuse, and recycle. And if none of that works for you, try Cola’s song-writing process.