THE DREW THOMSON FOUNDATION Dissects the ‘Stay’ EP with a Track-by-Track Guide [Exclusive]

You might know Drew Thomson from your childhood. If so, you’re unlike the rest of us who know him through his work fronting the acclaimed Canadian punk group Single Mothers. Well, Mr. Andrew, never one to cease musical creation, released his new solo recording, the four-track Stay EP, via Dine Alone Records on May 11th. Issued under the name The Drew Thomson Foundation, the alt-country songs are, according to Thomson, “a culmination of his experiences focused heavily on family, love, death, excess, and longing.” Naturally, as lovers of music, not to mention anything punk-infused, we asked Drew to help us understand his new tunes to which he shared the following thoughts…

01. “Married To The Night”
– A lot of close friends and family and – not so close friends, but people around me, have been going through divorces recently. It’s a sign to me that I’m getting older but also my generation. Divorce was something we went through as kids and now we’re doing it ourselves. This song is just about all of a sudden being alone after growing with someone and not really knowing what happened, what to do now, where to begin. It’s about wondering where the time went, even though we were spending it, wondering where our lives went, even though we were living them.

02. “Pace Yourself”
– “Pace Yourself” is just about getting sober. I was a heavy drinker for a long time and didn’t listen to anyone who told me anything I didn’t want to hear about it. I should have gotten my shit together well before I did, but as I’ve been told, better late than never. I’m glad to say that I’ve been sober almost 2 years now and my life has become exponentially better in quality and the people around me seem to be…not calling me a jerk as much.

03. “Rifle”
– “Rifle” is about being different in a small town and the conflicts that can arise from not giving in. I have a good friend that didn’t come out of the closet until years after he moved out of the small northern town he was raised in because he was scared of what would have happened to him if he did. It’s loosely based on the feeling I get thinking about him telling me that.

04. “Stay”
– My mother, bless her heart – was pretty young when she had me – still in school, and without much or any money. We spent the first handful of years of my life living with her parents, my grandparents – we were very close. People say “my grandma died” and it conjures a feeling but she wasn’t just my grandma, she was a friend – in a family full of stepparents and not so great relationships she was a rock to me, the foundation of the family idea that I knew and held onto.

While I was drinking a lot more through the years I kind of stopped going over as much as I should have, I was on tour more and more and while my other band was on tour in the UK – literally minutes away from going on stage at a festival called Redding and Leeds – my girlfriend called me to tell me she had passed away. This song to me is very literally about that moment, and the guilt an shame and love I’ve held onto for this woman and how I wish she could have just stayed around for a little while until I got back home to say goodbye.

You should “Stay” on this page longer and watch this video.