Tom Cheshire Premieres His Crucial New Single “Forgiveness”

Musicians don’t usually go into the writing and recording of a debut album as well prepared as Tom Cheshire. Most often young and inexperienced, it’s usually a challenging learning experience for the young artist. But not for Cheshire, a man who has run across the musical spectrum over the last 25 years.

Today, the Tom Cheshire Band premieres their brand new single, “Forgiveness.” It’s from Cheshire’s forthcoming solo debut, Everything Is New Again. Cheshire wants to make clear that the Tom Cheshire Band is still a group, but it’s his solo project and a representation of him as a solo artist. “Forgiveness” is notable for so many reasons, but what’s perhaps most notable about it is how it represents Cheshire as a solo artist. It’s one of those career-defining tracks representing everything he is as a musician.

Although easily digestible, the song is musically complex, conjoining many different styles. It’s got a kind of outsider’s Americana sound with a Southern gothic vibe. Think of a combination of Tom Waits and Johnny Cash with a street-punk attitude.

Discussing the song, its origins, and how it relates to the record, Cheshire states:

“‘Forgiveness’ was originally a song I recorded with West End Motel. It wound up on our 2012 Warner Bros. record, Only Time Can Tell. The song was brought to us by my good friend Mike Shina, who was in my old bands Rent Boys, West End Motel with me, and also currently plays in TCB. When he first came up with the idea, we were on tour with West End Motel in the mountains outside of Asheville, N.C., and we’d spent the night in this cabin. Early in the morning, I got up and Shina was outside already, and it was clear he’d been up for a while working on something. So he says listen to this, and starts playing an early version of what would become ‘Forgiveness.’ Immediately, it blew me away.

“For Everything Is New Again, the idea was to revisit and reimagine some of the songs I’d recorded in the past alongside a few new songs. With ‘Forgiveness’ we slowed it down considerably and approached the guitars in a very different way. Brent Hinds (West End Motel, Mastodon) played guitar on the original version, and he’s the best guitar player. What he had done on it almost sounded like something from an Indian wedding, like he’s playing sitar or something. It was beautiful and lovely. But on the new version, it sounds like we took some heavy stuff out in the desert. It’s dark and trippy.

“Over time, you hope you get better at things. I know my voice is way better than it was a more than a decade ago when we first recorded ‘Forgiveness.’ I’m a much better singer now, and I really like how the vocal came out. We also fooled around with updating the lyrics a bit. The world’s such a mess these days, so at the end of the song we sing, ‘This land has chosen silence’ because there aren’t nearly enough people speaking up. So it’s become a bit of a political statement.”

Cheshire approached the writing and recording of Everything Is New Again with much ambition. He wanted this to be a definitive statement of who he has become as a musician. It’s a culmination of his 25-year career, a record born out of an enormous amount of experience in the underground music and arts scene. Aside from West End Motel, Cheshire also fronted Atlanta cult band Rent Boys and All Night Drug Prowling Wolves. He’s using this debut solo effort as a way of starting afresh, both personally and musically.

Cheshire has had previous battles with anxiety and depression, and writing Everything Is New Again helped him fall in love with music again. That shows through on the record, an album focused on hope, friendship, love, and brotherhood. This album is a renaissance for Cheshire, a symbol of how, in rock n’ roll, you’re never really ever out of the game.

Everything Is New Again Track Listing:

1. I Can’t Hold On
2. New York Waltz
3. Forgiveness
4. She’s on Fire
5. Take the Place
6. Dirty Your Heart
7. The Devil Called me Tommy
8. Mr. Champ
9. All the Witches
10. Santiago

Tom Cheshire Band “Forgiveness” single artwork