Ever wondered what your favourite artists think is the best song they’ve written? How about the meaning behind it? Well don’t fret because we at AltCorner have got you covered! Here Silent Rival take us behind the scenes on their favourite song!
What is your favourite song you’ve written?
It changes from time to time. Right now my favorite is The Only God is the Wild. The melody is really fun to sing and the lyrics are liberating. It also is a way of expressing my perspective, or even just exploring an idea of God. I grew up without any religion, but I believe there are infinite paths to the higher power.
What inspired the song?
Joz is always watching “Through the Wormhole” and “How the Universe Works” and shows like that. I usually tune it out when he does that. But on that particular day, we were just lounging around before we started writing and I heard the narrator say “We used to think nature was a product of God but now we think nature IS God.” And I thought, “Damn, I totally agree AND that would be such a cool song.” And one of our demos needed lyrics and “The Only God is in the Wild” fit perfectly in there. I just thought it was meant to be. I don’t usually get song ideas from the TV but I got lucky with that one. It fell into my lap.
Why is the song so special to you?
It’s important to me because my views on faith, religion, and spirituality are personal to me, as they are to most people. So I’m really letting the listener in pretty intimately. And there is an inevitable risk that someone who doesn’t agree with me will take issue with us as people. As a child I would go to Lutheran Church with my best friend every Sunday, I would invite Mormons inside and let them read me some passages in the bible. Once some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to the door and gave us a book. My mom read the whole thing cover to cover and taught me all about it just because she found it so interesting. So this song is me sharing my experience with God with all the people who shared their experiences with me. I was a little reluctant to play this song in the South and various other places, but I was completely shocked how well received it always is. I felt guilty for stereotyping these people or underestimating how open-minded they actually are. In Salt Lake City someone came up to us and told us “Thank you for playing that song tonight. It’s a very healing song for anyone leaving the Mormon church.” I always hope our songs can help someone somewhere because music always helped us, but when it actually happens and you HEAR about it… wow. It makes everything we’ve gone through for this band so worth it.