US rock outfit All Good Things are possibly one of the longest overnight success stories ever.
Since signing with Better Noise Music in 2019 and releasing their hugely successful album A Hope In Hell – which features the awesome single from The Retaliators, For The Glory featuring Hollywood Undead – the band have amassed a number of stadium tours and supports and are finally gaining the global recognition they deserve.
Although their tenure started long before that by way of producing music for soundtracks and video games, All Good Things have taken this new opportunity with both hands and then some, culminating with the release of their new EP Hold On, which comes out on September 23.
Hold On is a four track collection of old songs, a cover and an acoustic rendition of the title track and a guest vocal appearance by Flyleaf‘s Lacey Sturm on the other version, but also holds significance in the timing of the release and its connection with the To Write Love On Her Arms campaign, a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-harm and suicide.
HEAVY caught up with vocalist Dan Murphy and bass player Liz Hooper on the eve of the release.
“This is actually a song off our A Hope In Hell album that came out a year ago,” Murphy began. “We’ve been chasing the right collab for this song for a long time, to be honest, and it finally came together. We knew the song was gonna be our next single, and we’ve been trying to find the right voice to team up with. We played a festival in Wisconsin a couple of months back and saw Lacey Sturm play and were blown away. We’ve always liked Flyleaf for her performances and the speech she gave… she’s kind of tied in to the things our fans have been saying and feeling about Hold On and the song itself. Her messages seem to work with what we are trying to get out there, so we asked if she would be a part of it and long story short, it all worked out and here we are!”
The Hold On EP is also being released this month to coincide with Suicide Awareness month in September, with Hooper admitting the timing was not coincidental.
“We looked at releasing it around September, and we were watching what was happening, and it came up that it was suicide prevention month,” she affirmed. “A Hope In Hell has been out for about a year now, so we’ve had a chance to play Hold On live at over 100 shows with P.O.D, Starset and Sevendust, and we kept getting this feedback from all of our fans and specifically the song Hold On really meant alot to them. Everyone’s been through crazy stuff over the last couple of years, and people were really connecting with that song and saying it helped them get through some crazy things. A lot of people have talked to us about how they have lost family members to suicide, which is heartbreaking. It was kind of serendipitous when we were looking at releasing in September and saw that it was suicide prevention month, so we thought it might be smart to collaborate with somebody that works in that world. We’ve been to tonnes of festivals and played at tonnes over the years, and To Write Love On Her Arms is always there. They’ve always got a booth. They’re always reaching out. They really make the connection between metal music and mental health and how so many people use music, but especially metal music, to deal with life’s stresses. We reached out to them and said you guys are amazing, how can we help get your message out there with our music, so that’s how we connected.”
In the full interview, Dan and Liz run us through each song on the EP and disect its meaning, how they each relate to the cause, the Destiny’s Child cover of Survivor and why they chose it, having Sturm guest on Hold On and what she brought to the track, their success after the release of A Hope In Hell, a homecoming for the two Australian members and more.
