If It Wasn't For The UFOs...

Lead single from DEATH VALLEY is streaming EVERYWHERE

Photo by Kyle Johnson

Here we go, m’luvs. It’s starting. This record is rolling out. I present to you my precious “If It Wasn’t For The UFOs”.

I’ve been playing this one live for a while now, and Redditors keep asking: “whAt waS tHAt UfO soNg tHat guY wHo opENed fOr (insert vastly more successful artist here) pLayEd?” Well, here it is, spelled out and titled as plainly as possible.

I wrote this song at a time when I was overwhelmed by what life was throwing at me. Aside from that, and this is a major theme throughout the entire album, I was disturbed by the collective madness I was witnessing around me in the wake of the pandemic. The UFO theme, with its central place in conspiracy, came naturally. I hesitate to reduce my lyrics down to one identifiable notion, but UFOs in this sense can represent things that come into your life that you did not anticipate and don’t know what to do with.

This song is especially gratifying because it marks the first time that Casey Wescott has contributed to a Butch Bastard album. I’ve known Casey for over half of my life. When I was a kid worrying about making the freshman basketball team, he was touring the country in bands like The Vogue, Seldom, and Pedro the Lion. These acts very much shaped my approach and got me in to songwriting. At the time, touring in a band was something I thought was reserved for the likes of Creed or Cypress Hill.

Years later, he played me the early demos of a band he was joining called Fleet Foxes. I thought it was ok! Many people agreed. We later played together in a band called Poor Moon that lived the full-on van life for a couple of very fun years. Without his influence, I likely would have never found my way into the abject hell that is to toil about in strife as an indie musician. For that, I am eternally grateful.

The fact that he has yet to be represented in the Bastardverse is spiritually wrong. I am thrilled to have collaborated with him here. He really co-produced this track. All of the analog synth soundscape, the drum machine, the Vox Continental organ, the soaring electric guitars at the end, is him.

There is a chord he plays on the organ at 3:04 in the song that is so patently Wescott that it fills me with pride and nostalgia. It may not seem like much from a distance, but it’s a move that I would never think to make. This is the joy of working with such talented collaborators, all of who will be celebrated right here on this newsletter as these songs roll out.

So please, give this song a listen. Save it, share it, talk about it. I’m very proud of it and I hope that you enjoy.

With all the love in my heart,

Ian