Singled Out: Eugene Tyler Band “Answers”

The Eugene Tyler Band wastes no time getting to the point on “Answers”. A quick pick and battle between banjo guitar as Tyler’s high and lonesome voice echoes “It’s hard enough to be something worth hating / To build yourself up for the barbs / Who’d be stupid enough to be something worth loving? / To give it back and play the part?” Thats some heavy stuff to unload in the first line and right off the bat and the band fills out that vibe with the sound that its hard to believe only three members produce. Lets just say, we are f*cking digging what they are throwing down…

Who: Eugene Tyler Band

Song: “Answers”

From: New York, New York

Latest Record: baby dogs (EP – April 2019)

What About It: “We were scheduled to head into the studio last year and we knew we wanted one more uptempo banjo tune for the record. At the time I had been messing with this downtuned guitar riff. A lot of our songs incorporate alternate tunings, in this case C-G-D-G-B-E.

Everything started to come together after the first line. It’s hard enough to be something worth hating, who’d be stupid enough to be something worth loving?

I wanted to explore the idea of ‘answers’ in a deteriorating relationship. When things fall apart, people get desperate for answers. Sometimes the ‘answer’ is a moment of clarity on the past, that makes you realize how you got to this point. Other times it’s a solution, a way out of the hole you’re in. Other times it’s just an emotional response, an answer to a call.

For me, most songs are about trying to find some truth, to find an answer to a question. But this song didn’t give me any answers. And too often, people in a fraught relationship don’t get any, either.

The song was done in a day, about a week before we went into the studio. We ended up cutting the song live in one room together, trying to capture the vibe of our live shows. There’s nothing like tracking live together. You’re making eye contact, shifting tempos, giving space to other instruments. It’s raw but real, and I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.”