Time has evidently been on Jeremy’s mind, too, whether the frontman knew it or – as he attests after some consideration when we put the notion to him – not. In Miracle, Jeremy calls, ‘To hell with all the someday, somehow, I’ve waited long enough,’ while the saccharine-sweet Flowers ruminates on how, ‘Suddenly the years are feeling shorter / Nobody wants to hear but we’re getting older.’
Jeremy playfully declines to thank us when we remind him of his impending 40th birthday this year, and the ever-passing sands of time.
“We did talk about that [as a band], in ways,” he says. “It’s definitely something I’ve been reflecting on: my age, the place I am in life. You pick out Flowers as an example, that’s a song about communicating with people that I care about before it’s too late.”
Jeremy says the song is one of the most personally meaningful on the record.
“It’s about appreciating a person in the moment, rather than waiting until they’re gone, or the moment’s over,” he begins. “It’s a reflection on things that really matter in my life, and when somebody did go out of their way to say something kind instead of saying the terrible thing that everybody else says. I’ve always struggled with giving someone a call and telling them I love them, just because. I don’t know why I don’t do that. I want to do it more. Because I feel it. So why don’t I do it? And how do I step it up for the people that really mean a lot to me? I mean, as a parent, I would want my kids to call me! It would crush me if they didn’t.”
No topic illuminates Jeremy’s face like that of parenthood. The father of two reflects on that journey as transformational for him – as “exactly what I needed at that point in my life, when I felt like I was just spinning my wheels. It brought a sense of fulfilment and purpose. It’s definitely something that changed the way I view time. When you have kids, it just changes you. It’s instantaneous.”
Closer Than You Think, Big Ole Album’s curtain-dropping endnote, was written from the perspective of an imagined future about the first time Jeremy’s daughter faces heartache. It takes the form of a conversation of comfort and love through a locked bedroom door. ‘I know your heart’s still hurtin’, you can take it out on me,’ he sings. ‘There’s a light up ahead, a little closer than you think.’ It serves as Big Ole Album’s most poignant and heartfelt moment.
“Zakk told me that he heard a song about grief [in there], and that rings true, too,” Jeremy adds. “It’s ultimately a song about being there for someone in their time of need, whether that’s losing a first love, or a parent, or a friend, and wanting to help them but being somewhat powerless to do so. It’s something you have to live through and hope you come out the other side.”