Hundred Reasons: Colin Doran’s track-by-track guide to Glorious Sunset

Ahhh, how bloody good is it to have Hundred Reasons back? Following 2007 fourth album Quick The Word, Sharp The Action, the UK post-hardcore faves have released long-awaited new record Glorious Sunset (described as “dazzling” in our 4/5 review), and here vocalist Colin Doran tells us a little bit more about every single song…

“Glorious Sunset came about from an instrumental idea from The Andy which was nearly complete minus any vocal ideas. The lyrics for the song completely changed from the demo version to the recorded version as within that space of time my mother passed away after a four-year battle with cancer. She had gone into remission twice previously and it come back again but this time it would be terminal. The title of the song took on a new meaning as the song talks about being relieved that someone you love is no longer suffering. The sunset refers to the light that many people say they see when they die.”

“The lyrics for this song are really about a person I used to work with that spent lots of time treating people badly to cover up their own inadequacies. They were not good at their job but, due to their massive ego and how they wished to be perceived by others, preferred to make others feel deficient. The song describes how I came to realise this. The amusing thing is that it was a working title as when we started writing it, Larry had actually got new glasses that day but the name stuck.”

“This particular track focusses on being positive when it feels like everything and everyone around you is the opposite. It involves thinking every day is just a mountain that needs to be overcome but in the end you actually do.”

“Replicate is about the cycle of thinking that whatever you do just is not good enough despite the person closest to you being forgiving and supportive. It’s also about trying to second guess how a person may feel about an action but not being correct and getting it wrong.”

“I’ve been guilty on more than one occasion of not being very open when I should be. The song talks about that and how it can eat away but ultimately the lack of openness is more about fear of upsetting the other person but doing this serves only as a negative.”

“Right There With You was the first song written when we got together to start writing again so it has a special place. When we finished the session, we realised we were doing something awesome and it was the catalyst to keep writing. The song is ultimately about loyalty and understanding that the path of a relationship through life is not always a smooth one, but has many many ups and downs but ultimately knowing that, it keeps you grounded and understanding that life needs work sometimes.”

“This is one of my favourite tracks on the album and revolves a person who was once considered a friend but ended up being his own worst enemy. He burned a great many bridges with a lot of people but was ultimately responsible for his own actions and the consequences that follow.”

“My seven-year-old son has Cerebral Palsy and goes to a mainstream school. The school he attended at the time of writing this – he’s at another school now – was pretty bad and hid information, lied, and generally did a terrible job of looking after my son and his needs. They always gave the impression that things were fine but effectively were just making sure they were okay by covering up issues. My son is the light of my life and beyond incredible every single day and I wanted to draw light on how people with disabilities are still treated terribly in society by people who should just be better educated, more understanding, thoughtful and kind.”

“The subject matter for this is about not taking responsibility for your actions. I’ve known someone who never takes ownership of their mistakes and it’s always the fault of someone else rather than them. These people then choose to avoid the subject or the person wronged to avoid effectively being called out, when if they just admitted they acted horribly in the first place, then maybe certain roads would not be taken.”

“The final track on the album is about dealing with anger about the loss of someone close and realising that very little effort was made throughout a long period of time to continue to connect. To me it’s probably the most upsetting song on the record personally as the first song is about grief and then this song is about when you realise more could have been done with the relationship whilst it was still in existence. Essentially it's about unresolved issues that will never be resolved.”

Glorious Sunset is out now.

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