Distant Past

Album: Get To Heaven (2015)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The first single from Everything Everything's Get To Heaven album is a plea for a return to better times. Frontman Jonathan Higgs said, "Distant Past is about primal human nature, and no matter how far we progress in our civilisations, we can never escape it."
  • Jonathan Higgs also directed the song's music video, which is centred around a fight scene between two cavemen. The clip was filmed in Cheddar Gorge, Cheshire and stars British wrestler Ed Gamester. There are also shots of the four Everything Everything members performing with as little movement as possible. Higgs explained to Promo News this was because, "I wanted to create a strong contrast between the 'past' and 'future' scenes, to emphasize the primal nature of the past and the overly civilized future."
  • Jonathan Higgs came up the song's huge synth-rave chorus in his parents' shed. "We did struggle with it," bassist Jeremy Pritchard told NME. "Because we thought it would sound cheap and nasty, like a sh---y David Guetta thing, but I think it struck the balance."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Vanessa Carlton

Vanessa CarltonSongwriter Interviews

The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Grateful Dead Characters

Grateful Dead CharactersMusic Quiz

Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?

Randy Newman

Randy NewmanSongwriting Legends

Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.