Anytime an album prompts listeners to jump in their car, crank up the stereo, hit cruise control, roll down the windows and sing-a-long loud and proud, it’s pretty much considered a sure fire winner. And that’s exactly the ethos behind FM Static’s fourth long player, My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go (Tooth & Nail Records), which finds primary figureheads Trevor McNevan and Steve Augustine (both of Thousand Foot Krutch fame) turning in its most melodic, memorable and meaningful album to date that will make it feel like summer outside no matter what the season.

 

“It’s funny because every artist is excited about their new record and there are a lot of cliché things people say like it’s their best work yet, but this was honestly such an inspired process and it all came out so naturally,” notes McNevan of the instantly infectious batch. “I’m a sucker for a big hook and this record zeros in more on that top 40 side than it the past, but we didn’t go in with any intentions or hidden agendas. This isn’t a concept record, it's more of a highlight reel of moments and situations in my life that relate to title.”

 

Taking its moniker from the track of the same name, My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go is firmly planted in present tense, urging listeners to not be afraid to step out in faith without worrying or feeling weighed down by a sagging self-esteem or less than ideal circumstances. In other words, seize each day and make the most of every moment.

NRT's Bill Lurwick recent chatted with double-frontman Trevor McNevan about the new album, over-thinking life, and fans in the Phillippines.

Hey man, I dialed up the new website. I love the picture of you and Steve.

We did a nice little spoof with the muscle car--me pulling Steve over for speeding. That was funny. We couldn’t stop laughing.

Who comes up with this stuff? Did you guys come up with that?

It was Brian Clark, who sings for Demon Hunter. He’s the actual head of art department for Tooth and Nail. Usually he and I go through all the art direction for each record, and he’s got great ideas. For this one we tried to tie the name into something a little funnier. It was out of the box for what you might think for the name or whatever.

But you said it was a muscle car. It’s a Mustang, Trev.

I know. I’m not a car guy, so I don’t know the difference. To me it looked like what we were trying to achieve, but Steve is a car guy and he was like, “Dude, we can’t use this car,” but the artwork had already reached its deadline. So, we had to roll with it, but it’s funny you should say that because all of my car guy buddies are like, “Dude, that’s not a muscle car.”

It’s all right, man. It’s kind of tongue in cheek. The title is My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go. Give us the concept behind that.

The title actually came from the name of the song I had written for this record. We stop and over-think the things we feel we’re supposed to do, instead of just doing them. So, it’s the heart-versus-mind thing—having childlike faith. It's about taking that step when you can’t see the ground yet. That sort of thing has been the story of my life and God’s shown me a lot through my own personal walk and space.

The title seemed to make sense. Going into this record, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a concept record because Dear Diary had been such a concept record. This record had a batch of songs that I had written on tour with TFK. It was very inspired and very heartfelt and fun to make. It’s got a lot of different vibes on it--a variety pack.

So, the target audience for this project might be the 18 -25 age group, but you and I are both getting a little bit older than that now. I know that as I get older it’s harder to make those decisions that – I don’t want to say are the right ones, but we tend to over think things, don’t we?

Big time. Guilty as charged for me. Maybe it’s because the older we get, the more responsibility we have--families, kids and jobs and things. Then on the other hand you’re learning something new all the time. With more knowledge, you consider more things and try to be careful and learn from your mistakes.

“Last Train Home” has done well at radio. What is that song all about, Trev?

This song is more about that basic human emotion of trying to fix ourselves all the time and wanting to get back to a time before that was so important to us. To me the heart of this tune is really saying that it’s up to us to use our personal faith and just trust God and His plan for our lives to move forward and stop always trying to drive. It’s easy to always want to take the wheel. 

 

This tune to me is based actually on a relationship that I had a long time ago where I honestly felt like I could fix that person. So, it’s inspired by that, but definitely the lyrics and the bridge of this song is a lyric that says, “Faith is just the other end of doubt.” To me that’s the heart of this tune as well, just talking about basically stop trying to drive and let God lead.

There is an actual song called “F.M.S.T.A.T.I.C.” It’s track two. Tell me about that.

It’s funny because I'd never, in a million years, call a song the name of the band. So, we laughed about that, but it stems from a long time ago there was a Canadian band. Steve and I grew up in Toronto and there was this band who had a song that started with this cheerleader chant. In the back of my head, I knew someday I’d like to do something inspired by that.

So, I had written this cheerleader chant that originally I was thinking might be a cool intro to FM Static live or something. Then we just built on it and ended up writing this song, and there just really wasn’t a title that suited it better than that. We ended up going with it and it’s funny because a lot of DJs on the radio are like, “How am I supposed to say this? Am I supposed to spell this?”
 

“FM Static squared,” I guess. You could say it that way.

It was fun to do. You have a list sometimes of a few things you’d like to do over the years. That checked one off for me for sure. There’s actually a show on the CW network called Hell Cats. It’s a cheerleading show. I don’t actually follow the show at all, but they used that song about a month ago as one of their finale dances on the show for a couple minutes. It was pretty cool to see for sure.

I like the song title “Black Tattoo”--and it’s not about getting a new one on your arm. Tell me the story behind it.

“Black Tattoo” was inspired by some letters and emails that we had received. There’s a song called “Look Away” on the new TFK record, and they’re both inspired by letters and emails kind of based around this same sort of thing. “Black Tattoo” though is more of a detailed story about this girl’s life going through an abusive relationship. We get quite a few letters and emails on that. It’s a powerful subject and a lot of females are feeling like they’re going through this situation and don’t have someone they can talk to or figure out a way out. So, this song uses the black tattoo to symbolize that situation.

Do people send you stuff saying, “When are we going to see FM Static in concert?” How do you balance things out between you guys and TFK?

We actually get a lot of offers for FM Static to play. North America asks a lot, for sure, but one of the places most requesting FM Static has been the Philippines for some reason. It’s awesome. But we’re always with the TFK touring schedule and it’s hard for us to fit Static in more often, the way we'd like.

So, it’s always a bit of a juggling act. That's why we usually end up trying to fit both on the same bill, so we can still do both. There’s times when it gets a little bit weird; they kind of take away from each other live. We struggle with whether or not to tour with FM Static on its own or to keep them together. We’re still putting together tour plans, but we definitely want to get out and support it.

Great to talk to you, as always. Appreciate it, bro.

You too, Bill. Thanks, man.