"Drive" is one of my favorite songs on the album. Production-wise there's a big Lindsey Buckingham influence but beyond that there's definitely a mishmash of influences going on with this song. Singing in a low register (not my comfort zone) reminds me of "Lullaby" by Shawn Mullins. The little latin inspired guitar solo hook during the chorus as well as the vibe of the song kind of reminds me of "How Bizarre" by OMC (they played that song a thousand times a day back in the 90's and I never got tired of it). Plus the video for that song featured the band driving and chillin' in a convertible, which is part of my inspiration (I'll get to that later...). Then the second chorus with the lyric "Can you tell me who's driving the car...I want to get off, I want to get out." (which isn't in the promo video below, you'll have to listen to the song in it's entirety to hear that part when it comes out Dec 25th...) reminds me of Cheap Trick's "Need Your Love" from the album "Dream Police". Just the way the vocal melody "Need your love" is sung by Robin Zander is kind of where that influence came. Except for Lindsey Buckingham I don't even really listen to any of these artists much anymore but it's amazing how music from years gone by can creep into your own songwriting. At the end of the day "Drive" doesn't really sound anything like any of these artists in my opinion but the influences are definitely there!
The lyrics for "Drive" were inspired by my cancer experience being infused with chemotherapy. I basically received an IV bag of medicine (the chemo) which is essentially poison running through the veins. I was given all sorts of other stuff (anti nausea meds, steroids, etc) and so I just closed my eyes, laid back in the recliner chair everybody gets and went to my "happy place". For me I often imagined myself sitting back in the passenger seat of a convertible with my lady at the wheel driving through the desert, wind blown hair, shades on and chillin', driving into a beautiful sunset. Then the nurse (God bless them they're the greatest) would come and interrupt my happy place with reality and there were many times when I thought "I really don't want to do this anymore". Whoever is driving this car just stop so I can get out now because this ride SUCKS. At the end of the day, however, I knew my only chance to stay alive was to endure the ride until the end, whatever that end was going to be. When I listen to "Drive" today I no longer think about the months of chemotherapy. Now it reminds me of the happy place, and it's taken almost 5 years for that to happen. Remission can happen in months but recovery takes years. - Greg
The lyrics for "Drive" were inspired by my cancer experience being infused with chemotherapy. I basically received an IV bag of medicine (the chemo) which is essentially poison running through the veins. I was given all sorts of other stuff (anti nausea meds, steroids, etc) and so I just closed my eyes, laid back in the recliner chair everybody gets and went to my "happy place". For me I often imagined myself sitting back in the passenger seat of a convertible with my lady at the wheel driving through the desert, wind blown hair, shades on and chillin', driving into a beautiful sunset. Then the nurse (God bless them they're the greatest) would come and interrupt my happy place with reality and there were many times when I thought "I really don't want to do this anymore". Whoever is driving this car just stop so I can get out now because this ride SUCKS. At the end of the day, however, I knew my only chance to stay alive was to endure the ride until the end, whatever that end was going to be. When I listen to "Drive" today I no longer think about the months of chemotherapy. Now it reminds me of the happy place, and it's taken almost 5 years for that to happen. Remission can happen in months but recovery takes years. - Greg