Droughts - "Welcome Back" (Song Premiere)

January 3, 2017

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In a statement describing “Welcome Back” Droughts’ singer and bassist Joe Klomes claimed that the band decided to open their new record Stay Behind because it “set the tone lyrically and musically with a sense of optimism through uncertainty.” That’s a mood that feels pretty necessary these days. Uncertain doesn’t even begin to hack it, but optimism, or at the very least a lack of pessimism is the only way to endure in the face of adversity both personal or political.

On “Welcome Back” those two are one and the same. The song is about Klomes coming out as bisexual to his family, including his wife. This is a leap of faith, a moment of vulnerability and honesty that goes beyond the conventional coming out narrative. Life denies narrative conventions. It’s messy, a mix of joy and hardship in equal measure. Droughts nail that cocktail of emotions by driving their major chords with insistent blast beats from drummer Bill Covert (who is also half of Malort-guzzling math rock weirdos, Space Blood). This push and pull between intensity and intimacy should be familiar to fans of Touché Amore or last year’s lauded Oathbreaker record, and it climaxes here with an ecstatic breakdown. All the while Klomes floats on the edge of melody and pure aggression.

You can find “Welcome Back” below, along with the full statement from the band regarding the track.

“”Welcome Back” is about coming out to my wife, family, and friends at 28, and realizing the story I thought I had written for myself is going to change. I was about to celebrate my 1 year wedding anniversary when I told my wife I was bi, and we inevitably faced a difficult road ahead of us. There was a lot of uncertainty in the family we were about to start, and the relationship we built. The lyrics capture the before, during, and after of me accepting who I was, and the hopefulness that my wife will travel with me through it all.

We chose Welcome Back as the album opener to set the tone lyrically and musically with a sense of optimism through uncertainty.”

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