Spiritbox - Eternal Blue
I don’t have crushes.
I have writer crushes.
As a writer, I find inspiration from 2 types of writers - standard column writers, and singer/songwriters. Certain types of columns and song lyrics, those are the words I have always gravitated to for inspiration. So when I say that I have a “writer crush” on someone, that means that I have a crush on your lyrics or your style of writing.
Some of my writer crushes include:
COLUMNISTS
Bill Simmons/The Ringer: I started reading Bill Simmons in the early 2000s when he wrote for ESPN. He wrote about sports and pop culture in a humorous way that I had never seen before. As a kid, I had this vision in my head that in order to be a writer/columnist, I needed a Master’s Degree in Journalism/English, a typewriter, a surly attitude, and an alcohol addiction. Simmons’ writing showed me that writing doesn’t have to be uptight and serious all the time. Simmons’ style gave me hope that I one day I could become a writer. Simmons has since left ESPN and started his own site called The Ringer, a sports and pop culture website and podcast network. While Simmons focuses mostly on the podcast side, he has a talented team of writers providing content to the site. Writers like Rodger Sherman, Kevin Clark, and Rob Harvilla make The Ringer a regular read for me.
Peter King: In 2005, when I was toiling away at one of the first of many dull office jobs, I came across Peter King and his regular Monday Morning QB column for Sports Illustrated. Reading MMQB was better than any actual work I was supposed to be doing, as King wrote compelling and thoughtful articles about the NFL. King writes in an intelligent way that doesn’t make me feel dumb, and that’s something I have always appreciated. King left SI a few years ago, but still does his column for NBC Sports and is now called Football Morning in America. Someone once asked King for writing advice, and he gave 3 tips that I keep handy when I need that extra motivation:
When you’re stuck, don’t make a big deal of it, and don’t overthink. Write a sentence. Then write another one…brick by brick, your story will come together.
Always remember that you are the link between a story and the reader. Don’t get in the way. Be the storyteller. Think of the most important details of the story, and tell those. Then tell the lesser details. And keep going until you’ve told the story so that the reader will know as much as you do. That’s the goal.
When you can, walk away from the story when you’ve finished writing. Eat something. Play a video game. Watch TV for an hour. Then go back to the story and read it again. You will find 10 ways to either make it better or to correct a mistake.
Matthew Berry: Berry is best known for bringing fantasy sports to the mainstream, but he is also an accomplished writer for ESPN. His regular Love/Hate column is one of my favorite things to read, and I have used the format of that column and applied it to my posts. Berry is silly and self-deprecating, but inspirational as well. He once wrote a piece about taking a leap of faith that inspired me to propose to my now-wife. Like Simmons, Berry is an example that I don’t have to write a certain way to be successful.
Sara K. Runnels: Look at this, a writer that has nothing to with sports or music! Runnels is a copywriter/humor writer that started showing up in my Instagram feed. I enjoyed her posts immensely so I started following her. I love her writing style, and her sense of humor is amazing. Her experiences in dating and endless amounts of puns and wordplay keep me coming back for more. Her jokes brought me in, but her writing keeps me in. She’s definitely worth a read and a follow @omgskr
SINGER/SONGWRITERS
Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam): Vedder was the first singer to make me care what they was singing about. Pearl Jam’s music made me an immediate fan, but Vedder’s lyrics is what really grabbed my attention. His words painted a clear picture of his experiences that I knew nothing about. He made me feel everything he felt:
“I know someday you’ll have a beautiful life
I know you’ll be a star in somebody else’s sky
But why, oh why can’t it be, can’t it be mine?”
- “Black”
“I don’t wanna take what you can give
I would rather starve than eat your bread
I would rather run, but I can’t walk
Guess I’ll lie alone just like before” - “Corduroy”
“Darkness comes before waves
Tell me, why invite it to stay?
You’re one with negativity
Yes, comfort is an energy
But why let the sad song play?”
- “Life Wasted”
Vedder is also an incredible storyteller. With songs like “Daughter,” “Better Man,” “Jeremy,” “Last Kiss,” “Elderly Woman…” you can just close your eyes, listen, and imagine the story in your head.
(Not all songs were easy to understand. I’m not going to pretend I knew wtf he was talking about in “Evenflow.” Good thing I had Opera Man to translate for me.)
Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage/Times of Grace): I discovered KSE and Leach’s lyrics at a time when I really needed them. Songs about perseverance, positivity, frustration, and unity was something I desperately needed to hear at the time. I needed positive words of encouragement more than ever, and Leach’s lyrics gave me that. When I thought that no one in the world could ever understand how I felt, Leach was the first lyricist who proved me otherwise:
“Are we alive, or just breathing?
Don’t close your eyes, see the images” - “Just Barely Breathing”
“Come death, come suffering I will not live in fear
In this fleeting life where time escapes us
The path of least resistance is a slow, painful death
I’d rather burn out than fade away”
- “A New Awakening”
“Gather all your pain and suffering
Turn them into strength and weaponry
To overcome the enemy that’s in you
Come face to face
With a war that rages within you” - “Strength of the Mind”
“Holding on to something I know I can’t control
And I could not have it any other way…
Nothing changes in refusing to grow
Wisdom engages those who will grasp for something more”
- “Just Let Go”
“I keep making the same mistakes
Just to feel alive again” - “I am Broken Too”
You get the idea. Leach not only knows how I feel, but he can describe better than I ever could.
Howard Jones (Killswitch Engage/Light the Torch): Yes, another KSE singer! It’s tough to mention Leach as an inspirational lyricist without mentioning the former KSE vocalist, whose words are just as powerful as Leach’s. Listening to the KSE songs with Jones reminded me what great lyrics he wrote. Lyrics about struggle, despair and hope were littered everywhere in KSE, and I was happy to be right behind them with my pointy stick and garbage bag:
“Sleep brings release
And the hope of a new day
Waking the misery
Of being without you” - KSE “The End of Heartache”
“Imprisoned, inside this mind
Hiding behind the empty smiles…
Deeper I’m falling
Into the arms of sorrow
Building descending
Into the arms of sorrow”
- KSE “The Arms of Sorrow”
“I can never be all that you want from me
And I am broken, I will fail you constantly
Return to the way that you bleed for me
Return to the safety of disbelief” - Light The Torch “The Safety of Disbelief”
Light the Torch is Jones’ current band, and it doesn’t matter which group Jones is in, he will always have lyrics that I can relate to.
Corey Taylor (Slipknot/Stone Sour): Sometimes you find inspiration when you least expect it. I thought the singer from Slipknot had a cool voice, turns out his words are even better. When Taylor is angry, I live it. When he describes loves, I want it. When he explains pain, I understand it:
“I can’t remember, I don’t understand
Is it malice that makes you this way?
Carry it with you ‘til someone forgives you
I laugh ‘cause there’s nothing to say
You can’t begin to consider the palpable hate
In the air when you’re here
None of us wonder what weather you’re under
You’re making it perfectly clear”
- Slipknot “No Life”
“Bury all your secrets in my skin
Come away with innocence, and leave me with my sins
The air around me still feels like a cage
And love is just a camouflage for what resembles rage again” - Slipknot “Snuff”
“With my face against the floor
I can’t see who knocked me out of the way
I don’t want to get back up
But I have to, so it might as well be today
Nothing appeals to me, no one feels like me
I’m too busy being calm to disappear
I’m in no shape to be alone
Contrary to the shit that you might hear”
- Slipknot “XIX”
“I wish I had a reason
My flaws are open season
For this I gave up trying
One good turn deserves my dying…” - Stone Sour “Bother”
“It doesn’t really matter what you do or say
I’m never going anywhere anyway
‘Cause when I’m dying for you”
I’ve never felt so alive”
- Stone Sour “Song 3”
I mean, as I’m typing out the lyrics to Song #3 I’m listening to it on repeat, doing full blown karaoke in my living room. The fact that Taylor can write a love song as well he can write a suicide song is a testament to his talent.
Make me fall in love with your words, and I will fall in love with you.
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As I’m listening to the new Spiritbox album Eternal Blue, I notice that more and more of the lyrics are catching my attention. So I’m reading the lyrics along with the songs, and as each song passed I was more and more impressed with the words of singer/songwriter Courtney LaPlante. LaPlante checks off all the boxes of what I love about a singer/songwriter - personal, poetic, vulnerable, melodic, and a phenomenal voice. By “phenomenal,” I mean she can successfully sing clean and she can growl. Any female that is able to do that turns me on emotionally and spiritually.
But what makes her one of my new writer crushes is not only her lyrics, but they way she uses her words to tell a story. Personal anecdotes with unique imagery:
“I hope you find what you’re fighting for
I am happier when I hurt you
Your medicine is the coldest war
I am happier when I hurt you” - “Hurt You”
“And nobody waits for me but I know
Nobody takes from me what I grow
Secret garden, disregard my heart”
- “Secret Garden”
“Hands are frozen, feel no pain
I just wanna hold the flame” - “Circle With Me”
Eternal Blue is such a complete album; an album that is diverse in it’s beauty. I love every aspect of it. When you think it’s going in one direction, it goes in another. It zigs when you expect it to zag. Balanced is the one who can growl in your face (“Holy Roller”) and serenade you to sleep (“The Summit”). Rip your head off with one song (“Silk In The Strings”) and comfort you with you another (“Constance”). The melodies pair exquisitely with the death growls. Eternal Blue is a metal album for people who aren’t into metal.
Many albums feel laborious to listen to, but Eternal Blue is not one of those albums. Even with the mix of heavy and soft songs, it’s a smooth listen from beginning to end. The music is amazing, and LaPlante’s lyrics are making a strong case to be included in my list of writer crushes.
Let the music speak to you.
Let the words sing to you.
