We Feed Alone Unleashes Their Emotions In "What Burns Beneath"

The versatile alternative rock band We Feed Alone, with their atmospheric and ultra-personal single and lyric video, "What Burns Beneath," brings vast musical heritage to the modern independent music scene.

Co-founded by Eric Straton, who grew up immersed in music with his father's music store and his participation in the local punk scene, The Pop Culture Suicides eventually started playing guitar. Later, at 14, he switched to drums and found his passion there. He also played with The Pop Culture Suicides in 2005, a band started by former Marilyn Manson guitarist Zim Zum.

It wasn't until 2010 that Straton co-founded We Feed Alone with Doug Wagner and released a self-titled album. After a personal hiatus, the duo is back and better than ever, with massive collaborations and impactful releases like their latest single, "What Burns Beneath."

This new track is incredibly personal. It softly opens with a hazy, surreal, and atmospheric alternative rock vibe, kicking the song into gear with maximum emotion. Seconds into hearing it, you can literally feel the weight of the song's meaning. While discussing fated love and two souls being eternally bound in this world and the next, We Feed Alone leaves us captivated by the song's rich emotion and ghostly feel.

Adding to the experience is the song's lyric video, which captures scenes meant to take viewers through different states of consciousness, out of the black and into the blue. With slight distortion reminiscent of VCR days, this video shows viewers the song's creation and the overall vibe rather than the lyrical story. But it's an engaging, introspective visual experience that anyone can appreciate.

Dive into the rich emotion of We Feed Alone's latest single and music video, "What Burns Beneath," now available on all digital streaming platforms.

Welcome to Buzz, We Feed Alone! We love the raw emotion and intimacy infused into your recent single, "What Burns Beneath." What inspired you to write such a personal song like this?

Well, hello there, Buzz! Lyrically, this song tells a story of fated love. Two souls are eternally bound to find one another in the living world and the afterlife. Inspiration was personal and later developed through the historical study of the ancient Aztec legend of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. Musically, the parts came together in an interesting way. An initial drum groove lined up with a guitar melody that I wasn’t expecting to work together, and that shaped the direction of the track. 

What was your goal for the "What Burns Beneath" music video? How did you want viewers to feel after watching it?

Much of the video was taken while we were recording the song, so we’re hoping that it gives the feeling that you are writing and recording the song with us. Additional video was added to fill it out, but most of it is studio footage. I even included footage of some of the analog gear I’ve built in action. 

What was your band's creative process behind the scenes of "What Burns Beneath?" Can you describe what that looked like?

This song started with me (Eric Straton) playing a drum part for a Kanye West song called “Hold My Liquor.” A friend challenged me to try it since it isn’t something I’d normally do. I ended up trying a separate guitar part over the beat and loved it. From there, I collaborated with Doug Wagner. Doug wrote the lyrics and vocal melodies, and we finished it. 

How does "What Burns Beneath" stand out from the rest of your discography? What makes this track unique? 

Being a drummer before anything else, I did some additional acoustic treatment to my room where I record drums and couldn’t be happier with the evolution of my sound. The song's second half also has a unique acoustic guitar and bass melody that just seems like it fell into my lap. It might as well be another person playing it because I’m unsure where it originated. Doug had never written to a section like that, so it was a new experience for both of us. 

How did you want "What Burns Beneath" to impact your audience? What did you want them to take away from your lyrics?

We hope people connect with it. The video hopefully pulls the listener into our creative space and gives them a sense of being there with us.  

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