#neil armstrong? never heard o him

[sisaloofafump]

i fogor that men can be space scientists

[nickireadstfc]

The King’s Men, Chapter 8 – Baby, Now We Got Bad Blood

In which Neil’s birthday surprise bloody sucks, I have opinions about the Terrapins’ naming choices, Matt is too good for this world, and the Twinyard’s first attempt at Actual Human Interaction doesn’t quite go as planned.

Sounds good? Then it’s time for Nicki to read The King’s Men.

(This is a longass chapter and lots of shit happens, so this is a longass update. I’m sorry in advance.)

             Neil flipped his phone open to stare at the date. It was Friday, January 19th. “Neil Josten” was supposed to turn twenty on March 31st. Today Nathaniel Wesninski turned nineteen years old.

OH SHIT IT’S HIS BDAY!!! HAPPY BIRBDAY MY BOY!!!!!

And we almost made it in time as well! 12 days late, but still – happy late birthday, my dude.

Actual footage of my baking disaster ass making a cake for our birthday boy.

Sadly though, Neil doesn’t care much for his birthday, and because he tragically keeps his mouth shut about it for most of the chapter, neither can anyone else.

I love birthdays. How dare you deprive me of some good good festivity. This is a gosh darn shame, Josten.

             Neil knew he went to his classes, but he didn’t learn anything. He wrote down what his teachers said but didn’t absorb a single word.

In other news, when will Neil in uni stop being such a goddamn #MOOD.

Exam season is hitting me hard right now folks, and while I’m tryinfg to play catch-up on my notes this just feels like an unnecessary callout post to my lazy past self.

In other other news – it’s time for Orange Sportsball again!

Our Foxes are playing a home game against Belmonte which, if you’ll all kindly remember, resulted in The Most Epic Move Andrew Has Ever Pulled, Ever last time we played them.

So, you know, no pressure.

Before Neil can pop a boner about being on an actual game court again though, he has a little birthday surprise waiting for him, and it’s, well, how do I put this –

A bloody hell of a situation.

             It exploded in his locker, triggered by the door opening, and Neil recoiled as it cascaded over everything insde. (…) The bag looked big enough to hold at least two gallons; it was more than big enough to destroy every single piece of gear Neil owned.

WHAT THE FUCK.

For all y’all non-American folks, two gallons are about 7.5 litres. SEVEN POINT FIVE LITRES.

For further reference, that’s about as much as would fit in this bucket.

Yeah.

THAT’S A FUCKLOAD OF BLOOD.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.

             Neil wrenched the broken bag off the hook. When he turned to throw it Andrew caught his wrist. Neil hadn’t even heard Andrew cross the room toward him. (…)

             “It’s ruined,” Neil said, voice ragged with an awful rage. “It’s all ruined.”

Yup – his entire gear, complete with helmet and shoes, now looks like it played a supporting role in the Red Wedding, and really took on some method-acting for it.

But we’re not done here, oh hot diggity shit no.

             Matt’s startled voice echoed off the bathroom walls. “What the hell?” (…)

             Written in blood across the tile was a bold message: “Happy 19th Birthday, Jr.”

OH SHIT.

OH SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.

DAD’S HOME, FOLKS.

I am decidedly NOT FUCKING LIKING THIS.

I don’t even want to think about what this means.

If this is the Raven’s doing (which was what I thought about the blood), then that means they’re more in touch with Daddy Wesninski than we thought, which is super bad.

If this is Daddy Wesninski’s own doing, then he’s way more in touch with Getting Revenge On Neil than we thought, which is super super bad.

Either way –

(I also immediately regret calling Wesninski Senior ‘Daddy’. Please remind me to bleach my eyes at the next convenient time.)

             He grabbed the fledgling sense of panic and buried it deep, the same way he’d smothered his broken heart long enough to burn his mother’s body. He would have to react to this later, but if he did it now with all of the Foxes as his witnesses he was going to lose everything.

And bury it he does – Neil, that badass motherf*cker, just buries oh, y’know, the realization that his childhood abuser and indirect killer of his mother is figuratively right behind him,  somewhere in his brain and moves the fuck on.

What a dude.

             “Can you play?” Kevin asked.

             “I’m pissed off, not injured,” Neil snapped. “I’m not going to let this keep us from winning tonight. Are you?

GO GET EM, MY BOY.

WHAT A DUDE.

             “I will give you one chance tonight,” Wymack said. “If I think your head isn’t in the game, I will pull you so fast you’ll get whiplash.”

HSM basketball gifs will never not be appropriate for this team.

In the cleanup process of the Bloody Hell of a Situation, Matt steps out to grab some underwear for a half-naked Neil, and when he comes back he takes the opportunity to remind us all again what a genuinely great character he is – lest we forget.

             Neil opened the door just far enough to realize it was Matt in the hallway and was startled into saying, “You knocked?” (…)

             It wasn’t the first time the Foxes had gone out of their way to accommodate Neil#s privacy issues, but they usually had time to think it through. Matt was late for warm-ups because of Neil and shaken by Riko’s awful trick. Despite that he’d remembered not to barge in.

Matt, you sweet considerate spikey black Billie Joe Armstrong, LET ME LOVE YOU.

And now that Neil is all suited and booted (and had his anger horn tooted), let’s fucking go.

             The ghost of [the blood incident] egged him to go harder and faster. Kevin didn’t warn him to scale back, and they crashed into their backliner with an unusual aggression.

To the Foxes, what the fuck is unusual aggression?? Instantly fucking murdering a dude right there on the field?

“Unusual Agression” is pretty much those guys’ team motto, folks.

Unsurprisingly, our Foxy Sportsball Squad totally rules the following game, no biggie.

Nothing like a bit of blood, childhood trauma and accidental nudity to get fired up before a big game.

             Two minutes later, the Foxes got the chance they needed. A Terrapin striker got around Matt and raced at the goal. (…) Andrew was outside of his box in a heartbeat, and he body-checked the striker hard enough to floor him.

GET REKT.

Also, to remind y’all non-Native English speakers (like me) what a Terrapin is, it’s these cute lil fellas.

Not exactly a threatening opponent.

Not so much a fast one either. Who the fuck thought that naming choice was a good idea, like “yeah, sure, let’s call our skilled Sportsball team after fucking turtles”.

The Team of Poor Naming Choices gets what they deserve, in any case – the Foxes run right over them and celebrate an epic 8-5 victory.

             Wymack and Abby were waiting for them, Wymack with a toothy grin and Abby all smiles.

I love me some supportive Fox Parents.

However, the party is pretty much over instantly as the Foxes are back on their infighting bullshit.

             Allison (…) kept her eyes on Neil. “I’ve hit the limit of what bullshit I’ll tolerate this week, let alone this year. I need to know how much worse this pissing contest between you and Riko is going to get.”

Can we have literally….. 5 seconds of happy celebratory peace up in this bitch, thank you.

At least Wymack feels me.

             “I’m instigating a new rule where everyone is required to be happy after a win. You downers are going to suck the life out of me before my time.”

Thank you, my man.

Allison is kind of right, though – they do need to really fucking talk about this.

             “First off: the massacred elephant in the room. Massacred birds, rather. I called in a favour with the faculty and got Abby access to the microscopes in the science labs.”

Oh, that is morbid.

If that Bloody Hell of a Situation was the Ravens’ doing, then that is the most macabre symbolism I’ve seen in a while.

If it was Wesninski Sr’s – then I don’t want to think about the symbolism, quite frankly.

Which reminds me of an interesting point: Everyone is automatically assuming Riko did this. This makes sense considering almost no one knows of the existence of Neil’s dad, but Neil does not only seem to be playing along, but he seems to have the same opinion. The writing on the wall clearly said “Junior” – why isn’t he considering the fact that it could have just as well been his dad?

Obviously, don’t get me wrong here, knowing their power situation Riko/Tetsuji are still behind all of it and would know of what Neil’s dad is doing to Neil. But to me, this doesn’t sound like Riko’s style. Gallons of blood set up like a crude school prank and words written in blood – this sounds much more like a man who calls himself The Butcher than a rich sleek featherfucker.

Unsurprisingly, Neil isn’t exactly a fan of presenting his entire life story to his team. However, a certain someone who is still massively Salty™ at Neil for ratting him out to his girlfriend intervenes.

             “They’ll never find proof that Riko was involved in this,” Aaron said, “but they might find you, right? (…) Your looks, your languages, your lies – you’re running from something or someone.”

Ohhhhhhhhhh shit.

This is CALLOUT CULTURE.

While the team is busy collecting their jaws from the floor, Neil makes a weak attempt at sassing his way out of this situation.

             Keeping his voice calm took every ounce of energy he had left. “You know, I expected low blows and backstabbing from the Ravens. I thought Foxes were better than that.”

Don’t generalize, my dude.

Dan, Matt and Renee would never.

Neil then does worm his way out of this situation, though – by making a Bad Callout Situation a Worse Callout Situation, Like So Much Worse, Oh God.

             “I’m still waiting for a thank you,” Neil said. “From both of you, to each other. You’re even now, aren’t you? So why can’t you just wipe the slate clean and start over? (…) You don’t want me to be right, because if I am it’s your fault she’s dead.”

             Andrew finally joined the argument. “No. It’s always going to be her fault.”

Oh no, honey, please don–

             “I told her what would happen if she raised her hand again. She had no right to look so surprised.”

DID YOU JUST.

             Wymack pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled noisily. “Could you at least let us leave the room before you confess?”

Same, my dude.

Also hah, nose puns.

             It took Aaron a minute to find his voice again. He still sounded angry, but there was a muted edge to his, “You wouldn’t even look at me. You wouldn’t say a word to me unless I said something first. I’m not psychic. How was I supposed to know?”

             “Because I made you a promise,” Andrew said. “I did not forget it just because you chose not to believe me. I did what I said I would do, and fuck you for expecting anything else.”

And this paragraph right there, this is so, so important because it just sums up both their worldviews perfectly.

Aaron is still the more “normal” one of the twins – hard and bitter, but eventually the more grounded, the more realistic brother. But he also never really got to know Andrew, the real Andrew – whether out of fear of him or out of Andrew’s refusal. Andrew didn’t talk to him, and Aaron never learnt who exactly he was dealing with, so how was he supposed to know?

Andrew, on the other hand, makes promises and sticks to them, absolutely no matter what. He doesn’t care about the means to achieve his goals, he is colder and more ruthless than Aaron – or any sane person – ever could be. And in his world, this all makes sense – legit murder isn’t out of proportion, nothing can be, when it comes to keeping those he cares for safe (lizziedunbar99 made an excellent point on this the other day). When he protects someone, he protects them, all or nothing, and fuck anyone for expecting anyone else.

Yes, hello, I love these idiots.

             There it was again: a hint of that infinite anger at Andrew’s core. (…) He put his hand up between [the twins]. A heartbeat later Andrew’s expression went dead. Neil regretted his intervention immediately. No one could let go of that much rage that easily; Andrew had simply buried it where it could hurt only him.

And the moment that anger finally, healthily (!) breaks free will be the happiest day in this goddamn series.

Or, y’know, everything will go up in flames, but them’s the risks when you’re dealing with our favourite Murder Maniac.

In other news – in case you forgot (which I did), the other Foxes are still present, and they do kind of want answers at this point.

             “Is [your past] going to be a problem?” Dan asked.

             “No,” Neil said.

             Allison arched a brow at him (…) “Are you sure about that?”

I want Allison to please barge into conversations like this always, her head appearing over the scene John Cena-style.

This meme is long dead, but watch me give no shits.

             “Riko knows who I am because our families operate in similar circles, but he is a Moriyama in name only. He doesn’t have the resources to do more than threaten me.”

             “Damn, Neil,” Matt said. “Your parents must be something else if even Riko’s got to follow the rules.”

Oh hon, oh my sweet summer child, you have no idea.

And with that, the conversation is blissfully over, and we have only two tiny things to get to before this monster of a chapter is finally done.

First, Neil gets a text message:

             He didn’t recognize the number or the area code. He understood the message even less: “49”. Neil gave it a minute, but nothing else was forthcoming. He deleted the text and put his phone away.

Ah well, I’m sure this ominous and vaguely threating thing was merely a wrong number and is totally not going to come back to haunt our asses a few chapters from now.

And second, the Normal People Squad still has some opinions on the Murder Situation:

             “Just like that,” Matt said dubiously. “You’ve always known what he’s capable of, but you said he’s never given you a real reason to be afraid of him. What the hell are your parents into, if you can glide past murder like it’s no big deal and get in Riko’s face all the time?”

OH HON, OH MY SWEET SUMMER CHILD.

Also, me a few books ago.

Oh, how far we’ve come.

Unsurprisingly, yet to my great delight, Renee is not as shellshocked as Dan and Matt about Andrew’s confession, and offers some much-needed insight.

             “We cannot understand the situation entirely, Dan. We will never know Andrew’s frame of mind at the time or how bad life with her was for them. All we can do is make a choice: believe that he was protecting Aaron or condemn him for taking the most extreme path. I would rather go with the former.”

Mic drop, sweet smile, Renee out.

God, I love this girl.

If you like what I do here and you want me to continue writing fun things for you, why not buy me a coffee? Every lil bit helps, getting me through uni and all that jazz. Thanks so much!

[michaelmikeybrennan]

Michael Mikey Brennan - “Home” Influences

Behind every song, there is always inspiration. There is always a story and there is always other songs and pieces of music that inspired the song’s work. Ever since singer/songwriter Michael Mikey Brennan released his recent single, ‘Home’ people have questioned him about the inspiration and influence behind the song and the production. The secrets have now been revealed!

When asked about the story behind the song Brennan said, “One day, in the summer of 2015, I went up to Barming where some of my old school mates used to live. We had just graduated as Year 11 students, finished our GCSE studies and we had finished and left school and were going onto college in September. It was heartbreaking after graduating as we all had to say goodbye to each other and were all going to be separated once September approached. We were all 16, young, reckless and fresh and we all just wanted to make the most of the summer holidays before moving on in the Autumn, and one day I got a text from my mates saying, ‘Hey Mike, come and hang out with us in Barming today, it will be a laugh!’ and I basically said, ‘sure f**k it!’, you only live once after all. Plus, hanging out with my mates is like one of my favourite things to do! We had a great day you know, ‘hanging out’ doing some random teenage stuff, lad stuff and that! When we finished ‘hanging out’ it was about 5 o’ clock in the evening and I said to my mates, ‘Lads, it’s getting late I better go home now”. First of all, let me point out that Barming is miles away from where I live (I’d rather not give out the location of my home if that’s okay), you have to catch a train to get back to my house from Barming. After I said goodbye to my mates I walked to the train station but there were no more trains going to my location and then I tried the closest Bus station to Barming and there were no buses to take me home either (there weren’t any taxis either), I would have called my parents and asked them to pick me up but unfortunately they were away for the weekend and I didn’t want to spoil their holiday, so I ended up walking all the way home and whilst I was walking home I started singing, ‘I wanna’ go home’ multiple times and just thought up all the rest of the lyrics and the tune whilst walking home. When I got home eventually it was about 11 o’ clock at night and I went straight to bed and when I woke up in the morning I just got some paper and my guitar and started writing the song”. 

After ‘Home’ was first showcased on YouTube as a demo, fellow friend of Brennan, Matt Smith asked Brennan if the song was inspired by Michael Bublé’s 2005 song, ‘Home’. This was clearly questioned due to some of the song’s similar features to the Bublé song (both of the songs share the same name, ‘Home’ and both feature the phrase “I wanna’ go home”). Brennan commented on this statement confirming that his song ‘Home’ wasn’t inspired by the work of Michael Bublé. “I’m a massive Michael Bublé fan and have been inspired by his work for years”, Brennan said “but I’m clearly not a very good fan as I have never heard this song until Matt Smith questioned my inspiration of it. That said, after he mentioned the song to me, I have listened to it and loved it. I think it’s a beautiful song. However, despite the similarities between my song and Bublé’s song, my song wasn’t actually inspired by Bublé’s song, it’s impossible after all, like I said I was unaware of this song until after I released my song, therefore I wouldn’t have heard it before I composed my own song. Although, now that I have heard Bublé’s song I can appreciate it, and I think Michael Bublé is amazing an artist”. 

The Music That Inspired Home 

John Denver - Take Me Home, Country Roads

One of the main songs that inspired the song was John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’... come to think of it, does that surprise anyone? Isn’t it obvious? The country elements, the similar subject, the use of the phrase “Where I belong”, the inspiration is very clear and recognisable, at least to those who are aware of the song ‘Country Roads, Take Me Home’. 

Harry Belafonte - Day-0 (The Banana Boat Song)  

The song’s biggest inspiration actually came from “Day-0 (The Banana Boat Song)”, which might not come as a surprise, due to the similar concept of the lyrics in both of the songs, particularly the phrase, “I wanna’ go home”. Brennan is a massive fan old throwback music and traditional songs (such as this one) and usually picks up influences and inspiration from them when composing his own original material. 

Bob Dylan - Blowin�� In The Wind

During the production of recording ‘Home’, Brennan and his producer took influences from Bob Dylan’s 1963 track “Blowin’ In The Wind’, by putting harmonica melodies into the track. Dylan’s influence on the song turned out to be quite distinctive to some of the listening audience, MidKent College’s music technology level 3 lecture Ben Gurney, reviewed the song and commented saying that it is, “Very Bob Dylan influenced”, and MidKent College’s performing arts level 2 lecture Laura Beck, also reviewed the song and commented saying that the song, “Has a Bob Dylan feel to it”. 

MidKent College’s music performance level 2 lecture Stephen Clee (who was also Brennan’s current course tutor at the time of the release of ‘Home’) commented on the song saying, “I can see where Mikey has got his inspiration from with this song. Recently Mikey and the other fellow performance students have been performing some solo projects as part of some of their performances units in which they choose a song to present and Mikey choose ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, I thought he did a great job at performing a classic such as a Bob Dylan track. His guitar playing and voice really suits this kind of song. And when listening to ‘Home’ I can hear how ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ has influenced Mikey, the acoustic guitar, the folk music vibe, the harmonicas is like a 2017 version of a Bob Dylan song. Despite still being a music student and still on the road of understanding, Mikey has already proved himself weary to become the next Bob Dylan. It’s very distinctive and obvious, that this song was inspired by Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, you can tell. Mikey seems to have a fondness of folk acoustic music. He also recently covered ‘Good Riddance’ by Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong, personally, I reckon that song was also inspired by ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, because like ‘Home’, ‘Good Riddance’ has a similar vibe to Dylan. One of Mikey’s weaknesses as a music student, is reflecting on his own sound, but I think thanks to the influence of Bob Dylan Mikey has discovered his inner genre... ‘folk and acoustic’, it definitely suits his style as a musician”.  

Gurney agreed with Clee’s statement and commented saying, “I knew from the minute I heard ‘Home’ that it had some kind of Bob Dylan influence to it but I just couldn’t put my finger on it, I wasn’t sure what Dylan track Mikey had took inspiration from, I mean, there are loads of Bob Dylan songs! But then one morning, I came into college and saw Mikey in the corridor playing ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ to some students and staff members and that’s when I realised that ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ was the song that impacted Mikey’s song, hence the use of the harmonica on the track”. 

Meanwhile, Brennan was interviewed about the Bob Dylan comparisons. To begin with he was asked, “Was ‘Home’ actually inspired by Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’? A lot of people have been pointing out the fact that it has a similar production with the uses of harmonica and acoustic guitar”. 

Brennan replied, “The song itself, wasn’t actually inspired by ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’, and by ‘the song itself’ I mean that ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ didn’t inspire me to write ‘Home’, however, when it came to recording the song my producer took inspiration from a few features in ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ and added them to the song. This may sound hard to believe, but it wasn’t actually my idea to add all those harmonicas in, nor was it my idea to make a ‘Bob Dylan-like track’, that was all my producer’s idea, I was just thinking acoustically, I only pictured the song being an acoustic song with no other additional instruments, but my producer added all that in behind my back”. Brennan’s ‘Home’ producer (Tone B) recognised the folk acoustic influence in ‘Home’ and also noticed the “inner folk Michael Mikey Brennan” and took editing influences from other folk musician’s past work from the likes of Bob Dylan, John Martyn and Neil Young and progressive rock influences from the likes of Pink Floyd. “I was quite surprised when Tone showed me the final edit of ‘Home’ because the style wasn’t exactly how I originally pictured it to sound” Brennan said, “I’ve always’d seen myself as more of an acoustic pop star, if you listen to my previous stuff that was released before ‘Home’ it’s all just pop and acoustic stuff, and that’s kind of how I pictured ‘Home’ to sound. However, when I listened to the final edit I realised that the folk element suited me as a musician and I noticed that it just really fitted in with my song, and I also thought it would be nice to give my listening audience a new sound, something different to my previous stuff”. Brennan was correct, people did notice the change in genre, Beck (Level 2 Performing Arts lecture) commented on the song saying, “Very different style to the other ones I’ve heard!” MidKent College Maidstone Curriculum Plus lecture Maria Cates commented on ‘Home’ saying, “It’s a masterpiece, impressive but very tricky to do a style that’s different to you!” 

“I don’t mean to contradict myself”, Brennan said “but even though I said, Bob Dylan didn’t inspire me to write ‘Home’ (which is true, he didn’t), I can’t deny the fact that he is one of my biggest influences as a folk musician, as he is to most folk musician, I don’t think there’s a single acoustic musician in the world that’s hasn’t been influenced by him, unless of course, you’re a folk musician who was active before him. He didn’t inspire me to write ‘Home’, but he has inspired me to write other songs which I haven’t released yet. He’s my songwriting hero, the person who I turn to listen to when I’m stuck songwriting, whenever I struggle to write a song I always think to myself, ‘what would Bob Dylan do’, I’ve been influenced by him and his work for years, he’s a great poet his lyrics are very inspirational to my own lyrical writing”. He was then asked, “Did you hear that in October last year, he was awarded the Nobel literature prize? What were your thoughts on that?” He replied saying, “I did yeah, I thought it was well deserved, he’s very successful, no doubt about that. To me, Bob Dylan is the one of the best songwriters and poets of all time next to Leonard Cohen. He is a great musician, a great songwriter and a fantastic poet and he’s written some of the best songs of all time”. 

Brennan was then asked, “What do you think about people comparing you to him?” Brennan replied saying, “I find it flattering and in a way it’s quite an honor to be compared to him, because he’s brilliant. However, I think they’re focusing more on the comparisons, and not on the contrasts. I think what they need to notice is the fact that Dylan's been around since the ‘60s, as he’s been around longer than me, he’s had more experience, and I’m still a music student studying, I haven’t made success or history yet, or even made it into the music industry yet (unlike Dylan who has). When comparing us together, I think they’re listening to the sound of the acoustic guitar and vocal ranges which sound a like, and also pointing out that we both sing, write, play guitar and the fact that we are both singer/songwriters and folk musicians. What they also need to realise is the fact that Dylan is brilliant and very successful, I could practice till the cows come home, but I’ll never be as good as him. He’s a great musician, songwriter and poet and although some people say that I am ‘a good songwriter’, (fair enough, it’s they’re opinion), but obviously compared to Bob Dylan I’m not that good at all, his skills are incomparable. I feel honored with everything they’ve said about me being the next Bob Dylan and everything, and I do appreciate that, but logically that’s not what I am gonna become and even if it was possible it will take years of practice and years of contributing to the music industry to become the next Bob Dylan and since he’s been around for years it won’t be easy or possible to catch up with the amount of success that he has already had in his many years of being a musician. So I’m not ‘the next Bob Dylan’, I suppose I’m just ‘a young Bob Dylan’, because some of the comparisons they have made, I can’t disagree with the fact that we have similar repertoire and a similar style to our voices. Overall, I think I’m just who I am, I think I’d rather be me, than him, he is what he is (a legend) and I am what I am. I think everyone should be treated as unique and special in their own way, everyone is different and has their own talents, no one is the same. At the end of the day though, I’m still quite honored and thankful for all these comments from everyone, and the fact that they’re comparing me to someone who is so famous and successful is crazy, but also very flattering”. 

Daniel Powter - Come Back Home

“I wrote ‘Home’ in August 2015″ Brennan said, “3 years before that, Daniel Powter (one of my biggest influences and inspirations and one of my all time favourite artists) released his fourth studio album, ‘Turn On the Lights’, (which is a great album), and on that album there’s this awesome song called, ‘Come Back Home’ which I just fell in love with when I first listened to the album and it’s probably my favourite track on the album to be honest, I think it’s a beautiful song and that is is very well written”. 

When asked whether or not ‘Come Back Home’ influenced ‘Home’ Brennan said, “Well, they’re both different songs with different meanings, but I can’t deny that it didn’t inspire me to write ‘Home’. I remember listening to it for the very first time back in 2012 and I suppose I just thought to myself, ‘maybe I could write something similar to that’, but you know, obviously there is a difference between inspiration and imitation so I could never write something exactly the same, and even if I tried I don’t think I could, Daniel is amazing, I’ve been influenced by his work for years, he’s one of the main reasons why I am the musician who I am today. He’s a great songwriter, a great singer and a brilliant musician, and I don’t think I could ever write a song that could compare to his brilliant work”.

Brennan was then asked, “Would you say that Daniel Powter has influenced you as a songwriter?” “Yeah, definitely” Brennan replied. “As a matter of fact, I remember being 6 years old and hearing his song ‘Bad Day’ on the radio, that was actually the song that inspired me to become a songwriter, because I wanted to become a songwriter and try and write some ‘great songs’ like him, but I’ll only be a ‘great songwriter’ when I become a legend like Daniel Powter, or maybe I should say, ‘if I become a legend like Daniel Powter’ because like I said, I don’t think I could ever match his exceptional songwriting skills, he is the best!”

Brennan was then asked, “Would you ever consider writing a song with him?” “I’d love to”, Brennan replied, “but to be honest due to my lack of exceptional songwriting quality (which I don’t process but Daniel does), I think I’d only just cramp his style, in order to create a masterpiece I should just leave all the work to him, he knows how to make a great song, I’d only just ruin it if I helped him. I really wish I could meet him, I’ve spoke to him on Twitter a few times, and it’s crazy but amazing to know that your childhood hero knows who you are, it’s good to know that I’m not ‘a nobody’ to him, I hope one day I’ll be able to meet him and shake his hand and thank him for all his done”. 

He was then asked, “Do you think people will be able to tell that ‘Home’ picked up influences from this song?” Brennan replied saying, “I think so yeah. I think if people listen to both of the songs they will be able to spot a few similar features”. Both ‘Home’ and ‘Come Back Home’ have similar phrases like “where I/you belong” as well as similar rhymes to the phrase ‘Home such as “Alone”. Both of the songs also have similar repetitive patterns (e.g. repetition of the use of the word “Home”).