I'm telling the story of each song from my new album 606. I've been known to ‘embellish’ or blur details, so let it be known this is based on a true story.
I'll Live While I'm Young
I've been pondering age quite a bit. When we are 10 and under, anybody who is older than 18 is ANCIENT. When we hit our teens, college kids seem old. When we surpass college age, we realize that we are now the old we used to think of. Age and Old change the more we live, and that's a good thing.
My dad is 30 years older than me, but he is young. I'm 25 years older than my nephew, but I am young. I made all kinds of goals for myself and thought I'd reach them all before I hit 30. It seemed like everything in the universe was pointing towards these goals and I worked my ass off, so why didn't they happen? Maybe because 30 was my plan, not God's or the universe or whatever you believe in. I thought I'd reach all my goals while I was young…
Even if we are on the right path, sometimes it has twists and turns we can't imagine. No matter what age I am, I want to continue to say “I'll Live While I'm Young”. I don't know if this song meant that to me when I was writing it. A lot of times I learn things about myself halfway through a song and that becomes the chorus. I spend verses talking about my emotions, and choruses with the answer or the conclusion I reach.
I'll Live While I'm Young means don't stop living, age changes and so do we.
But…
I'll Live While I'm Young used to mean something different to me. It used to mean “I can die at any moment, so I should take this invincible feeling and run with it, experience everything I can.”
New York City - November 19, 2019
My band played a show at a coffee shop called the Grandlo Cafe. It was located on the lower east side, right across the Williamsburg Bridge. We played to maybe 50 people and the participants were told the location of the show the day of (pictured below).
Two other groups played with us. I remember the show went well but it was afterwards that sticks out. My bass player Jeff was chatting with a fella who lived in the city and he invited us to come out with him. Jeff asked me to go chat with the guy and see if I got a good vibe from him. Should we trust this stranger? My first question to Jeff was “what are we gonna do with all of our equipment?” Jeff responded, “he says he's got a spot for all of it”.
Looking back now, that is a pretty big red flag…But you gotta live while you're young. I went and talked with the dude, and after a good three-minute chat I decided he was a good dude. He said, I know of a place we can go, I'll help you carry your equipment and we'll store it at the club. Off we went!
We walked through the streets of NYC with a bass amp, bass guitar, a small drum kit, guitar, and all our merchandise. The gentleman leading us, let's call him Roger, took the bass amp and carried it over his head. When we arrived to the club there was a HUGE long line outside wrapping around the block. The line must have had 75 people in it waiting to get inside. Roger said no worries guys, come with me. We went around to a side door and he knocked on it three times. Knock….knock……knock…..A man appeared, opened the door and asked “who are you guys.” Roger responded, “I know Tom, he's expecting us”. Oh sure thing man “the doorman responded”. We went inside and presumably the owner of the establishment met us at a staircase with an anti-Trump poster. He said, you guys can leave your gear here if you're alright with that. We did, and we went down a long, steep set of stairs into a basement. We opened the door.
We were greeted by the coolest, strangest club I have ever seen. There was a DJ spinning real vinyl, mixing one with another. It was like he was sampling old disco beats, putting the British invasion on top of it, and then mixing in guitars and bass with the production of today. The place was BUMPIN. I couldn't help but think of the massive line outside waiting to get in. But tonight, we were VIP's. Even if our stuff got stolen, this was amazing. The rest of the night gets a bit hazy. We bought drinks that were too expensive, solved all the world's problems, and made our way back to our Airbnb in the early hours of the next day.
You gotta live while you're young. I'm gonna be young for a long time.
Track 02
I'll Live While I'm Young
Nick Rivers
My debut album ‘606’ comes out January 5th. It will be available everywhere you purchase and listen to music.
PRE-ORDER 606 BY NICK RIVERS RIGHT HERE
