Often the greatest art comes from the deepest sadness. After his mother passed away from cancer at age 69 two years ago, Touché Amoré singer Jeremy Bolm dealt with the loss partly by dedicating the band's latest, Stage Four, to her memory. In his earnest and honest writing style, Bolm works his way through his grief, guilt and shaken faith over the album's 11 songs.
It's a record that should hit close to home for anyone who's lost a loved one, but especially so for Bolm's family and many of his friends. He says he didn't hold back when it came to the lyrics. There's even more he could have written, but "I ran out of songs," he says.
One of the first people he revealed it to was his brother. "I was very anxious about having him hear it, because he went through the same things I did," the 33-year-old says. "Sitting next to somebody and listening to something that's so personal, that they've also gone exactly through, it's a little hard."
Bolm is calling from New York, a city with profound significance that's now immortalized in Stage Four's final cut, "Skyscraper." It's a place his mother had always wanted to visit, so he took her there in what would be her final months. The song and video see him revisiting that time in an ode to her memory.
Bolm says the record made him realize his family bonds are stronger than he thought. "I'm getting text messages, phone calls and emails from more distant family that I didn't think even kept up at all with my life or what this band does, being like, 'It's really sweet that you wrote this record about your mother,'" he says. "I don't necessarily know how to take it; I genuinely thought that they didn't pay that much attention."
In all his nervousness about Stage Four, Bolm says his brother gave him just the answer he needed — and it was an answer that few other people could have given.
"He said she would be really honoured to know that she had an entire record written about her," Bolm says. "Whenever she would be on the side of the stage and I would mention that our family was there, she would light up and get all excited, and feel like a movie star. Knowing there's an entire record about her would make her really excited."
It's a record that should hit close to home for anyone who's lost a loved one, but especially so for Bolm's family and many of his friends. He says he didn't hold back when it came to the lyrics. There's even more he could have written, but "I ran out of songs," he says.
One of the first people he revealed it to was his brother. "I was very anxious about having him hear it, because he went through the same things I did," the 33-year-old says. "Sitting next to somebody and listening to something that's so personal, that they've also gone exactly through, it's a little hard."
Bolm is calling from New York, a city with profound significance that's now immortalized in Stage Four's final cut, "Skyscraper." It's a place his mother had always wanted to visit, so he took her there in what would be her final months. The song and video see him revisiting that time in an ode to her memory.
Bolm says the record made him realize his family bonds are stronger than he thought. "I'm getting text messages, phone calls and emails from more distant family that I didn't think even kept up at all with my life or what this band does, being like, 'It's really sweet that you wrote this record about your mother,'" he says. "I don't necessarily know how to take it; I genuinely thought that they didn't pay that much attention."
In all his nervousness about Stage Four, Bolm says his brother gave him just the answer he needed — and it was an answer that few other people could have given.
"He said she would be really honoured to know that she had an entire record written about her," Bolm says. "Whenever she would be on the side of the stage and I would mention that our family was there, she would light up and get all excited, and feel like a movie star. Knowing there's an entire record about her would make her really excited."