“Clinking glasses, champagne bubbles and Queen,” Ben Thornewill said.
Videos by American Songwriter
That’s how Thornewill—guitarist and vocalist for Jukebox The Ghost—replied when asked how he’d describe the sound of the Brooklyn indie-rock trio’s new single, “Cheers!” And listening to its layers of melodic guitars, its theatrical builds, and its overwhelmingly feel-good ethos, it’s safe to say that Thornewill’s description isn’t far off from the truth.
“We band produced and recorded ‘Cheers!’ ourselves while quarantining,” Thornewill explained. “Technically, I started writing it around 15 years ago—Here’s to more of the everyday was part of a song that we never managed to finish. Tommy [Siegel] always wanted to make it work, but it never quite came together. Then, right before COVID hit, Tommy was working with an amazing writer named Tim Meyers, and they used that line as a springboard for the rest of the song.”
In that sense, “Cheers!” is a great example of how an idea can blossom into a song over time… some of the greats (like Leonard Cohen) were known to spend over ten years working on a single track. As a writer, you can learn how to edit and revise your own work on a level of striking precision… which sometimes requires that you approach the work with a sense of open-mindedness. For Jukebox The Ghost, a moment like that arose when they were trying to figure out the final line of the chorus.
“This may be a cop-out, but my favorite lyric in the whole song is the guitar solo at the end of the chorus!” Thornewill said. “We tried so, so, so hard to make a lyric fit there—the rhyme scheme wanted something like ‘winners’ or ‘victors’—but they never landed quite right. So, we tested out a stacked guitar solo instead… sometimes you have to let the music do the talking.”
The single officially dropped on September 8 and it’s already brought in hundreds of thousands of streams. Reflecting on the joy it’s already released into the world, Thornewill concluded: “I’d like to raise a glass and say cheers! Thank you! We made it through a really crazy time… we’re all in this together.”
Jukebox The Ghost’s new single “Cheers!” is out now—watch the lyric video for it below:
