Gym collabs. Medieval knights. Noah Sebastian. As Bilmuri and A Day To Remember unleash ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN, bandleaders Johnny Franck and Jeremy McKinnon unwrap the story behind their new single that spans “20 years of metalcore…”
“Homesick came out and I was 18 years old, so that’s a match made in heaven,” smiles Johnny Franck, talking to Kerrang! under the watchful eye of his three-year-old longhaired whippet, Magnus. Bilmuri’s main man is full of beans today, detailing what seemed like a bog-standard flat bench press – “God’s greatest workout” – at QNTM Fit Life in Nashville. Until he spotted the creator of said record approaching him.
“I’ve been listening to him as a fan since [2024’s AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS],” returns Jeremy McKinnon. “He saw me coming up, and he was immediately happy, you could see that. I was like, ‘Man, I would love to write with you anytime, if you ever need any help.’”
“What are you doing in 30 minutes?” responded Johnny.
Re-enacting his reaction to K! now, Jeremy freezes. Because truthfully, A Day To Remember, were in town for essential production rehearsals ahead of their Maximum Fun Tour with Yellowcard. How essential are we talking? Jeremy dialled his manager to iron things out.
“‘Hey, this is not great timing, but I’m a massive fan of this dude’s music, I want to do this session,’” recounts Jeremy. “‘Could you help smooth this over with everybody, if anyone gets upset?’ I’m thinking, ‘There’s no way in hell I’m not going to take [Johnny] up on that offer.”
Fast-forward half an hour, and Jeremy linked up with Johnny, who was writing with Sasha Sloan, producer Will Carlson and Wage War’s Cody Quistad. They had just polished off a song for Bilmuri’s new album KINDA HARDA called BACK, THEN. A few hours later, Noah Sebastian rocked up. After catching up with the Bad Omens singer, attention then turned to the fragments of a song called ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN.
“All these fucking juggernauts in a room,” grins Johnny. “Cody kept saying, ‘There’s no way this room loses.’ Twenty years of metalcore in the same room!”
“I’ve never done it that randomly, but getting in a room with people and putting together ideas is the reason I’m even in this,” adds Jeremy. “That excitement of chasing down this idea, the thought that, ‘Maybe this is the next thing you’re known for…’”
Lyrically, ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN is bittersweet, Throughout, the apologetic narrator expresses how they feel insufficient – whether that’s for a significant other or a friend – summed up by the tagline: ‘Tell me you don’t want me around / ’Cause I’ll always let you down.’
“All musicians are incredibly self-deprecating,” explains Johnny. “That feeling of being in a relationship, ‘I think I’m the problem, and you should probably bail on me, because that would make your life easier.’ Everyone in the room really resonated with that sentiment, so once we all landed on that, it was much easier to get the lyrics out.
“The writer’s room is a sacred room,” he continues. “You can be vulnerable in here, and no-one’s gonna judge you. If you throw out a bad idea, we’ll move on to the next thing. The more you can foster that environment of, ‘No matter what you say, you can say it in this room,’ [the better]. The great writers don’t have an ego where ‘it has to be their idea’ – the best idea wins. A room like that, with that many people, is a really special and rare thing.”
Then, after Jeremy and Johnny are done trading verses, comes the sucker punch. A trademark ADTR breakdown, terminating the track with a cliffhanger. That section came together a few weeks after the initial recording, as Will slaved away on the track while Bilmuri were busy touring the UK and Europe with Bad Omens.
“That’s pretty pissed,” smirks Jeremy, revealing what he made of Johnny’s idea for the ending. “I’m like, ‘If it’s cool with you, I want to give it the full McKinnon treatment, and put something together that seems like something I would say. It feels like you’re really continuing the point you’re trying to make, but it also punches.’”
“I feel like that part of the song is the crescendo of the entire record as well, not just the song,” teases Johnny. “I was really stressed about sequencing the record, and this, to me, is very much the apex.”
Sparring in a makeshift backyard wrestling ring in Orlando, the music video is classic ’Muri, made even more impressive by the fact that Jeremy’s only instructions in advance were, ‘Wear sweatpants and a hoodie.’ Admittedly enjoying “kicking the shit out of each other,” Jeremy’s pre-fight nerves were washed away by the relaxed dynamic on set.
“Being in a suit of armour, all of the random stuff you can do because you have medieval weapons, opens up a whole new gate of things,” he explains. “It felt spur-of-the-moment, the vibes were great.”
“From the song and the video standpoint, it feels like a direct 50/50 blend [between] Bilmuri and A Day To Remember,” adds Johnny.
You’ll have joined the dots by now and realised ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN solves the mystery of Bilmuri’s viral studio snap. Taken purely to commemorate the day, some friends nudged Johnny to publicise it, correctly guessing it “would fucking nuke metalcore Instagram”. But there are still other secrets surrounding KINDA HARD, including a mystery collaborator on WHERE TO FIND ME. Was that penned in the same session?
“No, that very much came from a social media post where I desperately was trying to find the right solo for this part,” Johnny reveals. “A bunch of guitarists sent solos over, so I had the privilege to be able to choose a great guitar solo to put over that part, and that’s the feature. It’s a band that’s nearby where you are right now [the UK]. A neighbouring country…”
Given Cody’s involvement with ADTR’s Big Ole Album Vol. 1 – where the artwork was a Where’s Wally? of its contributors – we ask Jeremy if there might also be room for Johnny to appear on the incoming Vol. 2. Shortly after our conversation, he’s actually working on it.
“Johnny’s a super-awesome, genuine guy,” responds Jeremy. “It felt like we’d known each other the entire time. I know that we’re gonna keep in touch. Anytime in the future they ever need me, I’ll be there. If he wants to do another song, let’s do it. I gotta be at the right gym!
“We’re working on [Vol. 2], but we’re not in a place where anything’s done. It's not supposed to just be Vol. 1 B-sides, we want it to feel like its own thing. I want it to be an argument [over] which one is better, so until we feel like we have it there, that’s what we’re gonna do.”
Massive years lie in wait for both bands. Bilmuri will hit the UK for a fully-fledged headline tour in June, a couple of weeks after ADTR return to Download to headline the Opus Stage. In amongst their manic schedules, all that remains is to find time to perform the song live.
“We’re playing a show in Orlando, so that would be the most likely [scenario],” ponders Johnny. “And then we’re playing a show in Nashville at The Pinnacle, and because we’re filming it, we’re trying to get every artist that has featured on any of the songs at that one show. We’ll definitely try to make it happen!”
ALWAYS LET YOU DOWN is out now via Columbia. KINDA HARD will arrive on April 10.
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