Credit: Travis Shinn
Earlier this month, Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton released his new solo EP, Ether. The collection includes the single “All I Had to Lose,” which Morton described as among the “most personal” songs he’s ever written.
Speaking to ABC Audio, Morton explains that the song is about him getting sober about a year ago.
“When I was in that kind of mindset of drinking and drugs and all that, I tended to have this sort of negative filter,” Morton says. “I could make anything ‘woe is me,’ or ‘it should be this way,’ just entitled, very addict sort of viewpoint on things.”
He continues, “You get a little bit of clarity and you get a little bit of gratitude, and you start seeing, like, ‘Wow, I still have so much going on. It’s amazing that I didn’t mess this up.'”
As personal as “All I Had to Lose” is, it’s not the first time Morton’s lyrics have reflected the struggles in his life, which are scattered throughout Lamb of God’s discography.
“I’ve always really been probably personal to a fault as a lyricist,” he explains, “whether I was talking about the death of my daughter, drug addiction, my relationships, strained relationships with my father, all that kind of stuff.”
“I’ve had people close to me say, ‘Why do you gotta air out all this stuff? Why are you putting it all out there?'” Morton laughs. “But I think that’s really why, at least for me, why I got into music in the first place, to help navigate all of those challenging situations.”
“All I Had to Lose” features vocals from Sons of Texas frontman Mark Morales. Ether also includes guest spots from Halestorm‘s Lzzy Hale and Light the Torch‘s Howard Jones.
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