By: Scott Martin
It’s not often that the title of an EP can be both attention-grabbing and serve as sensible life advice. “Live More Forever.” is the debut EP from East Coast emotional rockers Customer Service. The band hailing from Halifax Nova Scotia, though they can be seen often playing shows in the the Ottawa area, is composed of four members; Matt Cheverie on vocals as well as rhythm guitar, Max Hayden on lead guitar, Nick Adams on bass and Owen Harris on drums.
A band only gets one chance to release their debut EP, and Customer Service took this to heart by making sure that every moment was well-spent. The five-song EP begins with the leading single “Working Hard (or Riley Workman)”, a track about realizing it’s time to get out of bed and stop watching The Sopranos all day. The song instantly catches the listener’s attention with powerful vocals and a waltzing guitar riff that will get stuck in your head for days to come. The chorus talks about putting your best clothes on and accepting that it’s time to get back into life, a theme that resonates quite directly with the title of the EP.
Following the opener is “I Vaped Again Last Night (and I’d Kill to be in Love)”, a tune that checks off most of the boxes on the beloved emo song checklist. The track features gang vocals, addictive riffs, enormous choruses and the name alone makes it worth the listen. The lyrics lament about lame summers, late-night conversations, nose rings and questionable dance moves which becomes equal parts charming and uncomfortably relatable, as so many of us have dealt with the story being told throughout the song.
Our halfway point is marked by the track “Do You Really Wanna Beer Here Forever?”.
The song evokes feelings of uncertainty and complicated feelings while trying to navigate new and confusing feelings. The chorus boasts the lyric “With you it’s all so easy, so why am I so uneasy?”, which is an incredible way to express the hesitance that can come up during situations that seem to be going almost too well. The track overall seems to dwell on these ups and downs musically with the use of changing dynamics and thoughtfully delivered through the lyrics.
Up next is the track “Grad Day”, a track that explores the changes and emotions that come with, you guessed it, graduation. The song carries quite a heartbreaking tone from the moment it starts with the line “It’s sad that I don’t even know what I’m upset about.”. This theme continues into the chorus with lines such as “when springs in bloom I’m still reminded of you, so congratulations on your graduation.”, which is directly followed by the gang vocals screaming “I hope your family is proud”. These lines alongside the powerful instrumentation give the listener a powerful sense of bittersweet melancholy.
The final track on “Live More Forever”, is “Dennis”. The song changes lanes by starting with acoustic guitar and taking its time before the usual excitement begins. Singer Matt Cheverie sings about someone who is sleeping in too often, overthinking and having trust issues, before he is joined by singer Leigh Wills who turns this stripped-back tune into a duet of sorts. All of this culminates in a grand finale where the narrative character decides to stay home and go to bed as the music reaches its climax and the lyrics explain that “if you want to waste your time, you know where to find me, but I’m sorry, cause I’m not home right now.”.
First impressions are important, and Customer Service has made sure that “Live More Forever” showed their musical range, refined abilities and the entire project is overflowing with heart. These four east coast rockers prove that emo music isn’t just for the midwest, but that it is alive and well in Nova Scotia as well.