"18 & Out" initially started as a B side. We knew 12 songs were going to make the record, and had 12 done, but thought it would be great to write a few more. Funny how when you don't put expectations to a song, then it becomes the first song you want to represent the record to the world!

Now every song Fall From Grace writes is written differently, and "18 & Out" was no exception. We wrote and recorded the initial chord structure, pre chorus, and chorus music first (one of the beauties of spending over a year in the recording studio: we wrote and recorded the entire record in there). We then listen to the music and try to come up with a premise behind the emotion that the song is trying to convey. I kept thinking in my head, "…this makes me think of a John Hughes movie" (The Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, etc.). With that in mind, we wrote the words about coming of age.

Metaphor is our biggest achievement in "18 & Out", I believe. Lines like "burn it to the ground" and "one round is cocked and loaded" are not to be taken literally, but as a metaphor for letting go of the past and feeling like a loaded gun when you're young. The line "I'm so sick of all those games" is actually about how I used to go hang out at the football games on Vashon Island (where I grew up) and drink and party with all my under age friends. I got sick of all those football games because all my friends were just doing the same old thing, and I left Vashon with the goal to make something of myself.

"18 & Out" would not have been made possible if I hadn't been able to reach out through my blogs to kids in 2009. I made it my goal for 6 months to coach kids through sexual abuse, sexuality conflict, and substance abuse on my personal blogs. That's what inspired the entire feeling behind "The Romance Years" (available January 24th, 2012), and what continues to drive Fall From Grace. Our message is hope in time of despair, friendship and family. "Through Thick & Thin, We Rise Again!"