The song was written and recorded as a message to Eric’s high school self, but as he reflects on it now it’s taken on new weight.
"I wrote and recorded ‘Good Things Come’ long before I had any idea what Covid-19 was, but the lyrics have a whole new meaning to me now, as I quarantine, self-isolate, and social distance," he says.
"In many ways, an uncertain future is nothing new and looking ahead can always be scary. These days, I’m just trying to ‘be here now’, as they say. I know that the simple pleasures of hugging a friend, dining in a restaurant, or buzzing in a crowded theater, are waiting for us all on the other side. I’ve had my dark days like everyone else during this weird and scary time. It can feel like we’re all stuck on the biggest airplane ever, circling the runway endlessly, waiting to land. However, I also find there are silver linings everywhere I look, if I feel like looking for them. Today, I choose to believe that good things come to those who wait."
Sometime last year, Eric Hutchinson came to a strange realization: he kept daydreaming about high-school. The adolescent dreams, hopes, fears, anxieties and emotions the singer faced as a kid began flooding back; suddenly, he felt transported back into his teenage self.
Growing up in suburban Maryland, Hutchinson’s teenage years were filled with the type of alienation and private angst recognizable to most anyone who’s ever been 17. Now in 2020, the singer was finally ready to write about it. The result: Class of ‘98, a 90’s alt-rock-inspired autobiographical record that chronicles the singer-songwriter’s adolescence.
“It took me a long time to understand myself,” Hutchinson says. “Writing this record allowed me to get into the time machine and go back and look around my old life and report from my current point of view. That was fun.”
After experimenting with a series of genres like Americana/soul and jazz on his last few albums, Modern Happiness and Before and After Life, the singer-songwriter turned to the pop-punk alt-rock of his youth for the riff-heavy Class of 98, taking inspiration from bands like Green Day, Oasis, and Weezer.
“That music is in my guitar DNA,” says Hutchinson. “I love 90’s music, and this type of sound was so formative for me.” To help round out the record, Hutchinson recruited Justin Sharbono (formerly of Soul Asylum) to offer his distinctive guitar playing and enlisted the sonic guidance and mixing talents of Paul Kolderie, who’d made great 90’s records with bands like Radiohead, Hole, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom and The Pixies.
Taken as a whole, Class of 98 arrives as Hutchinson’s most playful yet distinctive work. For Hutchinson, the experience of delving back into his high-school youth helped him learn a lot: about his upbringing, about parenthood, and about himself. “I like the 90’s way better,” he says, “when I’m not living in them.”
Track listing:
Rock Out Tonight
"In many ways, an uncertain future is nothing new and looking ahead can always be scary. These days, I’m just trying to ‘be here now’, as they say. I know that the simple pleasures of hugging a friend, dining in a restaurant, or buzzing in a crowded theater, are waiting for us all on the other side. I’ve had my dark days like everyone else during this weird and scary time. It can feel like we’re all stuck on the biggest airplane ever, circling the runway endlessly, waiting to land. However, I also find there are silver linings everywhere I look, if I feel like looking for them. Today, I choose to believe that good things come to those who wait."
Sometime last year, Eric Hutchinson came to a strange realization: he kept daydreaming about high-school. The adolescent dreams, hopes, fears, anxieties and emotions the singer faced as a kid began flooding back; suddenly, he felt transported back into his teenage self.
Growing up in suburban Maryland, Hutchinson’s teenage years were filled with the type of alienation and private angst recognizable to most anyone who’s ever been 17. Now in 2020, the singer was finally ready to write about it. The result: Class of ‘98, a 90’s alt-rock-inspired autobiographical record that chronicles the singer-songwriter’s adolescence.
“It took me a long time to understand myself,” Hutchinson says. “Writing this record allowed me to get into the time machine and go back and look around my old life and report from my current point of view. That was fun.”
After experimenting with a series of genres like Americana/soul and jazz on his last few albums, Modern Happiness and Before and After Life, the singer-songwriter turned to the pop-punk alt-rock of his youth for the riff-heavy Class of 98, taking inspiration from bands like Green Day, Oasis, and Weezer.
“That music is in my guitar DNA,” says Hutchinson. “I love 90’s music, and this type of sound was so formative for me.” To help round out the record, Hutchinson recruited Justin Sharbono (formerly of Soul Asylum) to offer his distinctive guitar playing and enlisted the sonic guidance and mixing talents of Paul Kolderie, who’d made great 90’s records with bands like Radiohead, Hole, The Lemonheads, Buffalo Tom and The Pixies.
Taken as a whole, Class of 98 arrives as Hutchinson’s most playful yet distinctive work. For Hutchinson, the experience of delving back into his high-school youth helped him learn a lot: about his upbringing, about parenthood, and about himself. “I like the 90’s way better,” he says, “when I’m not living in them.”
Track listing:
Rock Out Tonight
Cooler Than You
My Old Man
Ann Marie
Good Things Come
Sweet Little Baby
If They Don't Care
Drunk at Lunch
Lovely Lori
Whether I Like it or Not
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