Jesse Malin’s new song is ‘Strangers & Thieves‘ and it’s a case of “hmm….this song’s a bit too good“. What do we mean by that? Well the song is from Malin’s new album ‘Sunset Kids‘ and features Billie Joe Armstrong who co-wrote it. But it was originally destined for Malin and Armstrong’s low key side-project Rodeo Queens. That was until Lucinda Williams intervened.
Lucinda Williams heard the song because she was producing ‘Sunset Kids‘ and having heard the song she suggested that it really ought to be on this new album that she was producing. And when Lucinda Williams tells you a song is going on the album then that song is going on the album. Tough but fair.
‘Strangers & Thieves‘ has both songwriters reflecting on their musical youths, as Jesse Malin explained “I had the music and lines for a chorus. One day, Billie Joe Armstrong was in town, and it was one of those nostalgic Sundays, where we walked around looking at all the old sites, like the A7club which is now Niagara, and CBGB’s, now the Varvatos store, and the old Rat Cage Records spot. A couple days later, Billie Joe sent me a text with the finished song. He kept a couple of the lines I had for the choruses and wrote lyrics about the Bay Area scene through his eyes, a scene that was very parallel to my experiences in New York. Somehow, we all found each other, just being outcasts looking for real music and likeminded trouble.”
