Inspiration for The Wilderness’ newest single, “Dancing in the Dive Bars,” struck when they needed it most. 

Fresh off their U.S. tour, broke and exhausted, the band turned their sorry situation into music. 

Like their post-tour life, the new single is about dancing despite unaffordable bills and long lists of expenses. 

“It’s kind of a rip-off of ‘Dancing in the Dark’ by Bruce Springsteen,” vocalist Jonas Lewis-Anthony told The Journal in an interview.

Though the title is a tribute to Springsteen, their song is an original. In its first few bars, Lewis-Anthony croons, “I’m the King of the deadbeats / you’re the Queen of the cheap seats.” 

It’s a departure. In the past, The Wilderness released straightforward rock with little in the way of musical space or breathing room. Keyboardist and drummer, Liam Neale, called the new direction more ambient than their normal flair.  

“Like an 80s Synth Pop song that’s played by a Rock and Roll band,” Neale told The Journal. “We built this song a little differently, also.”

Normally, Lewis-Anthony writes the lyrics on an acoustic guitar, then brings the idea to the group to workshop it. This time, he found inspiration outside of the band. 

“I wrote the song with my friend, Kody,” Lewis-Anthony said, “He told me to take all the money I’ve got left and instead of paying my rent, just go dancing in the dive bars, so we wrote the song around that line.”

The band wants this to be a step forward. In 2017, they released an album but were disappointed with the results. With the single in tow, they have far higher expectations for their new album.

“We have one album out that we’re not very proud of. It was a really long process and I think we can all agree that we love the songs on the album [but] we just don’t love how it all turned out,” Lewis-Anthony said.  

“Our focus now has been to bring out newer music that we’ve spent a lot more time recording really well.”

The band’s determination to release newer, better-recorded music has been proven successful so far with their March single, “Hurry Up and Wait.” 

They’re hoping “Dancing in the Dive Bars” will see similar progess after they perform it live for the first time Friday, Sept. 7 at The Brooklyn. It will be the first of the band’s 

Fall Residency at the local bar. The end date will likely be in November, but it’s still undecided. 

It will all depend on the audience’s reception of their performances as a resident artist. To keep things interesting, the band promised they would never play the same set list twice. 

“That’s our goal. Every week there will be something new,” Lewis-Anthony said.