The Juliana Theory‘s reimagined version of their “Emotion Is Dead” track “We’re At The Top Of The World” has newly premiered on the web. The reworked song initially leans into black metal territory courtesy of The Number Twelve Looks Like You frontman Jesse Korman and Mikhail Marinas, before transitioning to pop. The latter version will appear on The Juliana Theory‘s forthcoming album, “A Dream Away“, out March 26th. That effort will mostly find the band reimagining tracks from their back catalog.
The below music video finds Korman in the starring role—he also directed the clip. A cameo from Suicidal Tendencies/ex-The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman is also featured.
The Juliana Theory guitarist Joshua Fielder commented of this reimagined version of the song:
“‘We’re At The Top Of The World‘, while being some people’s favorite TJT song, was always one of my least favorite songs from the band. However, now that we recorded it for this ‘reimagined’ record, this is THE version for me. When I initially wrote the chords and bassline at home ages ago, I always envisioned this song as an ode to The Beatles. This new rendition is exactly the way I imagined it to be back in 2000. We were just too young then to truly pull it off in this way. If I could have a time machine I would go back to put this version on ‘Emotion Is Dead‘.”
Frontman Brett Detar offered:
“When you’re a songwriter sometimes it can take months or literal years to write a song. On those very rare and magical occasions it feels like the universe steps in to help and a song almost writes itself. When this occurs it’s usually very fast and the song is basically written before you really even know it. In my experience these are the rarest songs but they tend to be the ones that resonate the most with listeners.
‘We’re At The Top Of The World‘ was one of those songs. When Josh came to band practice with the insanely catchy bass-line and guitar part for the verse the rest of the song fell into place in what felt like minutes. I remember grabbing my microphone and as a joke singing the lyrics “Sha la la la. Sha la la la la la la” over the chorus. It was the first thing that came to my head and I wasn’t serious but Josh just looked at me and started laughing with that laugh of ‘oh that’s awesome’ and from then on the chorus just stuck.
We all grew up listening to the radio – pop and pop rock and oldies. Songs on the radio (which tend to be hit songs) were our foundation as music fans and music makers. Although we cut our teeth early on in a scene that sorta rejected anything too poppy, hook based songs were always just in our DNA. I remember getting some flack early on from diehard scenesters for releasing a song that was so unabashedly bubblegum but at the same time our fanbase grew quickly very much in response to this one song.
I guess whatever it was that happened that day in my parent’s unfinished basement worked because the song ended up on tons of TV shows and movies. And I agree with my bandmate Josh that this reimagined version is my favorite recording of this song.”
As for the video itself, Detar added:
“Let’s talk about ‘guilty pleasures.’ We all have them and for a lot of people The Juliana Theory (and the song ‘Top Of The World‘ in particular) is one of them. I can’t tell you how many times some big burly guy who looks like he only listens to Slayer would almost look around to make sure no one was listening before quietly telling me that he secretly loves that song.
I basically did the same thing with certain songs I enjoyed until a few years ago when I decided to banish the concept of a ‘guilty pleasure’ from my own life. Truthfully, I would always blast ‘Party In the USA‘ by Miley Cyrus if it came on the radio while driving the streets of LA but now I don’t care what any ultra hip kid thinks when I roll past them as I am singing along.
The joy of completely losing yourself in a song, dancing like no one is watching, is one of life’s greatest pleasures. The video for ‘Top Of The World‘ tells the ultimate story of this very abandonment. So put your hands up: they’re playing your song and the butterflies fly away.”
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