Music elicits physical and psychological reactions. Your body moves, and yo… Read Full Bio ↴Music elicits physical and psychological reactions. Your body moves, and your mood changes in response to the ebb and flow of a song. It’s one of the few singular forces that can seamlessly speak to both our tangible and intangible nature.

Canterbury, UK band Broken Hands stimulate both halves with a two-prong style fueled by half-time gutter groove rock ‘n’ roll and ethereal flights of cerebral sonic exploration. This duality initially powered the group’s 2015 full-length debut, Turbulence. Produced by Tom Dalgety [Royal Blood, Pixies, Ghost], it walked a fine line between arena ambition and alternative adventurousness. Moreover, the record announced the boys - brothers Dale [lead vocals] and Callum Norton [drums, backing vocals], Jamie Darby [lead guitar], Thomas Ford [bass], and David Hardstone [rhythm guitar, keys] - as a critical favourite with acclaim from NME, The Independent, BBC Music Introducing, and more. Simultaneously, they developed a reputation for raucous live shows, performing alongside the likes of The Kills, Catfish and the Bottlemen, The Cult and Deaf Havana in addition to gracing the stage of the world-famous Reading & Leeds festivals.

Along the way, they landed a deal with Atlantic Records stateside and plotted their sophomore effort. Just prior to entering the studio, the pace slowed when Dale endured the sort of nightmare most musicians don’t dare dream about: intensive ear surgery that left him unable to sing or play music for nearly two months.

“I had to have this dissection to basically open up the pathways,” he explains. “I couldn’t do anything after for what felt like forever. I’m probably hearing music completely different from how I did. The upside was I came into this record with a fresh palette.”

Embracing this fresh palette, the band opted to work with producer Julian Emery [Nothing But Thieves, Lower Than Atlantic] on new music with long-term collaborator Dalgety moving to the mixer’s chair. Nodding to American influences as diverse as Nine Inch Nails, Big Brother and The Holding Company, and My Morning Jacket, Broken Hands adopted a “half-time” rhythm. As a result, the guitars, drums, bass, and vocals hit harder as they seesaw back and forth.

“For a British rock guitar band, it’s all about fast, four-to-the-floor singles,” says Dale. “We went slower and heavier. We loved doing the slow vibe. It was a big lightbulb moment.”

Case in point, hulking distortion and sinewy riffing propel the 2018 single “Split In Two” forward at a confident strut before giving way to Dale’s hypnotic hook.

“We literally felt split in two,” says the frontman. “Touring as much as we have, you’re divided from the ones you love and spend the rest of your life. In a psychological sense, you can also feel divided between two things. You’re stuck in a corridor. The idea extends to the sonics. One minute, I want to write a screaming heavy record. In the next, I want to write something tranquil. It’s a push-and-pull.”

Another standout “Friends House” tempers moments of introspection with a bombastic sense of dread siphoned through sparse percussion and a paranoid wail. It draws on a moment when Dale found himself threatened at gunpoint in the midst of the band’s first U.S. tour.

“It’s quite a dark song,” he admits. “You think you’re happy and you think you’re safe, but actually you couldn’t be any further from safety. When you get very intoxicated, you’re happy and comfortable, but it’s actually the most dangerous position to be in. When we first went to the States, I got held up at a bar at 4AM. I was drunk, British, and not familiar with this sort of situation. That could happen anywhere. It’s the illusion of safety.”

In the end, Broken Hands translate duality into definitive anthems. “It’s okay to be divided,” Dale leaves off. “You don’t have to feel like you’ve got to be one thing all of the time physically, psychologically, or musically. Too often in life, people try to tell you to be one thing. We reached a new level by clinging to both sides.”

Meteor
Broken Hands Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I offered you some and you said no
Cause I was hanging off a meteor
I offered you some and you said no
Cause I was hanging off a meteor
I was coming on
coming on
comin on
comin on

I offered you some you said lets go
Cause I was hanging off a meteor
I offered you some you said lets go
Cause I was hanging off a meteor
Over and over and over and over again
I said i'd cut it out this time

I sweared i'd cut it out cause I'm

Over and over and over and over again
I said I'd cut it out this time
I sweared I'd cut it out cause I'm
Coming on
Coming on
Coming on
I was only coming on
(solo)
I offered you some and you said no
cause i was hanging off a meteor
I offered you some and you said no
cause i was hanging off a meteor
I offered you some and you said no
I offered you some and you said no
i offered you some and you said no

but i was hangin hangin hangin hangin
ouuuuuuuuuttttt

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Broken Hands' "Meteor" convey a sense of recklessness and desperation. The repetition of the phrase "I offered you some and you said no" emphasizes the singer's inability to connect with someone he desires. He feels like he is "hanging off a meteor," which could be interpreted as a metaphor for living life on the edge, constantly in danger of falling, or as a reference to feeling alien or disconnected. The repeated lines "Over and over and over and over again / I said I'd cut it out this time / I sweared I'd cut it out cause I'm / Coming on" suggest a cycle of self-destructive behavior that the singer can't seem to break, even though he knows he needs to. The solo towards the end of the song could symbolize a moment of release, a chance to let go of the past, or a final burst of desperation.

One interesting fact about this song is that it was produced by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds collaborator, John Congleton. Another is that the music video for the song features vocalist Dale Norton wandering through a post-apocalyptic landscape. The song was also featured in the TV series "Lucifer" in 2019. The band has described their sound as "heavy pop noir," blending elements of alternative rock and post-punk. Their debut album, "Turbulence," was released in 2015. Dale Norton's voice has been compared to that of Eddie Vedder and Matt Bellamy. The band hails from Canterbury, Kent, in the UK.

The chords for "Meteor" are as follows:

Verse: Em, Am7, G, D/F#
Chorus: Em, Bm, Am7, G, D/F#

[solo]

Verse: Em, Am7, G, D/F#
Chorus: Em, Bm, Am7, G, D/F#

Outro: Em, Am7, G, D/F# (repeat until end)

Line by Line Meaning

I offered you some and you said no
I tried to make a connection with you, but you rejected me

Cause I was hanging off a meteor
Because I was caught up in my own personal issues and problems

I was coming on coming on comin on comin on
I was trying too hard to impress you or make you like me

I offered you some you said lets go
You finally showed some interest in me

Over and over and over and over again I said i'd cut it out this time
I kept making the same mistakes and promising to change

I sweared i'd cut it out cause I'm
I truly believed that I could change and be better

I was only coming on (solo)
I was too focused on myself and my own desires, and not paying attention to your needs or feelings

but i was hangin hangin hangin hangin ouuuuuuuuuttttt
I felt like I was hanging on by a thread, barely holding on to my own sanity

Writer(s): Dale Norton, Jamie Darby, Thomas Ford, David Hardstone, Callum Norton

Contributed by Harper N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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