by Andy Lyons, Editor-in-Chief
Kansas City rockers Champagne Campaign have had a busy year. Since 2017, the group has opened for national touring acts such as P.O.D., Avatar, and Jonathan Davis. They’ve also been busy behind the scenes in the studio, working on a new LP due out early next year.
The group worked with producer Robert Rebeck and recorded their first LP at Chapman Recording Studio in Lenexa, Kan., before it closed in November. CC’s first single, “Fantasy,” drops on Friday across digital outlets. The album, which frontman Ryan Lynch said is named but didn’t want to share yet, is due out in the spring.
“Fantasy” has been a part of the band’s live setlist for nearly two years. Lynch explained the group has been stockpiling material since they formed in 2016 and taken a meticulous approach to putting the album together. However, “Fantasy” sets the tone to what is sure to be an in-your-face rock n’ roll album.
The track opens with some feedback before drummer Taylor Mead picks up the pace, followed with some catchy guitar work reminiscent of Ram Jam’s “Black Betty.” Lynch offered some insight into how the song came together.
“Our guitar player Justin (McClintic) actually ended up composing the entire instrumental before bringing it to us as a group,” Lynch said via email. “At that point Justin and I collaborated on the lyrics. We got to the point in the writing process where we needed a chorus and we decided that we would each write one and decide which we liked better and that would be the chorus.
“My idea started as ‘pour another round of champagne, Mary Jane…’ and Justin’s started with ‘I’ve been livin’ in a dream about us and I don’t want to wake up.’ We liked both ideas so much that we ended up using both of them as sort of a pre-chorus to chorus sort of deal.”
The track sounds like some of the party rock that was popular in the early 2000s. The group counts Guns N Roses, Alice Cooper, The Beatles, Led Zepplin, and Motley Crue as some of their biggest influences. Lyrically, the song comes off as a party-love song – a clear nod to ‘80s legends GNR and Motley Crue.
“It’s essentially about feeling attracted to someone so much so that you start to fantasize this great experience with them,” Lynch said. “Imagine like a Great Gatsby party.”
The song’s hook, “pour another round of champagne, Mary Jane” comes across with a bit of ambiguity bands such as Deftones have mastered. While the line can come across as a reference to marijuana, Lynch clarified it’s deeper than that.
“I don’t necessarily personally know a girl named Mary Jane nor will I deny that the lyric may be about smoking weed,” he said. “But I think in a way it could also refer to who this song is about. This is something that I probably have a different answer for daily. So I’ll leave the answer to the listener on that one. Let it be whatever moves you!”
Aside from the ambiguity, Lynch said some of his favorite parts were his descriptions in the lyrics.
“I’d probably have to say (my favorite line is) ‘It’s the way you walk, ya see. Your body talks to me,’” he said. “Reason being it just seems very descriptive. I feel like people will know exactly what I was trying to say there.”
“Fantasy” will be released Friday, Sept. 7. It will be available on Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play, and more. A music video for the track will land on YouTube Sept. 14.
Champagne Campaign’s next show is in the next2rock local final in Kansas City at The Ten Spot Friday night. Follow on Champagne Campaign on Facebook here.