Nat Wolff is a huge fan of John Green’s “The Fault In Our Stars.” Not only does he co-star in the cinematic adaptation — and deserve some of the credit for making the movie manifest after sharing the book with director Josh Boone — he also wrote a song inspired by the YA classic.
Nat & Alex Wolff — previously The Naked Brothers Band — are out with that jam, “Last Station,” today, along with another single that they’ve exclusively shared with MTV News titled “Rules.”
So how did a tear-jearker of epic proportions make its way to the band’s guitar strings? Well, after finishing Green’s book — about a pair of teens who meet in a cancer support group — Nat was inspired, to say the least.
“I had the idea of coming to the end of something early,” he told MTV News. “You know, coming to the end of life but living, even if it makes it sadder to know that it’s over so early. I can’t pinpoint what exactly what it was about it, what gets me inspired by the book, but something about it inspired me.”
The result was “Last Station,” a clear-as-a-bell lost love song that Nat says is about “a combination of girls I went to high school with and grew up with.” With a mournful, singalong of a chorus — “Follow your train to its last station/ follow, follow, follow” — and a collection of verses like faded photos, this soft, folky song easily fits into the “Fault” universe.
Alex’s single “Ride” — the guys trade off on songwriting duties — is a bit less mournful than Nat’s, but no less heart-bursting. A similarly acoustic jam — replete with echoing whistles — “Rules” is pretty much a snapshot of how Alex falls in love. The song was conceptualized, in part, after he got into a tussle with teachers during a fire drill — he’s still in high school, by the way. Nat is recently sprung.
“I remember I was trying to be cool in front of this girl that I liked and remember getting screamed at by like every person in the school,” Alex said, recalling how he was talking and joking and just generally not practicing proper fire safety.
“I just got demolished by all these teachers being pissed off at me… When I meet a girl, I end up doing crazy things that I would normally not do, if it wasn’t for this girl,” he said. Hence the song’s chorus: “I’ve been breaking all the rules/ Been breaking all the rules/ Been breaking them for you.”
“It has such a rebellious chorus,” Alex said of the song. “Usually breaking all the rules makes you angry and rebellious, but here it’s in a sweet context.”
The boys previously released singles “Cities” and “It’s Just Love,” but none of these jams — as of yet — will appear on an album.
“Everyone is asking us to come out with more music so we just said ‘screw it’ and we just have been doing it with the record label Saddle Up and producing them ourselves,” Nat said. “We have complete creative control.” Although the guys have yet to announce a followup to 2011′s Black Sheep, they’re proud of the new music they’re making.
“I just think with that record we were influenced by different music,” Nat said. “And we have gotten older since then, Alex’s voice has changed … and our songwriting has gotten better. Alex has a beard which changes our sound, I don’t know why.”
Brenna Ehrlich
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