Aaron Lee Tasjan

Tasjan took pains to make sure that each song on Get Over It, Underdog was as concise and potent as it could be. Often, he’d run them by Snider for critiques, who shared stories of how the American songwriting treasure John Prine did likewise for him early in his career. The goal in writing was always to find the “emotional rock to stand on” of each song. Once Tasjan had that, he learned from Snider, he had something personal. “Songs are like mantras — you’ve got to say them every night,” Tasjan recalls Snider challenging him. “So, what's in there that you're repeating every night?” Tasjan found one such mantra in the “The Real,” a song that sums up Get Over It, Underdog. An empowering singalong with a gang vocal refrain and a snaking guitar line, it takes a hard look at all that is authentic in today’s culture, both the good and the bad. “Tell of our true history/violence that we must see,” Tasjan sings. “It's up to us to heal it/ Sing this, if you feel it!” It’s as much a song for the artist as it is the listener. “That’s the point where I start talking to myself in the song and reconnecting with my mission,” Tasjan says. “I want to make songs that help people. I want to be an artist in the service to the community of music fans, but also to anybody that needs to hear these messages. On Get Over It, Underdog, I’m rediscovering something I thought I had lost.” Tasjan needn’t worry. His mantras are coming through loud and clear.