Reno Divorce Frontman Brent Loveday Takes on U.K. Punk

Reno Divorce frontman Brent Loveday was on tour in England around Christmas of 2018 and playing a show in Nottingham when in walked a guy who looked like a male model — six feet, five inches tall, high cheekbones — wearing a newsboy cap and a leather jacket.

His height made for an imposing presence, but what drew Loveday’s attention was the Reno Divorce T-shirt made visible when he took off his jacket. It was A.J. Superstar, guitarist and lead vocalist of New Generation Superstars, a long-running English punk band.

“We’re not so huge — this guy would have stood out if I’d sold him a shirt,” Loveday says. “He introduces himself. We were just fast friends.”

The two stayed in touch, and Loveday later learned about Superstar’s band; he hadn't mentioned it at their first meeting.

“They're a legit, genuine band,” Loveday says. “They’ve been touring twenty years over in Europe, and it’s the kind of band I should have heard fifteen years ago. For whatever reason, we got to each other’s party late.”

New Generation Superstars is assembling a compilation CD — and eventually a vinyl release — of other bands playing its songs, and Loveday jumped at the opportunity when Superstar asked Reno Divorce to contribute a song. Loveday, who released a live record with Reno Divorce earlier this year, says he picked the song “King of the World,” because he connected with it immediately, particularly the chorus.

“The chorus is the bomb,” he says. “It was just an earworm for me immediately. I liked the way he sang it. I was at a point in my life where I was so sick of everyone’s bullshit. … It just resonated with me.”

The original version of the song sounds vaguely like Rancid with a British flair. The Reno Divorce version veers into cowpunk territory with fuzzed-out guitars, as if Social Distortion jacked Mudhoney for all its gear and went to town. Loveday says that because the original song is by a U.K. band, he wanted to imbue it with a touch of the Clash, or northern Irish punk rockers Stiff Little Fingers.

“I think we accomplished that until we get to the chorus,” he says. “This is grunge. This is Nirvana, the way it flows off the guitar. I think we played into that. We definitely doubled some guitars to give it that sound.”

Loveday says he misinterpreted the lyrics of the song as referring to a guy trying to live his life who has a shit friend with no values or morals who's always keeping both of them down.

“I really internalized the song,” he says. “It’s just the way I applied it to my life. I thought, 'This is my ego — this is the bad side of me who is always trying to get high.' … The guy [in the song] is telling his ego, 'Don’t fucking lie to me.’”

Superstar provided a different interpretation, telling Loveday it was about being discouraged by people around him, particularly when it came to his music goals and keeping a band going for twenty years.

“It’s basically him telling those people to fuck off because one of his good friends, a positive friend, a neutral friend, said, ‘Fuck those people. If it makes you happy and you're not hurting anyone, then do it,'” Loveday says.

Interpret it as you see fit.

"King of the World" will be released on Friday, December 31. Reno Divorce plays the Elks Lodge, 123 South Main Street in Gunnison, on Friday, December 31, and the Marquis Theater, 2009 Larimer Street, on Saturday, January 15. For more information, visit renodivorcemusic.com.