Eric Church’s ‘Monsters’ Was Written After Vegas Shooting

Eric Church has released his new song, “Monsters,” which he co-wrote with frequent collaborator Jeff Hyde. The song was a reaction to the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas in 2017.  He says his son Boone influenced the song as well: he asked his dad to make it a little “brighter.”

Eric recalls, “That stuck with me: that’s kind of all he needed was a little more light. And I think that when I wrote that song, there was that subconscious thing that was there the entire time, and then Vegas happened and right after Vegas, we got together with Jeff and we started talking about all this stuff and the song, it happened so fast; the way songs are supposed to happen when they’re that kind of song."

He continued, "It just happened. And it will always be a song that I think about where I was at that time in my life, where my kids were, and how just that little bit of light, is what made the difference. That’s the key, that’s where the second verse goes to and the overall theme of monsters is it’s just that much, you know? It’s not ‘this much.’ It’s not a big blinding light. It’s this much light that made the difference and that little nugget is what I carry with me on that.”