On March 14th, Charleston’s Mantra released their newest single “Miss U” on all platforms. This was their first single since the drop of their debut album Quarterlife last September. The song, written by lead singer and guitarist Ben Patrick, follows the passage of time during a long distance relationship and dealing with hardships surrounding it.
Stream “Miss U” below, and read on to learn more about the song and Mantra’ recent tour.
“The order of which the song was written was very much a reflection of my [Patrick] own thoughts throughout the relationship,” he explains. “First came the verses, I wrote them towards the beginning of the relationship. Next was the chorus. I wrote that several months later when the love was still there but things got harder. Last was the bridge, I wrote it several months before we broke up. To me it’s a perfect reflection of the life and death of a long distance relationship.”
The single release was accompanied by a show in Washington, DC at the Songbyrd, the sixth stop during Mantras most recent 13-day spring tour. The band played a variety of familiar cities and new, revisiting places like Richmond, VA and Athens, GA—mixed with memorable shows in New York City and Greer, SC, which were both firsts together as a band.
“The tour was a lot of fun. Playing the Melon Barn in Greer, SC was probably my favorite spot, it was started by this guy Chandler who plays in the band Curly Blue. We got to play with Curly Blue there, who was the first band to ever do anything at Melon Barn,” he recalls. “It was really nice to share the stage with them in a tight knit community… An honorable mention is NYC. It was really sweet to reunite with some of our friends who’ve moved up there in recent years. Also it was my [Patrick] first time ever getting to go. We only got to spend about 8 hours there because we had to play in Virginia the next day, but I really enjoyed the time we got to spend there.”
The second to last show on the tour was here in Charleston at the Royal American, which sold out. “Royal was also one of my favorite shows by far. It was a very fun two weeks, but it was also a very long two weeks, so getting love from our hometown homies was and is always very much appreciated.”