LAST IN LINE Vocalist: 'The Government Tries To Pit Us Against Each Other'

LAST IN LINE vocalist Andrew Freeman has weighed in on the ongoing gun control debate with the new song "Year Of The Gun". Freeman says the track is neither for nor against gun control, but wishes both sides of the argument would come together to find common ground since he feels "the government tries to pit us against each other."

"Year Of The Gun" appears on LAST IN LINE's new studio album, "II", which is the second release from the band featuring original DIO members Vivian Campbell (guitar) and Vinny Appice (drums). The group is rounded out by former OZZY OSBOURNE bassist Phil Soussan, who stepped in following the passing of Jimmy Bain.

In a recent interview with Lisa from the "Soundchecked" podcast, Freeman was asked about the album's first single, "Landslide", which represents a lyrical shift from the oftentimes fantasy-based lyrics the original DIO band focused on for the "Holy Diver" and "Last In Line" albums.

"A lot of it is kind of abstract," he said (hear audio below). "I guess it has a little bit of an undercurrent of what's going on today.

"The 'Landslide' video is just about government manipulation and just about different trials of life and getting through your day when you have all these things in the media bombarding you with all the terrible things that are going on in the world, which comes across a lot of times these days in the media is manipulation and trying to sway your opinion one way or the other and you're just trying to make a living and trying to raise your kids and trying to pay your mortgage when you're being bombarded with all this stuff, and trying to make ends meet," he said. "And we are actually the decision makers, and [we] get bombarded with all these different messages. It's just kind of a way of dealing with that — reporting on how you deal with that; how the normal person deals with that."

According to Freeman, the lyrics for "Year Of The Gun" were written about the fact that America is a big outlier among developed countries when it comes to gun deaths, apparently in large part because it has so many guns, making it easy to carry out an act of violence. "It's about the gun problem in the U.S., but it's not for or against," he said. "It's just basically saying that there's a problem and we need to address it. There's no major solution that a songwriter standing on a stage shaking his ass and dancing around is gonna bring. It's just saying, 'Hey, again, it's self-empowerment. We have a problem.' Basically, the government tries to pit us against each other, and the only way it's gonna get solved is if everybody works together instead of being divided,' which is what it seems what the government and the powers that be seem to want. They want everybody divided because it's easier to rule when you are dividing and conquering."

"II" was released on February 22 via Frontiers Music Srl.

LAST IN LINE was formed in 2012, when Appice, Bain and Campbell — Ronnie James Dio's co-conspirators and co-writers on the "Holy Diver", "Last In Line" and "Sacred Heart" albums — teamed up with Freeman. The debut album "Heavy Crown" was released in February 2016, landing at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. The release had been preceded by tragedy when Bain unexpectedly passed away at the age of 68 on January 23, 2016. LAST IN LINE, honoring what they knew would be Bain's wish to keep the band moving, brought in Soussan and committed to sustained touring in support of the album, hitting festivals, headlining clubs, and sharing the stage with metal luminaries such as SAXON and MEGADETH.