Be Well, comprised of prolific record producer and ex-founder of Battery, Brian McTernan (Turnstile, Thrice, Hot Water Music), guitarists Mike Schleibaum (Darkest Hour) and Peter Tsouras (Fairweather), bassisf Aaron Dalbec (Bone), and drummer Shane Johnson (Fairweather) join forces on debut record The Weight and the Cost.

In a temporarily reunited Battery one-off single, McTernan outlined and shared his past several years of undiagnosed mental health battle, and his fears about it. But despite these fears, this release brought McTerren to see the praise from listeners and knew he had to stay connected to this part of himself.

That Battery single, “My Last Breath” became the mold and model of what would become Be Well – being open and honest. 

With The Weight and the Cost, McTernan says “I’m hoping people listen to this and go, ‘You know what? I need to tell the people around me what’s going on with me.’ And that’s where I think you get to the hopeful thread, because I think that hopefully, I made it clear in the lyrics that there is nothing good about this feeling and I don’t want to carry this around anymore.”

While McTernan presents an honest, open, and hopeful thread through this record, there also is a present sense of urgency, energy, and vulnerability. 

Be Well and their debut The Weight and the Cost, is something totally new from anything you heard from these members’ previous bands before and will make you rethink what you thought you knew of these members. 

Stand out tracks, in my opinion, are “Frozen”, “Strength for Breath”, and “Confessionals”. 

Check it out now on Spotify below: