Vid Pick: His Dream of Lions – Love Me Like I’m Sick

Where pop-rock meets glam rock you’ll find Virginia-based foursome His Dream of Lions.

You’ll also find a lot of people having a great time.

That’s the only way one can possibly react to the band’s latest single, “Love Me Like I’m Sick,” which will have you rocking out with reckless abandon.

Wanting to know more, I caught up with the His Dream of Lions’ frontman Seth Coggeshall (the band also consists of Colby Witko, Nick Jones, and Justin Mason) to find out about the band’s upcoming Pseudo Star EP, what they mean by “Love Me Like I’m Sick,” and what kind of skills they have at some classic arcade games.

Your new EP, Pseudo Star, is set to be released on February 16th. The phrase Pseudo Star could be construed in a number of ways. Tell everyone how you’re looking at the phrase as a positive.

No one wants to be a Pseudo Star, but we all feel like one sometimes. I think that even though there’s a lot of doubt and self-deprecation in these songs, ultimately the record is about victory.

You don’t have to be the Pseudo Star. This record is all about realizing that, and moving beyond it.

I’ve read you’ve also stated the EP is about “effort in the face of uncertainty.” Tell everyone about a time in your life when you experienced uncertainty, but pushed through it.

We do it all the time, every day.

We may not realize it, but there is uncertainty in everything. Whether you’re planning life after college, driving to work in the morning, or trying to make it in a band. I like to think that every day can be some sort of victory when viewed through that lens.

The lead single off of Pseudo Star is “Love Me Like I’m Sick.” What makes this the perfect song to introduce people to the EP, and what exactly do you mean by “Love Me Like I’m Sick?” The only thing that loves me when I’m sick is my local CVS.

“Love Me Like I’m Sick” is an homage to all of the glam rock bands and pop artists from the ‘70s and ‘80s that drove this record to sound the way it does. It’s definitely the poster child of Pseudo Star.

The lyric has a couple layers of complexity to it. I originally came up with it as a joking catch phrase for my girlfriend when she was dealing with a lot of medical issues, but over time it grew to represent how it feels to be devoted to someone in a desperate situation. Love me like I’m sick – love me like this is our last shot, or everything is on the line.

That, and we’re also hoping CVS picks the song up for an advertisement.


The video for “Love Me Like I’m Sick” features a bit of an homage to Queen, and the imagery from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” In what ways has Queen influenced you, either professionally, or personally?

Our love for Queen grew from our fascination with “Welcome To The Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance. That whole record incorporates a lot of that grand epicness into My Chem’s sound really organically.

In listening more to Queen we realized there were a lot of sonic elements that we could use in our own music, and that we had been yearning for – stacked vocals, big guitars, and so on.

Queen also exuded this attitude of not caring about what people thought. Freddie Mercury would just get up there and rock it, even if he was wearing a leotard.

In the background of one of the scenes in the video I notice an assortment of classic games. I gotta know, who’s the Skee-Ball champ in the group, and who’s the Pop-A-Shot champ in the group?

Nick for both of those because he’s the only one with any athletic ability.

Which one of you is most likely to walk into a Chuck E. Cheese’s, kick all the kids’ asses on the games, and take home an impressive prize with the tickets?

Justin Mason for sure. He doesn’t give a shit who goes home crying. He’s in it to win it.

Bringing this interview back to the music, while your new EP will come out in a few weeks, let’s look back on the previous year – what were some of your favorite accomplishments of 2017?

Being able to share the stage with Assuming We Survive and Moonwalker last summer was incredible. Also being on Warped Tour for a couple weeks was a dream come true.

Finally, when was the last time you actually dreamed of lions?

We’ve never dreamed of lions. We actually don’t dream. We’re robots. The matrix has you.

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