On Jan. 3, 2025, Greenville singer-songwriter and musician Gavin Glover had an 11-minute grand mal seizure. Most people do not live through an 11-minute grand mal seizure.
The good news is that Glover did survive. The considerably worse news was what caused the seizure. After a trip to the hospital, Glover discovered he had a brain tumor.
“Apparently, I had the tumor for 15-plus years,” Glover told me. “Maybe it was from an injury that I had as a kid, and scar tissue just slowly over time developed into a tumor.”
One year, one horrific seizure and two brain surgeries later, Glover pronounces himself 60% to 70% “recovered.” One can only imagine what the man has been through over the past year, but his just-released new single, “The Guest,” provides some clues.
In fact, the song feels like Glover must have felt. The melody is gorgeous, and it’s also surrounded by dissonance, distortion and fuzz. Sonically, it’s a pop song that’s been put through an art-rock blender, and now it has all sorts of jagged edges.
Glover said that stylistic push and pull on “The Guest” represents his post-tumor mindset.
“What this tumor has done is put me in a constant state of seeing things in a duality,” he said. “It feels like there are two equal sides to everything, which has made it kind of difficult to be able to know what’s even real at times.”
The lyrics to “The Guest” are more impressionistic than literal. “I don’t know what’s right. Am I better than before? Am I even real now?” Glover sings.
“The first verse is about my experience before knowing about the tumor,” he said. “The second verse is while I was actively going through treatment and everything was up in the air. And then the third verse is just kind of like what I’m left with and like the recovery process.”
It’s harrowing subject matter to be sure, and thankfully, Glover had an all-star team of local friends to back him up. Matt Fassas and Chris Carroll provided the dueling guitars, and engineer Brandon Allshouse’s mix is crisp and bright.
“They’re masters of their craft,” Glover said. “I’ve known Matt and Chris for the better part of 10 years, and I chose them very intentionally because they have quite the contrast between their sounds.”
As he continues his recovery, Glover said he feels incredibly fortunate that despite a grand mal seizure and two brain surgeries, his songwriting abilities seem not just unaffected, but perhaps improved.
“This song felt like the most clear, concise thing I’ve ever written,” he said.
