Luke Spiller has a new solo single out, and it arrived the way only the best songs do: through a moment on screen that stops you cold. “When I Die Will I Miss Living” debuted during a pivotal scene on NBC’s Chicago Med before landing on all streaming platforms, and it’s already making an impression.
The origin story is worth telling. Spiller wrote the song during a winter visit to his parents in Devon, drawing from a short poem he’d drafted after reading Billy Collins’ ‘Whale Day.’ “The way he can take a thought or moment so mundane or trivial and create feelings and images in the mind really moved me,” Spiller says. “He’s poetic but equally conversational, something I’ve always admired, especially when it’s applied to music.”
From poem to performance, the path moved quickly. Spiller began playing the song live on his solo tour, caught the attention of a Chicago Med producer in the audience, and recorded it with collaborators Jon Levine and Nick Perri, both of whom contributed to his forthcoming debut solo album.
That album, ‘Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine,’ is described as an epically cinematic sonic expedition, drawing parallels to a James Bond score and documenting the love, heartbreak, and beauty Spiller encountered after relocating to Los Angeles. It’s a departure, and an intentional one.
“It’s a different direction for me but that’s a great thing,” Spiller says. “I always want to keep moving forward. As Gordon Lightfoot once said, ‘motion is the potion.'”
The track itself is a quiet revelation. Where The Struts operate in glam-rock swagger and arena-sized anthems, “When I Die Will I Miss Living” leans inward, emotionally precise and cinematically spacious. It’s Spiller writing as a poet first and a rock frontman second.
Spiller has spent over a decade building The Struts into one of rock’s most electrifying acts. Since 2015’s ‘Everybody Wants,’ the band has stacked hits like “Could Have Been Me,” “Kiss This,” and “Body Talks,” toured with The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Guns N’ Roses, and Mötley Crüe, and earned one of rock’s most memorable endorsements when Dave Grohl called them “the best opening band we’ve ever had.”
The solo project started from a different creative place entirely. Spiller built these songs starting with only lyrics and a title, writing as poetry before the music arrived. That process shaped everything, and “When I Die Will I Miss Living” is the first real window into what that sounds like.
‘Love Will Probably Kill Me Before Cigarettes and Wine’ is coming. This single makes the wait worthwhile.