The actor, who was recently nominated for an Emmy for his role as the Roy family’s cousin Greg in the hit show, said it gave him the chance to vent some pent-up aggression.
He told Zane Lowe on Apple Music: “It’s born out of, I was in quarantine, I was in Los Angeles, I was staying at a friend’s house.
“They were doing a full lockdown deal and they were like: ‘You should be really careful about going out and talking to people.’
“And I said: ‘I might go on a date,’ and they were like: ‘Don’t do that. Don’t do that. Don’t be near a person.’
“So I was in this two-week quarantine away from even my friends in this house and I think my brain just started turning to: what would make this okay? Or what would allow me to go on a social distance walk with somebody? And maybe it’s the antibodies. And, obviously, just felt like a punk song because it’s the word antibodies… I knew it had to be in the Blink 182, Papa Roach, POD realm.”
He added: “The crazy part of this is that Atlantic (Records) DM’d me when they saw my Instagram video.”
He continued: “I said to him, if we’re going to make the song, it has to actually be a good song. It can’t just be a joke song. It can’t just be super funny or to get people’s attention because it’s about antibodies and everybody’s saying that word right now.
“We have to make it a really good song and listenable and fun and put it on the radio or else we don’t put it out.
“So he hooked me up with a producer who works with Papa Roach, works with a bunch of punk bands, all rock bands. And we just got together on it. I just told him:: ‘I want it to start softly. I want it to be guitar base. And then let’s just make it hit hard because that chorus is aggro.’
“We all have this aggression pent up in us right now, whether we like it or not, that makes us want to yell some shit and also be with a person. Whether this is a romantic thing or not, it’s just we want to be with people so let’s make the chorus big enough so that we can scream it, yell it, and go crazy to it.”
The proceeds of his son will go to Partners in Health, a global organisation helping people in communities that do not have good healthcare and Cope, a charity helping the Navajo nation struggling with Covid-19.
Offering an update on the third series of Succession, he said: “We were supposed to start in April, but we’re waiting. We’re not sure when it’s going to kick up.
“They’ve written me so well. They’ve given me a lot of things to play, a lot of sides to be on, a scheming nature at times, and then a really naive, awkward nature at times. He’s got the best cards to play, but he’s not sure how to play them.
“But I don’t know where he’s going to go. I feel like we have great writers. I don’t try to predict or say where I think things should go. I love the road that they’ve carved up for Greg, but he’s definitely acquiring some skills.”
