Song premiere: Blacklist Royals' 'Die Young With Me'

Rock 'n' roll artists are notorious for their "live fast, die young" mentality, but Blacklist Royals is looking to change the conversation.

In Die Young With Me, premiering at USA TODAY, the twin-brother duo of Nat and Rob Rufus reflect on Rob's battle with cancer and how it affected them both. Diagnosed at 17 with a rare type of Stage 4 cancer, Rob spent the next few years in and out of hospitals, suffering nerve damage and having a lung removed. Now 30 and in remission, this is the first time he has addressed the experience through music.

Playing and touring in different bands throughout their 20s, "we were with people that never knew us during that part of our lives; we never even talked about it to anybody, and we just traveled and did our own thing," Rob says. "It was great, but at the same time, I feel like it was probably not the best for us emotionally and mentally."

Rob was eventually inspired to write Die Young With Me one night, which served as the catalyst for the rest of their forthcoming album of the same name, out June 10. Sparse, stripped down, and influenced by pre-punk/'60s rock 'n' roll, the album was re-recorded by Nat and Rob last year after their other bandmates quit over disagreements about the music's sound and content.

"We've had quite the turbulent band history, especially as far as making this record and having it finally see the light of day," Nat says. "Re-recording the album felt like re-opening the diary. Doing the whole record was a very weird, therapeutic trip back into time."

But it was an important trip to make. "Music was the thing that Nat and I latched on to to help us get through (the cancer battle)," Rob says. "We hope this song can touch somebody somewhere and help them as so many bands did for us."