PENCHANT FOR COMPETITION AND HOT PEPPERS
Fresh off a lively string of shows at SXSW, Staying For The Weekend are looking to share their signature energy through a new video. The Nashville quintet showcases their penchant for competition and hot peppers through “Hell No,” which we’re excited to premiere today on Highlark.
The band worked with director Erik Maynard to pair a song about the struggle of forming genuine personal connections with the need to conquer the almighty Carolina Reaper. “We try not to take ourselves to seriously, so we created a video that had the potential to be funny and light-hearted,” shares the band. “We wanted to do something fun and to actually enjoy the process of making a music video.
I think that since recording the EP, which has some darker lyricism and subject matter, we wanted to contrast that negativity with something a bit more positive.”
The song comes from the band’s latest EP, titled Growing Pains, which was released just last month. “The EP is about moving past and accepting certain aspects of getting older. It embraces the unpleasant characteristics of growing, hence the title ‘Growing Pains,’” they share.
“‘Hell No’ details the amusing but often confusing parts of trying to start a relationship. It fits the EP through describing another way in which growing can be a painful process.”
See how the band put it together below.
STAYING FOR THE WEEKEND INTERVIEW
KATE (HIGHLARK): How did the idea for the video come about?
STAYING FOR THE WEEKEND: Honestly, we wanted to eat the world’s hottest pepper. We wanted to find something that would be entertaining, but soon found that eating a Carolina Reaper was not enough to cover a 4-minute time frame.
We then started talking to our friend and the video’s director, Erik Maynard, who helped us to develop the idea of a competition in which the losers had to eat the pepper. Being the highly competitive people that we are (our home is filled with competitive games, i.e. bumper pool, darts, ping pong, etc) we agreed to work with that idea.
KATE: What’s next for the band?
STAYING FOR THE WEEKEND: We’re planning on spending more time on the road this summer, before we begin working on our first full length this fall. We just played SXSW and had a fantastic time so we’re planning to play more shows in Nashville, New York, Alabama, and any place that will have us play.
We recently purchased a van for this purpose and plan on putting it to good use. We’re looking forward to more shows, new audiences, and creating a newer, more polished sound that highlights and blends technical musicality with pop sensible songwriting and lyricism.
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