Tag: Thee Oh Sees

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past several years, you’ve probably been made familiar with John Dwyer, the co-founder of renowned indie rock label, Castle Face Records and the creative mastermind behind the equally renowned, JOVM mainstay act Thee Oh Sees — and throughout that time, Dwyer has maintained a reputation for being insanely prolific. Last year saw the release of two Thee Oh Sees albums — their contribution to Castle Face’s continuing live series, Live in San Francisco and a studio album, Weird Exit, both of which were supported with an intense and busy touring schedule. Somehow, Dwyer had managed to find time to write and record new material for his synth-based, solo, noise rock project Damaged Bug, a project that Thee Oh Sees frontman has publicly described as a welcome respite from the scuzzy, power chord-based garage rock and psych rock he’s long been known for.

Bunker Funk, Dwyer’s soon-to-be released Damaged Bug album will reportedly continue where the preceding effort Cold Hot Plumbs left off, while expanding upon the project’s sound. Earlier this year, I wrote about “Bog Dash,” a single featuring sputtering and noisy squalls of squiggling synths, propulsive, tribal-lke drumming and explosive blasts of guitar paired with Dwyer’s imitable falsetto singing lyrics about traveling across spacetime paired with a funky bass line. The album’s latest single “Unmanned Scanner” pairs menacingly buzzing synths with a T. Rex-inspired boogie shuffle and Dwyer sing-speaking the song’s lyrics with a somewhat ironic detachment while continuing the project’s reputation of sounding like it came from a  completely different dimension.

 

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal and Darkly Psychedelic Visuals for Thee Oh Sees’ “Gelatinous Cube”

If you’ve been frequenting this site over its nearly 7 year history, you’d likely be familiar with JOVM mainstays Thee Oh Sees. Led by Castle Face Records co-founder, and the band’s founder and creative mastermind, John Dwyer, the Bay Area-based garage rock/psych rock band has a long-held reputation for being incredibly prolific and last year further cemented that, as the band released two more albums — a live album, Live in San Francisco recorded over three nights at The Chapel and the second album, Weird Exit being the first entry of a planned series of albums.

One of the first singles off both Live in San Francisco and Weird Exit was “Gelatinous Cube,” a single that in prototypical Thee Oh Sees fashion managed to be a towering, buzzing barnburner of a song, complete with layers of scorching guitar pyrotechnics, a throbbing and propulsive rhythm section, Dywer’s growling falsetto and a primal, guttural fury — all while possessing an unusual song structure and an almost surf rock-like hook that reminded me a bit of The Blind Shake.

The recently released animated video features some disturbing and wildly psychedelic imagery that for most of the song’s length could very well be a warning n the evil’s of exploitative capitalism until the video’s protagonist becomes one with the song’s gelatinous cube — and by then, the video becomes even more surreal than the first few minutes.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Arguably best known as the guitarist in Mikal Cronin‘s backing band and the bassist in Fuzz, Chad Ubovich is part of the larger Bay Area/Ty Segall/Thee Oh Sees universe and over the past couple of years, Ubovich has received attention for his own band Meatbodies, a band that features Ubovich, Patrick Nolan and Kevin Boog playing incredibly weird, scuzzy lo-fi rock. Now, if you had been frequenting this site last month, you’d recall that the trio’s forthcoming sophomore effort ALICE is reportedly a “heavy pop” concept album primarily focusing on war, sex, politics and religion — and has the band expanding upon their sound; in fact, the album’s first single “Creature Feature” was a shuffling,  Bowie and Bolan-leaning take on psych rock.

However, ALICE’s latest single “Haunted History,” is a furious and buzzing take on psych rock, possessing  an anthemic and mosh pit-friendly hook paired with propulsive and forceful drumming — and in some way the song sounds as though it draws from grunge rock, thanks in part to some guitar pyrotechnics.

 

 

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Over the years that I’ve run this site, you’ve likely have been made familiar with John Dwyer, the cofounder of renowned indie label, Castle Face Records and the creative mastermind behind the equally renowned, JOVM mainstay act Thee Oh Sees — and if there’s one thing Dwyer has a reputation for it’s for this: being incredibly prolific. Last year saw the release of The Oh Sees‘ live album, Live in San Francisco and another full-length effort Weird Exit, both of which were supported with some rather busy touring. And yet somehow, Dwyer found time to write and record material with his synth-based, noise rock-based solo recording project, Damaged Bug, which interestingly enough Dwyer has described as a welcome respite from the power chord-based, scuzzy, garage psych he’s known for.

Bunker Funk, Dwyer’s forthcoming Damaged Bug effort reportedly continues where the preceding effort Cold Hot Plumbs left off while expanding upon its sound; in fact, as you’ll hear on “Bog Dash,” the album’s first single, you’ll hear sputtering and noisy squalls of squiggling synths, a funky bass line, propulsive almost tribal-like drumming and explosive blasts of guitar paired with Dwyer’s famed falsetto singing lyrics about traveling across spacetime with a surrealistic and psychedelic feel. Interestingly, Dwyer manages to do this while maintaining a bit of funk to the proceedings. Yeah, seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Audio by William Ruben Helms

Perhaps best known as the guitarist in Mikal Cronin‘s backing band and the bassist in Fuzz, Chad Ubovich is part of the larger Bay Area/Ty Segall/Thee Oh Sees universe — and over the past couple of years Ubovich has been receiving attention leading his own band Meatbodies, which features Ubovich along with collaborators Patrick Nolan and Kevin Boog, a band which specializes in equally weird, scuzzy, fo-fi rock. Interestingly enough, the trio’s forthcoming sophomore effort ALICE will reportedly be a “heavy-pop” concept album primarily focusing on war, sex, politics and religion and has the trio expanding on their sound a bit, as you’ll hear on the shuffling, Bowie and Bolan meets psych rock new single “Creature Feature.”

 

 

 

 

 



Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Artful and Menacing Visuals for The Parrots’ “A Thousand Ways”

Adding to a growing international profile, last year NME named the Spanish trio as one of SXSW’s “buzziest bands” and since then the members of The Parrots have been incredibly busy — they’ve released a critically applauded EP Weed for The Parrots, have toured relentlessly and played an incredible 14 shows at this year’s SXSW (in which they were later signed by renowned indie label Heavenly Recordings). Building on the growing buzz around the band, the trio spent a week at Paco Loco Studios in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz, Spain, where they recorded their latest effort Los Ninos Sin Miedos. And if you had been frequenting this site earlier this year, you may recall that I wrote about album single “Let’s Do It Again,” a single reportedly inspired by the members of the band drinking beers and Horchata, eating Moroccan delicacies and feelings of deep friendship and loyalty and as a result the song possesses a shuffling, intoxicated feel of elation and adventure — the sort that would come about when you’ve drunkenly stumbled along a new best friend. Sonically, the single furthered their reputation for crafting raw, shaggy garage rock that channeled the sounds of 1961-1965.

As the band explains, their latest single “A Thousand Ways” draws from the key moment in one’s teenage years, when you are probably most tempted by the forbidden and unknown, and you then avoid responsibilities and complex responsibilities. “This is the moment when, along with your friends, childhood dies,” the band says. Interestingly, the latest single continues along the same veins of the album’s previously released single while nodding at other contemporary garage rock acts like Raccoon Fighter and others, as the band pairs Garcia’s howled vocals mangling the English language with an unvarnished and wild earnestness with buzzing guitars and a propulsive backbeat. And the band does this while evoking a stoner elation and paranoia.

Directed by frequent collaborator Pablo Amores, the recently released video for “A Thousand Ways” is a cinematically shot video that’s one part perfume ad, one part art film, one part Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange that ends in a gorgeous and surreal fashion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Thee Oh Sees Pair Strange, Disturbing Visuals with Their Blistering, Forceful Sound

Earlier this year, I wrote about “Plastic Plant,” the first single off Weird Exit, a single that continues the band’s renowned guitar pyrotechnics but filtered through dreamy psych rock, gritty garage rock, prog rock with tons of effects pedals paired with propulsive and forceful drumming and Dwyer’s falsetto. And of course, in typical Thee Oh Sees fashion it’s a thrashing, ass-kicking, sweaty mosh pit worthy song with an atypical, almost jam-like song structure. “Dead Man’s Gun,” Weird Exit’s second and latest single seamlessly meshes garage rock, psych rock, surfer rock and punk as Dwyer’s falsetto and howls are paired with alternating sections of scorching power chords, shimmering reverb and delay pedaled surfer rock and psych rock chords in the song’s quieter sections, and the whole thing is held together by a propulsive rhythm section featuring a throbbing and insistent bass line and a rolling drum pattern. Every time I hear the Bay Area-based band’s material I’m reminded of how much of a sonic debt they owe to the 60s — but with an underlying sense of menace.

The recently video follows a series of people, who clearly appear to be tweaking on crystal meth and freaking out/rocking out in almost exact rhythm to the song and it’s spliced with sequences of someone making the shit in their basement. In some way, the video evokes the perverse human tendency to be unable to stop looking at something particular gruesome — although we’ll almost always regret it later.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Party and Fuck Around with Madrid’s Indie Rock Sensations The Parrots

Recorded at Paco Loco Studios in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz, Southern Spain, The Parrots’ latest single is reportedly inspired by the members of the band drinking beers and Horchata, eating Moroccan delicacies and feelings of deep friendship and loyalty and as a result the song possesses a shuffling, intoxicated feel of elation and adventure — the sort that would come about when you’ve drunkenly stumbled along a new best friend. Sonically, the song will further cement the Spanish trio’s growing reputation for raw and shaggy garage rock as Garcia’s passionate howls are paired with a shuffling and jangling garage rock chords, propulsive drumming and a throbbing bass line, and in some way the song sounds as though it could have easily been released in 1962 or so.

Directed by Pablo Amores, the recently released music video features the members of the Spanish quartet drinking 40s, looking for the next party and goofing off in the streets — and it serves as a reminder that the Spanish quartet are a wild, rollicking party.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Certainly, over the past few weeks, I’ve written quite a bit about Nashville, TN-based sibling duo JEFF The Brotherhood. Comprised of Jake and Jamin Orral, the sibling duo have developed a reputation for a sound and overall aesthetic that’s been influenced by jazz, black metal, hard rock, prog rock, stoner rock, the films of Werner Herzog, the choreography of Kate Bush and the rivers of their home state. Over the past decade the duo have played well over 1,000 shows across North America, New Zealand and elsewhere, touring to support 11 full-length albums, as well as creating a number of related zines, puppets and videos among other things. The Orral Brothers’ forthcoming effort Zone is an experimental rock-leaning album that was recorded and co-produced by the band and Collin Dupuis, and is the third album of a trilogy based roughly around spirituality that began with 2009’s Heavy Days and 2011’s critically applauded We Are The Champions.

Of course, over the past few weeks I’ve also mentioned how the renowned and now-defunct DIY venue Death By Audio had a special place in my heart, thanks in part to the fact that unlike most venues I’ve seen and covered shows in my hometown, there was a palpable sense of anything being possible and anything going. Personally, some of the most memorable shows and live music moments I’ve ever seen happened at the South Williamsburg DIY space. Now, as the venue was set to close at the end of 2014, its owners and bookers curate what turned out to be an epic final month featuring a number of currently renowned acts, who had either gotten their start there and returned to pay their proper dues or had some kind of intimate connection to the venue, including A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Lightning Bolt, Metz, the aforementioned JEFF The Brotherhood and others. Of course, what I bet that most people attending those shows didn’t know was that the venue recorded their last month of existence, with the end result being the the compilation Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, which features highlights of the past month in chronological order, slated for release this week through Famous Class Records — and the compilation is meant not as bittersweet nostalgia but as a forceful call to go out and do something fucking awesome, like start a show space and have your friends and others play there.

The third and latest single is a blistering live version of JEFF The Brotherhood’s “Heavy Damage” is a perfect example of the sound that caught the blogosphere’s attention — frenzied power chords, propulsive and thunderous drumming and howled vocals, which give the song a raw, primal feel; however, live the song feels completely unhinged and furious — as though it should inspire the audience to mosh and then riot.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Beginning his music career as a part-time musician in various underground bands in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, the insanely prolific multi-instrumentalist Ty Segall started his solo career back in 2008 with the release of the Horn The Unicorn through Wizard Mountain — and was later re-released by HBSP-2X on vinyl. After befriending Thee Oh Sees frontman and creative mastermind, and co-founder of Castle Face Records, John Dwyer, Segall signed to the renowned, garage rock label, which released his self-titled debut, also in 2008. Since then, Segall has released albums through Memphis, TN-based label Goner Records, frequent collaborations with renowned indie artist Mikal Cronin and for being a member of a number of bands including Fuzz, Broken Bat and GØGGS, and as a former member of The Traditional Fools, Epsilons, Party Fowl, Sic Alps, and The Perverts.

Now, as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as a native New Yorker, who has been covering music for over a decade, I’ve seen countless venues come and go — and soon as a well-regarded or beloved venue closes, another one pops up a few months later in another part of town; however, as both a passionate music fan and journalist, there are a handful of venues that hold a special part of your heart. And for me, Death By Audio held a very special place in my heart. Unlike most venues I’ve seen and covered shows in, there was always a  palpable sense of anything going and happening and in fact, I saw some of the most memorable shows I’ve ever seen; shows that transformed how I saw and wore about live music. Much like Metz, Segall has a connection to Death by Audio as he got his NYC area start at the now defunct DIY venue.

And as I mentioned in a post earlier today, as the venue was closing up shop back in 2014, its owners and bookers curated what turned out to be an epic final month featuring a number of currently renowned acts, who had gotten their start or had some kind of connection to the South Williamsburg, Brooklyn venue including A Place to Bury Strangers, Thee Oh Sees, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Future Islands, Lightning Bolt, Metz and many others. What people most likely didn’t know was that the venue recorded the last month of shows at the venue and the end result is the compilation Start Your Own Fucking Show Space, which features highlights of the past month in chronological order, slated for release next week through Famous Class Records — and the compilation is meant not as bittersweet nostalgia but as a forceful call to go out and do something fucking awesome, like start a show space and have your friends and others play there.

The second and latest single off the compilation features Ty Segall and his backing band playing a somewhat bittersweet yet forceful and sludgy live version of “Wave Goodbye,” a song that structurally and sonically sounds as though it owes a debt to 90s alt rock as it consists of alternating, rousing and thunderous, power chord-based hooks and a quiet second around the verse. And as soon as you hear it, it should make you want to raise your beers up high and shout along — or mosh the fuck out.

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Led by Castle Face Records co-founder John Dwyer, Thee Oh Sees have a long-held reputation for being insanely prolific and 2016 is no different as the band will have released two new albums by the end of August — one being a live album, aptly titled Live in San Francisco recorded over three nights at The Chapel; and the second album being the first entry in a planned series. Live in San Francisco is DVD/album that will give fans a real taste of their renowned thrashing and sweaty live shows and while slated for a July 1, 2016 release, it also manages to be a teaser as it features live versions of material, which will appear on their forthcoming full-length Weird Exit. Oh, and along with that the band will be on an incredibly lengthy tour with Amplified Heat, Straight Arrows, Alex Cameron, Magnetix and my personal favorites The Blind Shake opening for Dwyer and company during various dates — and it includes two NYC area dates: 11/11/16 at the Bowery Ballroom and 11/12/16 at Warsaw.

In the meantime the first single off Live in San Francisco is a live version of a song, which will appear on the band’s forthcoming Weird Exit, “Gelatinous Cube.” And in almost prototypical Thee Oh Sees fashion the song is a towering barnburner of a song — layers of scorching and scuzzy guitar pyrotechnics paired with a throbbing and propulsive rhythm section and Dwyer’s falsetto; in other words, the song possess a primal, guttural fury that quickly fades out from sheer exhaustion. “Plastic Plant,” the first single off Weird Exit continues the guitar pyrotechnics but filters them through dreamy psych rock, gritty garage rock, prog rock and tons of effects pedals and pairs them with propulsive drumming and Dwyer’s falsetto. Of course, both singles will further cement Dwyer and company’s additionally long-held reputation for thrashing and kicking ass in songs with extremely atypical song structures.

Tour Dates:
06-18 Vancouver, British Columbia – Levitation Vancouver
06-25 Oakland, CA – Burger Boogaloo
07-01-03 Keflavík, Iceland – ATP Festival, Ásbrú
07-30 Denver, CO – Underground Music Showcase
08-05 Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon Festival
08-06 Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon Festival
08-07 Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon Festival
08-14 Helsinki, Finland – Flow Festival
08-16 Stockholm, Sweden – Debaser
08-18 Paredes, Portugal – Paredes de Coura Festival
08-19 Hasselt, Belgium – Pukkelpop
08-20 Berlin, Germany – Columbia Theatre
08-21 Biddinghuizen, Netherlands – Low Land Festival
08-23 Praha, Czech Republic – Futurum Music Bar
08-24 Zurich, Switzerland- Mascotte*
08-25 Geneva, Switzerland – Palp Festival *
08-26 Asolo, Italy – Amo Festival
08-27 Ravenna, Italy – Hana-Bi
08-31 Tel Aviv, Israel – Arena
09-02 London, United Kingdom – Coronet !*
09-3 Leeds, United Kingdom – University Stylus !*
09-04 Dorset, United Kingdom – End of the Road Festival
09-06 Biarritz, France – Atabal *
09-08 Valada, Portugal – Reverence Festival
09-09 Granada, Spain – Planta Benja
09-10 Benidorm, Spain – Fuzzville
09-12 Barcelona, Spain – Apolo *
09-13 Toulouse, France – Bikini *
09-14 Paris, France – La Cigale *
09-15 Lille, France – Aeronef *
10-08 Miami, FL – III Points Festival
10-14 Joshua Tree, CA – Desert Daze 2016
10-15 Joshua Tree, CA – Desert Daze 2016
10-16 Joshua Tree, CA – Desert Daze 2016
11-01 Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
11-02 El Paso, TX – Lowbrow Palace
11-05 New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s #
11-06 Memphis, TN – The Hi Tone Cafe #
11-07 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge #
11-09 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall #
11-10 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts ^
11-11 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
11-13 Brooklyn, NY – Warsaw ^
11-15 Providence, RI – Aurora ^
11-16 Montreal, Quebec – La Tulipe
11-17 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Theater
11-18 Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
11-19 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
11-23 Missoula, MT – Stage 112
11-25 Seattle, WA – Neumos %

# Amplified Heat
^ Straight Arrows
% Alex Cameron
* Magnetix
! Blind Shake

 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: JOVM Mainstays CROSSS Return with Dark, Horror Film-Inspired Visuals for “Golden Hearth”

If you’ve been frequenting the site over the past 15-18 months or so, you’ve likely come across a post or two on JOVM mainstay act, Toronto, ON-based proto-metal/doom metal trio CROSSS. And although the band is rather […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Diego Garcia (vocals, guitar), Alejandro de Lucas (bass) and Daniel “Larry” Balboa (drums), Madrid, Spain-based trio The Parrots quickly became an DIY underground sensation with the release of a demo, which was released without much promotion and little fanfare; in fact, the video for “I Did Something Wrong” off their Aden Arabie EP initially received over 15,000 YouTube hits — and caught the attention of music bloggers across Europe and the rest of the world for a sound that drew from old school, garage rock and psych  rock but with a loose, boozy feel. And unsurprisingly, the band’s sound compares favorably to the likes of Thee Oh Sees,  Black Lips, Raccoon Fighter, High Waisted, White Mystery and others.

Last year, NME named the Spanish trio as one of SXSW‘s “buzziest bands” and since then the members of The Parrots have been incredibly busy — they’ve released a critically applauded EP Weed for The Parrots, have toured relentlessly and played an incredible 14 shows at this year’s SXSW (in which they were later signed by renowned indie label Heavenly Recordings). Building on the growing buzz, the trio will be releasing their latest single “Let’s Do It Again.”

Recorded at Paco Loco Studios in El Puerto de Santa Maria in Cadiz, Southern Spain, The Parrots’ latest single is reportedly inspired by the members of the band drinking beers and Horchata, eating Moroccan delicacies and feelings of deep friendship and loyalty and as a result the song possesses a shuffling, intoxicated feel of elation and adventure — the sort that would come about when you’ve drunkenly stumbled along a new best friend. Sonically, the song will further cement the Spanish trio’s growing reputation for raw and shaggy garage rock as Garcia’s passionate howls are paired with a shuffling and jangling garage rock chords, propulsive drumming and a throbbing bass line, and in some way the song sounds as though it could have easily been released in 1962 or so.

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

With the release of “Apertures” through 1-2-3-4 Go! Records, a self-titled EP through Cut The Cord That . . . Records and the “Escapement” 7 inch, along with what’s been described as a “head-turning” live show, San Francisco, CA-based post-punk quartet Synthetic ID — comprised of Nic Lang, Jake Dudley, and siblings Will and Paul Lucich — have developed a rapidly growing local and national profile, which caught the attention of Jim Dwyer, frontman of Thee Oh Sees and label head of Castle Face Records, who invited the band to play at Castle Face Records’ SF Holiday benefit show a few years ago. And as the story goes, the members of the band managed to keep in touch with Dwyer after his relocation to Los Angeles.

The San Francisco, CA post-punk quartet’s full-length debut Impulses  is slated for an April 22 release through Castle Face. Produced by Phil Manley, best known for his work with Trans Am and Life Coach, the album was recorded during one day at EL Studio and as you’ll hear from the album’s first single “Ciphers,” the material possesses the tense, urgency of the desperate and obsessively neurotic. Sonically, the band pairs slashing and angular guitar chords, propulsive four-on-the-floor-like drumming and a and throbbing bass line with the song’s minimalist shouted lyrics. In some way, sonically speaking the song sounds as though it draws from The Stooges, Gang of Four, Wire and  A Frames and others — in particular, I think of Gang of Four’s “Not Great Men,” and “At Home He’s A Tourist,” Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba” and “Dot Dash,” The Stooges’ “1969” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”  A Frames “nobot” and others. And much like those songs sonically and lyrically speaking, “Ciphers”captures and evokes a deeply post-modern sensation — that feeling that you’re somehow absolutely incapable of changing a ridiculous and dangerous repetitive cycle of emotions, thoughts and actions that you can only dimly comprehend; worse yet that you inexplicably feel drawn to compulsive thinking and actions and repetitive thoughts — to the point of obsession. It gives the song an unbridled, unresolved and desperate frustration that’s palpable and lingering.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

 

Comprised of Daniel Lee (vocals), Lane Halley (guitar), April Ailermo (bass) and D. Alex  Meeks (drums), the Toronto, ON-based quartet Hooded Fang have developed both a national and Stateside profile for lush instrumentation and harmonies meant to evoke a swooning urgency; however, over the past couple of years, the band has gone through a radical change in songwriting approach and sonic direction with their material becoming much more abrasive and forceful “Impressions,” the latest single from the band’s forthcoming Venus on Edge has the band pairing Lee’s sultry crooning with jagged and scorching guitar chords, and a driving rhythm consisting of a throbbing bass line and spastic drumming to craft a song that feels anxious and uncomfortable within its own skin, and evokes the screeching of metal upon metal while sounding as though it was informed by the likes of Thee Oh Sees and the Castle Face Records roster. And in a similar fashion, “Impressions” is equally forceful and punishing.

Certainly, the palpable sense of discomfort within the song shouldn’t be very surprising. As the band told the folks at Consequence of Sound “You know, in E.T. how when he came down, everyone aside from a few got scared and paranoid, and basically ruined what could have been a beautiful mutual learning relationship? This song is about those types of encounters. When people come from a different place and get treated awfully out of fear, jeopardizing possibilities of positivity. This song is written about the visitors that get shunned, and what a loss that is for everybody. ” In our current political climate in which our fears, anger and discomfort are being openly exploited, such a message seems desperately needed.