The High Plains Drifters have released their latest single, titled Summer Girl (Redux). The entire production value, along with the accompanying music video, reeks of delicious trash art meets underground experimental. The High Plains Drifters have no interest in being politically correct, or overly conscientious of the current sociopolitical climate. With model-like actors portraying the women in their videos, there’s this guilty pleasure sense juxtaposed with a strange, somewhat offbeat tonality adding to the intrigue of the overall package. Summer Girl (Redux) is reflective both of High Plains Drifters’ previous work, while simultaneously a little more upbeat.
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There’s also this sense of genuine enthusiasm. The guys behind the music act love what they do, there’s no phoning anything in or trying to stay relevant with the current trends. It can be the kiss of death either way, either being too adherent to what’s in with respect to popular culture and music, or being too irreverent and therefore limiting the choir to what could be a good song. High Plains Drifters do this high-wire walk honoring both. They’re not disconnected from the beats of commerciality insuring success in the modern music market. But they’re not willing to compromise on their own image or morals.
The result is something that is actually enjoyable, and can actually sell. It’s an unapologetic grassroots effort, with individuals involved who don’t scream perfect optics in a day and age when youth, photoshop, and a certain degree of internet personality-dom are in order. But it doesn’t matter. With the democratization of the internet, people who don’t fit the status quo are now more than ever succeeding by not fitting the status quo. People want alternatives, and alternatives with the same kind of quality as mainstream studio releases. With each new single, High Plains Drifters are on their way to being at the top of the pantheon of that kind of alternative.
“I am having a blast. I love working with this band, and I’d probably keep doing so even if our songs weren’t getting noticed. I have a ton more songs that I want to get out of my head if only to see how much better they become once these amazing musicians put their magic on them,” frontman Larry Studnicky said to The Photo Ladies digital publication. He added, in the spirit of anti-political correctness, a footnote that really does plant a flag in the band claiming eighties nostalgia. Simply put, “…When I get writer’s block, I drink like a fish for days on end, until I forget that I had writer’s block. Seriously, I am lucky not to suffer from much writer’s block where my lyrics are concerned.
The High Plains Drifters – Summer Girl (Redux) [Official Music Video]
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Sometimes, when working on a song, you just need to take a break from it. I try to get it out of the forefront of my brain, in the hopes that my subconscious will keep working on it. That sometimes works: I hop in the car with the intention of seeing what lyrics come to me as I’m driving around doing errands or whatever. Where I can get stuck, however, is in the writing of a chorus. Some of my songs form themselves in my brain with just the lyrics and melody for one or more verses but no chorus.”
Blind artistic heroism can either be an asset, or an albatross. In the case of High Plains Drifters, it’s an asset.
Clay Burton