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With their brand new lyric video for their latest single, “Roll Around,” Pep Rally has taken a unique approach. The song focuses on the relationship that feels so good, but at the same time, you know it’s so bad. The video attempts to chronicle this, as it showcases the relationship’s demise through an exchange of text messages. You’re literally seeing the demise unfolding in real time as the band makes good use of the lyric video. The video clip is used as a storytelling assistant rather than just showing you the song’s words. If you review the messages being exchanged, it’s clear that the two parties have chemistry together. But for whatever reason, they are just bad for each other.
Commenting on the video, Pep Rally leader Tommy Joyner states:
“Director Amy Roy knows me and had this idea to make the video from the perspective of the characters in the story. It’s a ‘lyric video’ that contains none of the lyrics! It’s something I’ve never seen before, but with this crazy toxic exchange I feel very seen (laughs).”
Elaborating on his own personal inspirations in writing this song, Joyner says:
“‘Roll Around’ is the story of a particular set of bad decisions that I’ve made, going back to an ex when we should have known that it was over. There are times when the loneliness has been stronger than my willpower. I think we can all feel a little connection to that kind of human weakness, not that any of us are particularly proud of it.”
Joyner is joined in Pep Rally by his chief collaborator, Emily Roane. Joyner is an accomplished producer and engineer and also the co-founder of MilkBoy the Studio in Philadelphia. They both have a love of music and performing, which is clear in their songwriting. Their attitude is colourful, and their sound is buzzy and fun. They can both play a lot of instruments, which creates a lot of versatility in their songwriting. And it’s not like they’re necessarily writing songs about rainbows and candy. Joyner and Roane tackle tough topics like prison and drug abuse. But they do it engagingly with an intriguing tone. As the duo has said themselves, you have not heard depression sound as happy as what you’ll hear from Pep Rally.
Tour Dates:
09/21 – MilkBoy End of Summer Block Party on South Street – Philadelphia, PA