VIDEO PREMIERE: Massy Ferguson Dial In Mid-80s-Rock Sound On “Gallipoli”

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Seattle band Massy Ferguson dropped their new album Run It Right Into The Wall back in July, but for this release they took a different approach. Whereas the band’s last release, the EP Backwoods, was unmistakeably alt-country, bringing to mind Lucero and Whiskeytown with a West Coast country groove, their latest finds them embarking for a sound that is entirely different.

“I think in order to survive we had to take our past formulas and blow them up. We didn’t want to rest on our laurels and do another album like past ones,” says Ethan Anderson, frontman and bassist for the Seattle, WA-based rock/Americana act Massy Ferguson.

“The songs are still cut from the same Massy cloth: American rock,” adds drummer Dave Goedde. “We just dialed up the 80s-Midwest-college-rock thing that’s always been there.”

Indeed they did. Sure, Run It Right Into The Wall carries Ethan Anderson’s signature gritty vocals and it wouldn’t be a Massy Ferguson without a little twang here and there, but at the band is clearly pushing towards an airy, more straightforward rock sound. There are moments throughout the album where they seem closer to The Replacements, R.E.M., and Soul Asylum then they do to Uncle Tupelo and the Drive-By Truckers.

One thing remains the same though, and that’s the fact that, as the members of Massy Ferguson have always claimed, they are ultimately a “bar band in the best sense.”

Today we are psyched to premiere Massy Ferguson’s new music video for the leading track on Run It Right Into The Wall, “Gallipoli”, right here on Glide Magazine. The video juxtaposes the band playing the tune live with images of burning toy soldiers, bringing to mind alternative rock music videos of the Nineties. Adam Monda’s jangly power chords and drummer Dave Goedde’s percussive blasts elevate Ethan Anderson’s lyrics and vocals into catchy territory.

Reflecting on the video, Anderson says,”Honestly, I think (Director) Ryan Purcell did a good job capturing the energy of the band live and the intensity of the song. I think the melting plastic army men is pretty powerful visually and more striking than I anticipated. ‘Gallipoli’ is sort of a coming of age song that uses a battle from WWI as its setting. It’s not really a statement on war or gun violence. To me, it’s more about the struggle of life, power, independence, transcendence in general.”

WATCH:

Run It Right Into The Wall is out now. For more music and info check out massyfergusonband.com.

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