Summer is coming and this month indie-pop project Mint Fatigues is releasing a single with an accompanying music video called “Pastime.”
And it’s just in time.
Here’s a track that is pure summertime pop. Perfect for a top-down cross-country road trip, a breezy beach day, or a surrealist unstuck-in-time desert walkabout. Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of the track “Pastime” and its accompanying video ahead of its official release on June 16th.
Missouri-born Cole Simmons is the primary singer and songwriter for Mint Fatigues (formerly known as Brat Pitt) and for this track, he brought on friends and frequent collaborators to create the “pillowy sound bed” of “Pastime.” Grady Philip Drugg was on guitar, Ephraim McFarland was on keys and background vocals, Jenna Bulger on background vocals, and Calvin Todd on the pedal steel. TOLEDO was responsible for mixing and the rhythm section.
Simmons’ lyrics take a sardonic approach to a new relationship. Imagine that first baseball game of the summer. The one where you don’t really remember how to play and you kind of suck at it.
“Step up to the plate
I don’t wanna
Try and get on base
But you gotta
Took one to the face
Oh baby
God I love the pain”
Simmons says of the lyrics, “To me, the story is a happy ending because those two wish nothing but the best for each other and found an opportunity to grow.” That’s some healthy, well-adjusted songwriting right there.
The official music video for “Pastime” is a dark comedy featuring the main character Test Subject 002 in “damaged” condition (some sort of lightly bandaged massive head wound) manically wandering the desert with nothing but his clothes, his bandage, and a bindle (you know the stick with a bag hanging off it). Filmmakers Kaylinn Clotfelter and Jack Duffy help create a surreal musical landscape while shooting in the desert and in nondescript interrogation rooms.
Throughout “Pastime” are vocal harmonies, synths, electric guitar licks, and some surprising chord changes that add layer upon layer of complexity to what could have been a too-simple summer jam. Pastime refuses to be that. Instead, Mint Fatigues draws on their many influences from 90’s Britpop, shoegaze, early aughts femme, and alt-rock to create a pop fusion that just works. As the vocal harmonies crescendo, singing “You will find/Faking it is our favorite pastime” it becomes obvious that there’s a lot of musical work, knowledge, and talent going into this pop song.
Watch the video and read our chat with Mint Fatigues below…
Did growing up in Missouri impact you as a musician and songwriter? To continue the baseball metaphor in the song, do you still consider that your home base?
It will always be home base. I didn’t grow up in a big city. Some folks would consider Missouri to be the Midwest, some would say the South but for me it is its own thing. My family lives way out of town where I’m from so I never really had neighborhood friends because there was actually no neighborhood. I think I spent a lot of time trying to make forts out in the woods, learn Metallica songs on guitar, and make silly art pieces with whatever I could get my hands on. Experiencing solitude allowed creativity to grow and I think gave me a foundation for writing my own songs once I felt confident enough. While I didn’t have buddies to ride bikes with in my neighborhood, I did play sports early on. Loved playing on a team and I think putting together a group of musicians to knock a song out of the park, perhaps started way back when.
What are some of your biggest musical and nonmusical influences? Follow-up question: what have you been listening to in your car lately?
I think some subconscious influence comes from what my parents were listening to when I was young. My parents are only 20 years older than me, meaning they have a younger taste in music. Between the two of them, they like a wide variety of genres but I remember first latching onto hip-hop/rnb. Specifically stuff like Usher, Nelly, and 50 Cent. I am an average drummer but I always find myself veering towards productions with very solid rhythm sections and that could be a part of it. These days I would say I take influence purposefully. If I am inspired by something I hear I will make some sort of Jeff Tweedy-esque songwriting exercise to emulate a certain artist or era. For “Pastime” it’s quite obviously inspired by the Britpop stuff from the 90’s, Oasis, Blur, Teenage Fanclub (Scotpop specifically) with some alt-country stuff thrown in. My ultimate goal is to write fun and catchy songs and my influences might’ve not been trying to do that specifically so what I churn out is always unique to my perspective I think. Lately in the car I have been listening to a Podcast called Worst Possible Timeline – fun show where two dudes scroll Twitter and riff on the garbage. Been super into the Kara Jackson album, “Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?” & Ginger Root “Nisemono”.
This project used to be called Brat Pitt. Do you ever miss the name or has the searchability online been worth it?
Time will tell. I guess we shall see how it goes haha – “Pastime” is the first single released since changing the name. Creatively it’s opened me up and I love that feeling. Brat Pitt was too close phonetically so people always thought I was just saying Brad which is quite funny. The joke of it all wasn’t worth the reliable prompt from Spotify that says “Did you mean Brad Pitt” and will play the score from Inglorious Bastards. The dude doesn’t even have music and still finds his way into the music algorithms.
The music video for “Pastime” is such a blast to watch. Can you talk a bit about what it was like making it? Where did Subject 002’s storyline come from?
The story was all from the video’s Director, Kaylinn. We have been working together in various creative mediums for years. We had a goal to make something timeless, classic, and iconic-feeling. She took a lot of inspiration from the media surrounding Charles Manson and MK Ultra. So the video feels 70’s in its era but the editing and FX are very of our own time so I think it creates a really interesting dynamic. The Director of Photography is Jack Duffy and he’s so good at getting those classic feeling frames that make you feel like you’ve seen this before but can’t figure out how or where. We started out in a much different place for the concept. Some ideas might pop up in later videos.
You hinted that there could be more in store this year and beyond. What else can we expect? Any plans to tour?
Expect more singles, expect more videos, more merch and definitely expect regional shows. Looking to do weekend runs here and there. Might be able to do a one-off gig in New York and LA in the Fall. No plans to tour properly this year but next year could be a big year for something like that. Booking agents bang my line.
