From the moment the first crunchy riff bursts forth, it's clear that boWsER have a commanding musical presence. The Australian trio's allegiance to blistering hard rock seeps from every chord, every beat, every hook.
Their newest single 'People In The TV' (lifted from their forthcoming album 'Whispers From The Wickerman' that is due March 2020) is an exploration of paranoia and mental health in the digital age, a commentary about the influence of multi-media and those that would seek to control us.
The riff itself was inspired by Cream's 'Strange Brew'. "I saw a documentary about Soundgarden's 1994 album 'Superunknown'," guitarist Brad Weynton says.
"During pre-production, producer Michael Beinhorn advised Chris Cornell to write songs like his favourite band as a means to alleviate writer's block. I love Cream, so 'People In The TV' is my attempt to write in their style."
Ahead of 'People In The TV's commercial release on 29 November, boWsER have shared with scenestr the song's accompanying video clip, which we are stoked to premiere today.
"'People In The TV' is personally one of my faves on the upcoming album," bass player Otto Mitter says.
"The album is really quite diverse with tempos, but 'People In The TV' is a slow, rocking groove that has a hook that you just can't help but nod your head, tap your foot and raise your hands up to the rock gods. It's grungy guitar tones are the classic boWsER style, which is reminiscent of QOTSA, Foo Fighters, Royal Blood.
"For the band's first film clip, we wanted to keep it simple, showing the band playing in the natural element, very black and white, three guys with their guitars and drums and playing rock music how it's meant to be: live, loud and dynamic in the most organic way possible.
"Seeing boWsER playing in this clip, it's really what you get when you see boWsER in its live element. We then switch up the tension in the choruses where the music is a little darker and heavier throwing a red wash throughout the warehouse behind the scenes-style clip and we wear masks that are political figures of influence that you see on the TV ie. Trump, JFK, Schwarzenegger, so it kind of has a creepy element to it, but really also a touch of cryptic comedy.
"We also needed a character for the clip that would be the person who was being influenced by the TV propaganda. I was originally going to play a character myself, but my wife mentioned that maybe I should get my son to do it, having a child watching TV and showing the power of influence has on a child's mind has a lot more impact and is also part of the message about the lyrics: 'Please stop the people in the TV looking at me'; we think it adds an element that gels the story all together."
