Adelaide's The Yellow Wallpaper's newest release, 'Run Your Mouth', continues the group's exploration of themes related to frustration, melancholy, confusion and joy.
Aggressive, brooding alternative rock that simmers with a searing intensity, 'Run Your Mouth' is an anthem for those resentful of the everyday shallowness exhibited en masse and the dumbed-down mindset of herd mentality.Profound, impassioned, strained vocals communicate combative, forceful lyrics detailing a seething discontent with society judging individuals based on the facade of public persona.
"'Run Your Mouth is for the disenchanted, worn away by the unwarranted judgments of people who don't really know them," explains the group's frontman Troy Benson.
"People base their opinion on a person through their public and online persona. While this is what is willingly presented and welcomes a certain amount of judgement, people from the outside looking in, need to stop running their mouth and acting like they really know someone entirely through the snippets of life they are allowed insight to.
"They don't have the same knowledge as the people who know a person intimately, which leads them to come to uninformed conclusions, that they stubbornly express with conviction, rather than having a conversation and trying to understand. The whispering grapevine is very unreliable."
With 'Run Your Mouth' released today, scenestr is psyched to premiere the song's music video. Enjoy.
"The 'Run Your Mouth' film clip is a prequel to 'Tell Me To Beg'. It shows the protagonist running from his fears and emotions, but unable to escape them," adds Troy.
"Menacing and unapologetic, the embodied emotions overpower the unstable mind of the protagonist. They consume him, leaving him exhausted and defeated. He sees a last flash of light before descending into the endless black void shown in the 'Tell Me To Beg' clip.
"The original idea I had for the clip was something reminiscent to the opening scenes of 'Trainspotting' or 'Run Lola Run'. Intense. Anxious. Urgent.
"This vision was way beyond my budget and Kristoffer from Gutter-Pop Pictures condensed the idea into a more achievable task, while still maintaining the theme of the clip. His experimental concept and editing style truly captured the unbalanced sanity of the protagonist."
With the creative vision set, it was time to film. "Creating the running scenes was a lot of fun. I was running for hours on a tiny desk treadmill.
"It was very narrow and short. I kept hitting the edges and falling off because I was in a dark room and had to look at the camera instead of where I was stepping. I'm looking forward to seeing the bloopers."
Being a prequel to 'Tell Me To Beg' also meant Troy had to suffer for his art. "Due to it being a prequel that leads directly into 'Tell Me To Beg', I had to have my hair the same length and my beard as untamed, with the exception of the bare-faced seductive character.
"The treadmill filming date had to be delayed for various reasons, so I had to stay a scruffy effigy for much longer than intended – shaving my neck beard after the clip was finished was a glorious moment."
The formation of The Yellow Wallpaper can be traced back to the birth of 'Run Your Mouth', a song Benson wrote during the extended periods of lockdown.
"I wrote it on acoustic guitar in lockdown and it was clear it was not meant for a solo musician," Troy says. "My songwriting started to change and I needed a band to bring the new music to fruition.
"During lockdown, my friends and I had a private Facebook group called Isolated Hearts Club. We would have Zoom calls checking in on each other. We'd share music and other things we had been working on.
"I posted a phone video straight after writing 'Run Your Mouth'. My friend Chelsea Turner from Orelia, who is a singer-songwriter I highly admire, commented 'F... yeah, you are so ready to start this band'. That's all I needed to hear. The Yellow Wallpaper was born."
When it came to fleshing out the bones of 'Run Your Mouth', it was a team effort as Troy shares. "Guitarists Joel Cooke and Kristoffer Lucia did an amazing job of turning my acoustic song into an intense, ferocious and brooding exploration of wild emotion.
"Bass player Genevieve Brandenburg and drummer Heath Trebilcock locked in and made sure the final blow was delivered with precision."
The Yellow Wallpaper play The Crown and Anchor (Adelaide) 29 September, joined by Sons of Zoku and Mums Favourite.
