Watch The Meow Meows Music Video for “Pretty If You Smile”
Media | Aug 17th, 2016
Soul-punk ska band The Meow Meows are back with a new album “Go Boom!” The album is the follow-up to 2013’s Prince Fatty-produced “Somehow We Met,” which earned the band an international following and a deal with Chicago’s Jump Up records. You can watch the latest music video from the band for the track “Pretty If You Smile” below.
“Pretty much all women I know have been asked to smile by a stranger when they were not in the mood for smiling, have been catcalled in the street, have been insulted and threatened when they didn’t respond. Little romantic things like that. So that’s what the song is about. We gave the lyrics to horror director Melanie Light and let her run free. ”
The Brighton band have come a long way since forming 10 years ago as an excuse to drink on a weekday, rehearsing in a walk-in fridge. A newfound sense of semi-professionalism has seen them thrive, with two European tours in 2016 and plum domestic slots at Boomtown, Secret Garden Party and The London International Ska Festival on the horizon.
The new album celebrates the band’s diverse style, while still managing to stay upbeat and aggressive. ‘Go Boom’ draws on pure 80s 2-tone ska, Studio 1 style instrumentals, prog-ska and also the mellowest numbers the band have recorded to date. Like the dubby “Walk Me Home” and the downtempo reggae of the debut single, “Young Blood”. Animator Tom Matuszewski made the accompanying video, illustrating the lyrical lament of how the emerging generation is seeing their prospects vanishing before their eyes. The video premiered on the day after the Brexit vote, becoming an accidental break-up song to the EU.
Vocalist Danny Girl describes her lyrics as addressing all that is ‘wonderful and disastrous about the world’, sharing a ‘passion to discuss it in a way that is idiotic and joyful’. Subjects include some political songs, anti-austerity, anti-sexism but also tributes to friends lost us and even a lighthearted number about accidentally falling in love with a Tinder hook-up, “Swipe Right”.
