The Smith Street Band have released a video for their new song “Death to the Lads.”
Accompanying the single is the heartwarming video directed by Neal Walters and featuring The Smith Street Mums – the mothers of each of the four members, as they spend a day in the life of the band: waking up in their Footscray share house, journeying through the Western Suburbs in a tour van and culminating in a sold-out show at The Reverence Hotel.
“It was a great chance to thank and appreciate the people who have done more for us than anyone, our families. We basically wanted our mums to get to be rock stars for the day and get some credit for helping us get this far,” says Wagner.
Penned on the road whilst driving through America, “Death to the Lads” has crept into their live set and become an instant fan favourite with its call-to-arms chorus, again displaying songwriter Wil Wagner’s knack of serendipitously turning blight into beauty. “It’s mainly about growing up and changing,” he says of the song’s themes, “admitting we make mistakes and trying to improve ourselves.”
The song was recorded in September at Panoramic House studios in San Francisco with an all-star cast of producer Jeff Rosenstock, engineer Jack Shirley and mixer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., The Hold Steady).
“Death to the Lads” is the first taste of the The Smith Street Band’s fourth record, to be released in early 2017.