Originally appeared on the 405, with the title The 405 Meets Royal Teeth; view archived article here.
We all have something to prove, whether just to ourselves or to society in general. On that note, Louisiana-based Royal Teeth have a lot to say with their new single, “Show You What I Can Do.” It features a fiery verse from the force that is Tunde Olaniran, who muses about the value of perseverance without taking a breath. There is a lesson for everyone on the new song and its music video will fill you with vigor.
To celebrate the release, I asked the band a few questions about the song and clip. Read an excerpt of the interview below, and find the full article here.
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Starting with the new video, does anyone in the band have drag racing experience? Looks like a lot of fun!
Unfortunately, no one in the band has actually raced, but I [Gary Larsen] have been going to watch my dad race his cars since I was a kid. I didn’t really appreciate it when I was younger, but now it gives me a lot of nostalgia. The car that Nora drives (Underdog) is my dad’s car, and he is Nora’s coach in the video. Music City Raceway in Nashville gave us the perfect location to shoot, and our friends in Solar Cabin really brought the idea to life. We even got help from a local racer because my uncle’s car broke down on the first test drive! The Whitlow family was nice enough to loan us their car for the shoot and saved the day. The Whitlow’s car is the one I’m racing in. Even though we didn’t get to actually speed down the track, it was definitely the most fun we’ve had with a video shoot.
How did your collaboration with Tunde Olaniran come about?
The original version of the song doesn’t have Tunde on it. We were sharing the track with our team and the idea of a feature started to float around. It felt like the right song for it so our manager sent the track to Tunde. Tunde sent a voice memo of the verse he wrote, and we fell in love with it immediately. We performed it together recently for the first time in Los Angeles, and it was so much fun. Now we’re kind of bummed that we will have to do it without him for future shows. Unless we can convince him to tour with us.
Sawdust & Gin 