Psych Indie Rock Trio The Get Right Band Announce LP 'iTopia' Due Out April 7 and Share New Single + Video “Hell Yes Refresh”
“Hell Yes Refresh”
The Get Right Band
iTopia
Out 4/7
Psych Indie Rock Trio The Get Right Band Announce LP 'iTopia' Due Out April 7 and Share New Single + Video “Hell Yes Refresh”
Press Release
Today, Asheville, NC-based psych rock trio The Get Right Band announce their cinematic, timely LP iTopia, due out April 7 and available for pre-order now. Alongside the announcement, the band share the first taste of the project with track & video, "Hell Yes Refresh," out everywhere now. Plus, The Get Right Band will hit the road to play the new music and longtime fan favorites live on tour this spring throughout the East Coast. Tickets to select shows are available now, with a full list of dates to be announced soon via thegetrightband.com/tour.
iTopia is the electrifying, momentous concept album by The Get Right Band. The LP, which features My Morning Jacket's Bo Koster on keys, Jacob Rodriguez on saxophone (Michael Buble), and Eleanor Underhill on vocals (Underhill Rose), masterfully explores the impact of social media on relationships, mental health, sense of self and the ever-evolving state of the world. Through seventeen thrilling tracks, the album follows a protagonist who falls into a deep online rabbit hole, passing through techno-utopianism to the most anti-social side of social media. In a moment of clarity, the protagonist begins to climb out of the dark hole as they aim to understand what's true and what isn't, and makes a wavering attempt at optimism. In addition to the notable features, the album is primarily self-produced and self-recorded with drums and strings tracked by Julian Dreyer at Echo Mountain Studio in Asheville, NC. The rest of the album was recorded by the band in various home studios, later mixed by Matt Zutell at Coast Records and mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B.
Proudly putting their evolution both as people and as artists on full display, bassist Jesse Gentry explains, "This album not only represents our growth and progress as a band, but also as people. The themes of the album and the content of the songs touch on some of the most poignant issues of our society at this moment in time. We hope people can relate to the subject matter and that it also gives the listener some hope for a different future."
Drummer Jian-Claude Mears adds, "This album is a story that is taking place right now. It's a story at the intersection of technological and social evolution in a world in which people feel growing disconnection and discontentment for the people and systems which so greatly affect our lives. It's a story of the fragility and susceptibility of human nature and a tale of caution that we can all relate to."
"In making 'iTopia' we had to acknowledge how media, and particularly social media, is affecting each of us." Mears continues, "These things strongly shape our world view and when you start unraveling the motives and incentives behind the things you're being told, a bleak feeling can emerge. I hope this album makes people think about all the things that they're consuming and how it impacts themselves and everyone around them."
Today's release, "Hell Yes Refresh" is a synth-filled, dreamy look into the collective human addiction to being online, connecting with like-minded strangers, and the constant desire to refresh social media. Here, both technology and love act as interchangeable subjects as frontman Silas Durocher sings, "Don't you want to feel good? / Hell yes, refresh / I can't take my eyes away from you / Yes I must confess, I'm obsessed with you." Providing more insight into the meaning behind the psychedelic, layered track, Durocher explains, "In the context of the full album, 'Hell Yes Refresh' is about finding your tribe online, finding love online, finding connection online, and that techno-utopianism leaning toward the obsession most of us have with our screens and our online lives…the constant need to refresh your app and see what new things are happening." Durocher continues, The whole song is also meant to work as a single outside of the technology context, as a song about relationships, the feeling of obsession that comes with falling in love."
The vibrant accompanying visual directed by the band's own Durocher and animated by Rodrigo Salazar in collaboration with artificial intelligence aptly sets the tone for the album to come. "We wanted the first music video from iTopia to really say a lot about the whole album, not just the single," says Durocher. After seeing the AI work of various artists online, the band knew it was the most fitting way to convey the forthcoming album's message. "That felt like the perfect medium to capture the energy of a concept album about the miracle and the mess of technology."
Gentry chimes in, “Incorporating AI animation comes with a whole set of timely questions like What is art? What is an artist? What is unique and special about humanity that machines will never be able to replicate? These are important conversations that we want to shine a light on.”
Salazar adds, "Collaborating with The Get Right Band on this video was an absolute pleasure, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to use AI animation techniques to bring their artistic vision to life–I'm thrilled with the final result." Salazar continues, "Working with code to create animations opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and I can't wait to see where this technology takes us in the future. I hope their fans enjoy the music video as much as I enjoyed creating it."
"This music video is like a key to the whole record," says Durocher. "It tells the entire story of iTopia. We wrote out the narrative and descriptions of the different songs for the animator, Rodrigo Salazar. We were blown away by the results he got from manipulating the AI technology to weave together this story."
iTopia Tracklisting
1. Black Holes of Negativity Part 1
2. Generation Happy or Dead
3. Good Luck Kid
4. Hell Yes Refresh
5. iTopia
6. Praise the Algorithm
7. Moonlight Maze
8. Trust Me
9. Turn Myself Around
10. The Outrage Machine
11. Don’t Feed the Trolls
12. Black Holes of Negativity Part 2 (The Monster is Me)
13. Climbing Out of the Hole
14. Highest Bidder
15. Miracle/Mess
16. Am I Just a Battery?
17. Black Holes of Negativity Part 3 (Saying No)The Get Right Band Bio:
The Get Right Band is a psychedelic indie rock power trio committed to relentlessly following their muses to honest self-expression, to whatever excites them and pushes them into unexplored territory, to capturing some version of truth. American Songwriter writes that the Asheville, NC based group, “filters 60’s/70’s psychedelia and 90’s alternative rock through a modern lens–as if Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Nirvana co-wrote an album produced by Danger Mouse and Dan Auerbach.”
With their forthcoming album, iTopia, The Get Right Band establishes themselves as one of the few modern bands writing catchy pop rock music about timely, globally relevant topics. iTopia is a concept album in the tradition of Pink Floyd (even featuring Roger Waters and My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster on two songs), that explores issues of technology and social media and their massive impacts on our lives, personalities, and relationships.
iTopia is a story about all of us–and our vulnerability at even the slightest wrong turn. It’s music for grown up people (kids and adults alike) who know the world is falling apart, social media is pummeling our mental health, and technology is leading us down a dark rabbit hole—and who know that the antidotes are art, beauty, love, knowledge, community, and action.
The Get Right Band formed in 2011, built around the musical brotherhood that guitarist/singer/songwriter Silas Durocher and bassist Jesse Gentry have formed playing music together since middle school (25 years!). In 2013, the band enlisted Jian-Claude Mears on drums, and the trio set about inventing their own sound. Durocher, who is a trained composer and has been commissioned to write for symphonies and chamber groups, has guitar chops that can soothe or rage, with a charismatic swagger as frontman and singer. Gentry’s virtuosic bass playing “catapults from elastic to nasty” (The Mountain Xpress) and Mears’ powerful drumming has a “precision, passion, and inescapable momentum” (Live For Live Music). Over the years, GRB has defined their sound through constant evolution, building to the hook-driven, synth-heavy pop/rock/psych band they are today. The Huffington Post writes, "their songs are infectious and take you immediately to a place. The lyrics are smart and bear weight."
The Get Right Band has shared the stage with Dr. Dog, Everclear, Cracker, UB40, Rusted Root, Smash Mouth, and Lifehouse; been featured on NPR’s World Cafe, Paste Studio, and WTF with Marc Maron; and performed at major venues and festivals including The Fillmore, Brooklyn Bowl, Theatre of the Living Arts, The Orange Peel, FloydFest, Bristol Rhythm & Roots, and Riverbend Fest. They have released four studio albums and a live album, and they have a new LP dropping April 7, 2023.
