Exclusive video premiere of ‘Wait & See’ by Popular Creeps, taken from the latest album, ‘All Of This Will End In Tears,’ out via Big Stir Records.

For any other band — or record — ‘Wait & See’ might well have been the lead single. Popular Creeps are rightly celebrated as torch-bearers of ’80s college rock guitar sounds from The Replacements to R.E.M. to Hüsker Dü, and out of all the album’s many fine melodic rockers, this one might bring those sounds together the most organically of all. Guitars jangle and blare in equal measures, gritty vocals rise and fall with heartfelt passion, and the rhythm section surges through hairpin turns, sticking the landing just after the three-minute mark. It’s tight pop songwriting and the band — Lenny Grassa (guitar, vocals), Andrew Colvin (guitar, vocals), Joe Heaphy (bass) and Dave Nantais (drums) – grab the wheel and drive it home like Detroit rockers should.

<a href="https://bigstirrecords.bandcamp.com/album/all-of-this-will-end-in-tears">All Of This Will End In Tears by Popular Creeps</a>

The song was written by Grassa and local collaborator Jeremy Porter, who says of the song’s genesis and evolution toward the band’s signature sound, “It draws on themes of regret, remorse, obsession, and the self-denigrating perspective that comes some time after the end of a disillusioned relationship, plus the early onset of pandemic-era isolation fatigue and the longing for any sort of human interaction beyond the walls of my own home. Lenny and the boys tweaked a few syllables, fip-fopped a couple chords, crunched up the guitars, added some feedback, and wrapped it up in a tight and economical package that makes it totally Popular Creeps.”

The song’s fantastic and experimental video is likely to remind college rock diehards of staying up late to watch 120 Minutes on MTV in its ’80s underground heyday.

Created by Serbian video artist Roteker out of treated footage from Grassa’s phone, it’s a retrofuturistic treat that meshes with the song perfectly. “Roteker didn’t want direction or any kind of script. He asks for keywords to get a feeling for the video. The words I sent to him were: forlorn, waiting, heart, cities, travel, and trains.”

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