Singled Out: Midnight Spin's In the Air (Revival)

For its pop sensibilities and dance-y beat, In the Air (Revival) is a pretty dark song. It's lyrical base began from a story I had read about a shooting in Pittsburgh last year, where three police officers were shot to death by a 22-year old gunman who was scared about the Obama Administration rolling back gun ownership laws and taking away firearms, something which, in a legislative reality, has never happened. From there I started to wonder why someone would think something that outlandish and have such a tragic response to it. The lyric sarcastically suggests "Better use 'em while you still can", which sadly ended up happening.

It led me to think more about 21st century mass media, and its tremendous reach and effect, and how these days, it just doesn't go away. It's everywhere, 24 hours a day, inescapably present. And it can be abused very easily by people for whatever narrow interest they have. So basically the song is about fear, but also contains some hope in the lyrics as well, saying that when we all learn as a human race/nation/society that we've kind of created this monster, and things kind of fall apart as a result, there will be people with pure intentions ready to reclaim responsibility.

The video plays on this loosely. We have a suited fat-cat character who seem's well put together but as the video progresses starts to unravel into this jack ass kind of "monster". There's a lyric in the song that says "some try to blind the youth" and that inspired the blindfolds that pop up throughout. At the end of the video the perspective changes and the fat-cat blindfolds the viewer...and we did this to make a broader point (as a band we aren't nearly as politically charged as this songs lyrics can be interpreted). I think everyone has had an instance where they feel like they are being taken advantage of or blinded by something or someone, whether it's a friend, or a boss, or a drug...but at the end of the day you can simply pull the blindfold off and change your perspective. Sometimes you have the blindfold on so long you forget that.

Musically, I've described the song as Godzilla playing guitar in a Led Zeppelin tribute band at the closing night at Studio 54. It's fun as hell to play. And it gets a great reaction during live shows. Danny is the voice you hear howling out during the bridge mellow part, he is embracing his Cherokee roots. Must be in the blood. Instrumentally it's a fuzz guitar orgy.