With references to The Three Musketeers, childhood and small towns, Nashville indie rockers Moon Taxi insert the video for their latest single “Hometown Heroes,” a release they hope to be their last under quarantine, while also showing patronage to their city.
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“’Hometown Heroes’ is about friendships and memories,” singer Trevor Terndrup told American Songwriter. “Sometimes they fade, sometimes they shine. That was the original idea behind the song, stepping back from your past and seeing how our perception of time can and must change. Recently, the song has taken on a new meaning with individuals stepping up when we need them most. It was hard for the song to retain its original meaning after the tornado hit our hometown of Nashville. People were looking for a way to celebrate their local heroes and our song has kind of done that for them. I’m happy that the song is a bit of a shapeshifter in that way.”
Brilliant ukulele and indie-pop melodies clash together in the song granting radio-hit potential. Precise lyrics, narrating stories of the past and penetrating vibes of feel-good music are layered throughout. The music video for “Hometown Heroes” is animated and uses space-age style graphics to illustrate the vibrancy and energy of the song.
“The animators who worked on the new video were Brit Cherry and Matthew Wignall. Matt directed it,” Terndrup explained. “We had worked with Matt before on our 2014 video for our song, Morocco which was shot in and around Joshua Tree. We had originally intended on going back out west to shoot the video for Hometown Heroes, but obviously that plan was thwarted. The original idea was to build an actual space ship and round up a bunch of friends to throw a spacey soirée. But, like so many artists -we pivoted as was necessary. Matt had showed me the new video for the song 2069 from his band Wargirl and I was blown away.”
Moon Taxi is a group of Belmont University graduates who got a shot at music early on in 2006 while they were still students. They have been nailing it in their native Nashville ever since and even started their own indie label 12th South Records after the release of their debut record Melodica. They have since released several albums and played countless shows, which included performing as the opener for the 2019 NFL Draft in Nashville.
Until the veil of quarantine is lifted, Moon Taxi will be enjoying the simpler things like homegrown vegetables and blasting their favorite tunes form every corner of their sealed-up homes.
“We are expecting to put out a full-length record in 2020,” Terndrup said. “Obviously, we want to get out and play the new music live, but until we can do that- I’m working on my vegetable garden and playing music from every room in my house.”
