Today The Texas Gentlemen debut “Bare Maximum” via American Songwriter along with a psychedelic video that was made with blood, sweat, and beers.
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“We started shooting the video the week before lockdown so it was really our last time all hanging together with somewhat of a free and easy vibe,” says Daniel Creamer—who fronts the Dallas country rock five-piece along with Nik Lee—of the video.
“Our good friend Rett Rogers had an idea for a simple, fun, psychedelic visual companion piece to the song and really executed it perfectly. He didn’t want a story, as that can often turn cheesy, so we put on some primary colors, had our fair share of beers, sprayed blood on our faces, went for a nighttime jog, and next thing you know we had the number one music video of 2020. At least that’s what I’m assuming is going to happen.”
The video is a colorful complement to the track—a groovy instrumental funk number that kicks off with a hypnotic keyboard riff. “With this tune, Dan and [former drummer] Aaron [Haynes] would jam one of the main riffs at soundcheck just messin’ round and that’s how it grew into a full arrangement,” says Nik Lee of the song. “We really just jammed little pieces of it here and there and over time everyone added their part. Then we baked it at 350° for two tours and later recorded. It was the least we could do.”
The band is rounded out by guitarist Ryan Ake, bassist Scott Edgar Lee, Jr., and Paul Grass (replacing Haynes since the recording) in addition to Creamer and Lee. “Bare Maximum” is the second single off their forthcoming sophomore record, Floor It!!!, following lead single “Ain’t Nothing New.”
The self-described “Texas boogie band” dropped their aptly-titled debut, TX Jelly, in 2018. “The vibe of the first one was, ‘Let’s just do this thing!’” explains Creamer of that release. “But this time it was like, ‘We have this idea about what we want to accomplish.’”
“First and foremost […] we’re a group of friends,” Creamer says of the band as a whole. “And because of that, there’s no limits on the music we create together. We like to have fun and do funky stuff and we like to rock and we like to jam. Sometimes that takes us into country music, sometimes it takes us into soul, sometimes into some progressive things. It can be all kinds of places. There’s no constraints on what we do.”
If “Ain’t Nothing New” sees the Dallas band embracing their “spacey Seventies-rock mode,” then “Bare Maximum” sees the band leaning into their funky side. Check out the track and video below.
Floor It!!! is out July 17 via New West Records. You can pre-order it here.
