Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight expose the duality of digital lives on âSkeleton Closetâ.
Incendiary new single from the reloaded Boston quartet hits the streams on September 27, with a Gene Dante-directed music video out NOW.
In the real world, things are often exactly how they seem. On social media, the opposite is nearly always true. And yet we play the game and endure the cycle: Post. Comment. Like. Share. Scroll. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.Â
By now, our social media habits are second-nature, and when weâre not busy arguing over the most trivial of things, weâre spending time building our own personal facade of how we want others to perceive our lives. But on âSkeleton Closet,â Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight pull back the curtain on the lies that fuel social media and show a different scene on the other side of the screen. The Boston alt-rock and post-punk bandâs adrenalized new single hit the streams on Tuesday, September 27, with its Gene Dante-directed music video premiering on YouTube on October 11. The band plays Notch Brewing in Brighton on October 27.Â
Skeleton Closet
ââSkeleton Closetââ is about the duality of social media: the public persona vs. the private,â Shae says. âWe donât want people to know we are unhappy, to see the unpleasantries, so we post a photo of some lavish object we bought, or of ourselves smiling with, perhaps, people we loathe. The idea of social media as a means to connect and share all emotions has really backfired, hasnât it? Instead, we bury our secrets. We put filters on not just our faces; we put them on our lives. And we all do it, to some extent.â
Gretchen Shae & the Middle Eight: Gretchen Shae - Guitar/Vox Ronan Fahy - Lead Guitar Killian Carcosa - Bass Nick Mehos - Drums
When Shae offers up the opening lyrics of âItâs show and tell / Gather round / Take it all out / Donât hide yourself,â sheâs not only setting a thematic tone for the fiery track, which rages with a punk rock fury and a glossy â90s alternative sheen, but also welcoming us into a world where nothing is as it seems. And this is a world weâve all welcomed with open arms, despite it constantly aligning against our best interests. Â
âThe song came together in the summer of the pandemic,â Shae admits. âWe were all stuck inside our homes. For many, social media was the only socializing permitted; thus, it became an extension of real life in a hypersensitive fashion. The uptick of posts was extraordinary. It is a basic human instinct to one to connect with others, to be approved of, to be loved. The songâs chorus âLiving with secrets/they become your truthâ cautions the listener: beware the duality you project.âÂ
Following this summerâs Exit Fire EP, which collected the bandâs first batch of singles, âSkeleton Closetâ is the latest and loudest in Gretchen Shaeâs Middle Eight arsenal, refueled and reloaded with a new lineup that features guitarist Ronan Fahy, bassist Killian Carcosa, and drummer Nick Mehos. âSkeleton Closetâ kickstarts an exciting new chapter for Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight, and appropriately enough, the incendiary trackâs music video is set on the red carpet of a film premiere. But like all things surrounding this song and our social media-driven lives, what lurks under the surface â here, the band rocking out in black and white in skeletal suits, away from the glitz and the glamor of the bright neon lights â is at striking odds with what we see in front of us.Â
  âFor the âSkeleton Closetâ music video, I envisioned a simple concept: what we present vs. who we are inside,â says Dante. âA movie premiere encapsulates that perfectly. The red carpet situation is a perfect symbol of people presenting their most agreeable selves: Smiling, positive, triumphant; putting on their best faces. In contrast, the âmovieâ segment is literally a high-contrast black and white study of the band rocking out â their true selves. The red carpet shots were kept tight to emulate pressure, with the band standing rigidly together. They move more freely when âallowedâ to play their instruments. The black and white segment is when they really cut loose and are free.âÂ
Thereâs newfound freedom within the real world of Gretchen Shae & The Middle Eight as well. The new lineup has sparked creativity and collaboration: Fahey and Carcosa play with Shae in their Siouxsie Sioux cover band Gretchen & The Banshees, and Mehos brings a visual component that gives the bandâs music an animated and eye-catching aesthetic element. And the duality of the track shines through in its accompanying visuals. âwanted to create something that was in line with early-â90s Tim Burton playfulness on the surface while darker things lie beneath,â Mehos adds. Â
âThis new line up is a new band in a multitude of ways,â Shae concludes. âWhenever you introduce existing songs to new players, they breathe their own life into the parts they play. We have taken a more post-punk turn on many of the songs we are working on. I love when everyoneâs personality comes through on their instrument. This group brings a range of influences to the table; from metal to post-punk, from punk rock to shoegaze, our individual influences are reflected in our playing.â