19 July 2024 - 0 Comments

Eight-piece femme-fronted soul/funk band Revulva release Beep Beep today, 19 July.

Listen Here

The song was inspired by aggressive driving and honking, Revulva composer and lyricist Phoebe Johnson encountered on a rainy Wellington night. The lyrics “When you’re protected by some metal / Have a foot on the pedal / Say goodbye to hospitality / And hello to hostility” sprung to mind in response, and from there the song was developed.

“Beep Beep is my attempt to unpick aggression on the road” Phoebe shares. “I wanted to convey how being inside a car can make you feel invincible, on a pedestal, and very high and mighty. But I wanted to convey the nuance of this behaviour and lean in on the satire and make fun of those who participate in it - 'those people' is also sometimes me!"

"The car is also a safe place for us to let it all out, to cry, to scream, or to just shut out all the noise, and there is plenty to escape from these days.”

The Beep Beep music video was co-directed by Phoebe Johnson and her partner Daniel Kingston and shot on an old Sony handycam. “Our first music video Bush Bash gave us a (potentially false) sense of confidence so we got to work on our second music video together” they shared. Phoebe adds “ever since writing this song I had the visualisation of 8 clowns doing a driving test together. Something about it felt necessary to release the song - to really lean in on the satire of it.”

Beep Beep is the second single from Revulva's forthcoming self-titled album releasing later this year.

Flirting with funk music, dining with disco music, and jaywalking toward jazz music Revulva are an eight-piece progressive soul/funk band from Te-Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington.

The band consists of New Zealand’s finest musicians including Phoebe Johnson (Ebony Lamb, Dateline, Heavy Chest), Lily Rose Shaw (The Teskey Brothers, The Gallery, OdESSA), Tobias Leman (Hummucide, The Gallery, Earl Green), Hector McLachlan (The Teskey Brothers, Rachel Andie), Kaito Walley (Bret McKenzie, TOI, L.A.B), Lennox Grootjans (Hummucide, Arjuna Oakes, Len Blake), Mysty Cooke (Exploding Rainbow Orchestra, Esbee, Richter City Rebels), and Zane Hawkins (Hummucide, Len Blake, Tusekah) and is always bursting with heart, snarky remarks, sexuality, burning improvised solos, feminist ethos, and a punk attitude.

Revulva’s single and music video Beep Beep is available now (19 July) from all streaming platforms.

Comments

Return to News Archive