Wild One: The Tryouts - Ray Christ - ABC Rage

Oct 26, 2024

This week’s Wild One ‘Ray Christ’ is an absolute cookie crumbler from Newcastle-based two-piece The Tryouts.Existentialist, melancholic and somehow nostalgic, ‘Ray Christ’ is a 2024 interpretation of geek rock that balances bright tones with shadowy chord progressions. Band member David Macmichael says the song is is about “a weird experiment they conducted in my hometown of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia where the city planted palm trees to see how they would fare against the miserable climate. Except it's not really about that at all...”.Tryouts band member Chelsea Reed (to which David is married- cuties!) says that most Tryouts songs come together in a similar way. “They often start with one of Dave’s ideas, which we then flesh out together and arrange for guitar, drums and vocals. Lyrically, the song is about a few things: nostalgia, being a kid, wanting to escape your hometown/school/life, and also palm trees (haha).” The video for ‘Ray Christ’ is a Moonrise Kingdom-esque production directed by Melbourne based creative Rick Clifford. Filmed on Awabakal Land (around Newcastle) over a day and a half, it’s pretty safe to say that the whole team are chuffed with the results.“We tossed around some ideas and decided to go with the scouts digging a hole through Earth to tie in with the childhood images from the song. We were definitely inspired by Wes Anderson visually. We love how it turned out silly and sweet and we hope you love it!"