Walrus Are Played Out

12 August, 2019
Written by Marky Edison

The Halifax, Nova Scotia garage-psych quartet, Walrus, are sharing the video for their new single, ‘Played Out’. the latest to be taken from their forthcoming second album, Cool To Who, which is due for release on October 18 via Outside Music. The new clip trails recent summer festival dates which found the band play alongside Dead Meadow, A Place To Bury Strangers and Orville Peck with further dates in support of the new album to be announced for the UK and North America shortly.

Whilst visually tipping hat to the band’s affinity for wrestling, ‘Played Out’ sonically angles towards the band’s garage-rock temperament, cutting a groove laced with doom-laden riffs and billowing guitars. Thematically, the track looks to document the feeling of negative repetition, a topic tackled within the video: “Even though you know it’s no good for you, and the feeling is played out compared to what it used to be… you do it anyway.”

Director, Jeff Miller, adds: The ‘Played Out’ video is like time traveling through my wrestling fandom. I started editing music videos to bootlegged wrestling clips when I was in the 7th grade, and that sparked a full-on career as a music video director/editor.” He continues, “when Walrus said they wanted a video for ‘Played Out', their only stipulation was that it was somehow pro wrestling related and it was like everything had come full circle.”

Formed in 2012 by two brothers, Justin (vocalist and guitarist) and Jordan (drummer) Murphy, alongside two friends in Truro, Nova Scotia, the band cut their teeth in music via the traditional route of heavy touring. Intense bouts of gigging saw the quartet earn a reputation, not only for their live shows but also for the way they treat the process - on one occasion managing to get banned from Avis Rental Car. Walrus, have been the recipients of some great tutelage along the way, they were signed to Dan Mangan’s Madic Records for their first album which garnered them some immediate attention and most recently, they supported The Sadies across their North American tour.