FOR FANS OF: Fall Out Boy, Arctic Monkeys, The White Stripes
cleopatrick, rock duo from Cobourg, Canada, are back with "THE DRAKE." cleopatrick consist of members Luke Gruntz (vocals, guitar) and Ian Fraser (drums). "THE DRAKE" follows their first single since 2018, "GOOD GRIEF," and is a raw, fuzz filled epic jam.
"it’s about assholes from our hometown. it’s about never standing up for yourself. and it’s about looking forward to the day you can leave people like **redacted** behind."
I love cleopatrick's music because it's real. It's not filtered, fake, empty words. It's authentic, from their sound to their lyrics. I fell in love with cleopatrick's music the same way preteen me fell in love with Fall Out Boy's - they both have complex, honest lyrics that have a story behind it, lyrics that are personal and unique, ones which give all the power over to the listener. With both Fall Out Boy and cleopatrick, you can sit down and take your own meaning out from their songs, you can take their lyric booklets & your pen and annotate them to your heart's desire, as if it was a poetry book (which - songs are a form of poetry, but you get it). "THE DRAKE" is a track that shows all of this, in fact, it has a story behind it, as Luke Gruntz of cleopatrick explains in depth below:
"we wrote this song 3 years ago. this song is about a gig we played at “the drake hotel” in toronto, back in 2017. it was shortly after our band had started to pop on spotify. we were very anxious for this show as it was going to be one of our first performances where we would be in front of a crowd of people that had discovered us through the internet. we felt a lot of pressure, and intended to impress.
however, shortly before we went up to play, things ended up taking a very unfortunate turn. as we nervously watched the crowd spill onto the venue floor from outside, a familiar group caught our eye...
it was “the boys”
i don’t mean the cool independent rock ep “the boys”
i mean the smalltown, hockey playing, ballcap wearing, asshole version of the boys.
the kind of “the boys” that had made us feel embarrassed about our love of music in highschool.
the kind of “the boys” that we tried to escape through this band.
the kind of “the boys” we had written an entire ep about.
and there was one particular guy in the group that really put me out of my head.
it was **redacted**
my highschool bully.
apparently him and his friends had heard about our bands moderate success and decided to come to the gig and buddy up now that our music was cool. this ruined everything. honestly. it was one of the worst shows we ever played.
i have a vivid memory of playing hometown that night. singing the second verse lines “somehow they make it to all of my shows, now where can i go?” and watching this horribly cartoonish scene unfold
as some kids decided to start a mosh pit, **redacted** (having never been to a rock show before) thought the playful shoulder bumping was actually 6 individual people all trying to fight him at once in the middle of the dance floor.
with a beer in one hand, he used the other to put one of our best friends on the ground in a chokehold. we watched from the stage. we felt powerless. we actually kept playing as more friends rushed in and tried to calm the situation. it fucking sucked.
so anyways. this song is about that night at the drake. it’s about assholes from our hometown. it’s about never standing up for yourself. and it’s about looking forward to the day you can leave people like **redacted** behind."
On the lyric video, Luke goes on to say:
"the lyric video was made by ian using some home video camera footage of a house show we played years later. it was actually filmed by the same friend **redacted** roughed up at the drake that night.
we would have liked to make a full music video for this song, but covid has made that far too difficult. it’s all good though. i love this lyric video. the footage is full of some of the best people we know, and it contrasts the origins of the song so poetically.
it’s the drake, but this time without any of “the boys” in sight."
cleopatrick lyrics give you the inspiration to go forth and tell your own story, to put your own feelings & thoughts out there honestly, and that's what they've continued to do themselves on "THE DRAKE." This song is about being thrown into an powerless, scary situation, as if you were one of the runts among a group of alpha male wolves, and you had to pretend to be bigger than you are to fit in and to fight bullies. "Listen this ain't me...I ain't ever shown my teeth."
"THE DRAKE" is a deep song lyrically, one that makes me feel many emotions, ones rooted in retrospect of my own character, and produces many questions up in my head, some like these: Would you go against who you really are to protect your friends in times of danger, and also in times when the pressure to be cool and tough (unlike what you might think you actually are) is just too much? Do you cave to others' expectations and standards, or do you be yourself - and who is that person, who are you really? Are you who you are when you're alone, or are you the person you are when you're with others? Do you build walls, put on a facade for others' approval, or do you be honest and real, regardless of what others say about you?
Those questions and other big feelings are what I get from "THE DRAKE," a song like cleopatrick's others, one that is wrapped in musical & lyrical genius, a song that is heavy, in all meaning of the word in relation to music. I love this track so much, it might be my favorite they've released so far in their self-proclaimed "new era" of music that they're in.
cleopatrick are one of the best modern rock bands out there right now, and "THE DRAKE" does it's job more than enough in reaffirming that statement. They capture what it's like to be young and lost in ways that make me feel less alone, that make me question myself and my reality as I see it, that make me want to become a better person. I love cleopatrick's music so much, I can't wait for whatever they release next.
cleopatrick are set to release their debut LP sometime later this year.
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