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California, the stomping ground of anyone who was ever a great. The epicenter of high life and luxury and if you ever dream of being somebody and worth remembering, you stick with the West Coast. But, as time has moved on, its limelight dimmed with each false hope and each dream amounting to nothing more than words out of a mouth of someone who once was.
Between You & Me was given just that. Empty promises and ink on papers, a belief that every dream will come to fruition if you just follow the leader and sit back. But that doesn’t necessarily work for the 5-piece band who would later have to advocate for themselves. Signing on the dotted line in 2017 only to become an independent band in 2022. After spending the last three years in a world that nobody knew what would happen, they released their sophomore album titled Armageddon. The album that should have had them in the charts but instead they were left on the dusty shelves of whichever archive room Hopeless Records could muster up. To be set aside gave the band the perseverance and drive to want to continue and not let people in offices dictate what they can and can not say.
With the band now on a new track, they are set to release their first independent song titled “Nevermind”. It's a revelation of not everything is as the movie scenes and pictures lay it out to be. The opening track states just that, “I don’t care about the mansions, glitz and the glam, yeah maybe that’s a little played out/… Hollywood you need to calm down.” “Nevermind” is the track that shoves everything about how the limelight and the big suits won’t give you an ounce of what you deserve and although you still have the urge to search for that greater feeling that LA gives you, you take a pass on the place and go where it's more secure.
The music video for this track does something that whether or not the band intended it, it stuck with me as not only a fan but a sole viewer – it gave California its homage but it in turn gave it back to not only their fans but to themselves as well. The showcase of Hollywood Blvd, the Walk of Fame, Venice, Beverly Hills – those are big parts but then throughout those stills, there were moments of live shows and moments of just the band in a white walled room. To have their fans included in their first independent release is solidifying the lyrics in saying “I don’t wanna be the punchline not me/ I wanna hear my songs on MTV/ Still searching for the California kind of vibe.” As much as they showcase prominent features of Southern California and what it can give you, they also showcased parts of their live shows where when you get down to the core of any band, it was full of their fans and people who support them and their music and not just numbers in an excel sheet. To have that is being able to step back and know that what you couldn’t find in the land of empty promises, they would be able to find it elsewhere because of the people they have to back them up.
Between You & Me is the band that you want to back up and they never give you a reason not to. Releasing a song such as “Nevermind” drives that forward and the stills in the music video solidify it all. As the music video ends on a shot of the Hollywood sign and a gorgeous LA sunset, it also feels like a closure on the band being kept in a white walled room and being able to be the band they ultimately thrive to be. It’s BYAM and their fans forever and they won’t be left to the depths of a dusty archive room any longer. They’re an independent band who deserve to be at the top, give them a listen and it’ll be without a doubt you too will become a fan of theirs.
Stream “Nevermind” on Spotify and Apple Music and while you’re at it check out the music video too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DMBXXfa3Pc&ab_channel=BetweenYou%26Me
BYAM will be on tour this April in the US with Real Friends and Knuckle Puck and this May/June in AUS with Slowly Slowly, be sure to check out a show wherever you’re at. https://www.byamaus.com/