The Drives Shares New Single 'Not That Bad'

Back with their first release since 2021's This Might Take A While, cinematic garage rock band The Drives today release the single and video "Not That Bad" - Listen. Today's release is the first single off of the band's forthcoming second EP.

Fully produced by the LA-based trio, "Not That Bad" as well as the band's upcoming EP, very transparently delve into the world of mental health. As a means to tackling things head-on and avoiding complacency, the band offers a raw look into their innerworkings as individuals, functioning within a collective unit.

On today's release singer and guitarist Andrew Levin said, "This song is an attempt to capture the aftermath of a romantic relationship that ends before it really starts." He continues, "It's that point when you are just getting to know someone and then things slow down for whatever reason, so you can't really be sad about anything, even though you clearly are. People end relationships for a million different reasons and sometimes it has nothing to do with their partner anyways."

In the official video, created with director of photography Geffen Shichor, the band masters their own brand of aloof sincerity that is reminiscent of a video you'd see playing in a skate shop in the early aughts, while contrastingly surrounded by the warm hues of a 70s dream home. This visual perfectly differentiates the band's grit with their emotional connectedness to the content they create.

The Drives are a trio who craft gritty indie-rock music that explores complex narratives of vulnerability with raw, unfiltered honesty. Comprised of singer/guitarist Andrew Levin, producer/guitarist Casey Chen, and bassist Geo Botelho, they currently produce and record everything out of their home studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles.

In June 2017 they released their single "Tell Me," which landed in multiple of Amazon Music's top alternative playlists including DV8, Alternative Hits, Fresh Alternative and Fresh Indie. The song was also featured on KX 104.7 and was even used for a Pizza Hut commercial back in 2018. In 2019, the trio released "Keep Warm," which topped #3 on Hypem's Popular Chart, was featured on KCRW's Jason Kramer's Show and landed a placement on Spotify's Fresh Finds playlist. The band finished 2019 by playing at one of LA's most iconic venues, The Satellite, in December, but their live performances came to a halt due to the pandemic in early 2020.

Nevertheless, they kept songsmithing and released "OCD" in October 2020. Inspired by Andrew's own experiences with mental health, "OCD" gained critical acclaim from various media outlets including Buzz Bands LA. The next track "All This Boredom" was featured by Atwood Magazine, as well as Buzz Bands LA's 88.5 FM show and 89.3 FM Liverpool. In January 2021, the band released "The Comedown," a slacker rock anthem that landed on several of Amazon Music's top curated alternative playlists including Fresh Alternative, Breakthrough Alternative, and Control Alt Repeat.

"The Comedown" also received praise from FLOOD Magazine and Spill Magazine. In September of 2021, the band released one last single "End At The Door" which landed on three of Spotify's top curated playlists including The New Alt, New Noise, and Rockin' Vibes. They also returned to live performances by playing shows with School Night, Breaking Sound, and Amazon Music's Breakthrough live performance series.

The Drives ended 2021 with the release of their debut EP This Might Take A While featuring the track "You Would Always Say" which also landed on Spotify curated playlist The New Alt. Their debut EP has garnered over 1.3 million streams on Spotify and over 812k streams on Amazon Music. The Drives spent the first half of 2022 diligently working in their home studio to put together their second EP. The first taste of this project, "Not That Bad", is available everywhere today.

Watch the new music video here:

To post a comment, you must register and login.