Robotic Hawks unveil video for 'Ansonia'
The visual was filmed over the course of a few nights at Robotic Hawks’ New Hampshire practice space with director Damien Pratt
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New Hampshire garage rock band’s new single, backed with a Graham Parker cover, hit the streams in October
Listen to ‘Ansonia’ b/w ‘You Hit The Spot’ on Spotify
Watch the ‘Ansonia’ music video below
HUDSON, NH. [October 7, 2021] -- The Connecticut city of Ansonia may or may not be a place you’d prefer to get stuck in, lost inside a land-locked triangular region within the more notable destinations of Waterbury, New Haven, and Bridgeport. The new Robotic Hawks single “Ansonia” takes its title from the industrial mill city near where frontman Tyler Pollard grew up in Southbury, and like his hometown, it’s also a space that’s tough to escape.
Following this spring’s breakout hit “Security”, a cover of the Otis Redding classic made famous by Thane Russal and Three, the New Hampshire garage rock trio released “Ansonia” to the streaming masses on October 7. The official music video premiered on YouTube on October 14. “Ansonia” arrives in tandem with a cover of Graham Parker’s 1982 post-Rumour effort “You Hit The Spot” as its b-side, keeping Robotic Hawks’ tradition of pairing new singles with their renditions of classic material that helped shape and influence the trio, the second of five such releases on the way.
But first, Robotic Hawks have to make sense of the situation at hand.
“‘Ansonia’ is about one of those relationships that keeps you holding on to hope that things will develop into more than just a friendship,” says Robotic Hawks frontman Tyler Pollard. “The girl keeps sending mixed messages which just keeps him hanging on. It’s nice to dream, but as we all know it can be a pretty painful and demoralizing little vacuum. The trick is knowing when to move on and start fulfilling your own needs.”
Though the song is all about those mixed messages a would-be lover may send, the approach Robotic Hawks take here is direct and to-the-point. It’s a punchy bout of power-pop that furthers the band’s ongoing musical themes of the relationships we have and endure -- with the self, with others, with vices, with situations, and, of course, with love interests.
“A friend told me that ‘Ansonia’ sounds like a song from 1992, which is fair,” Pollard admits. “It’s a radio song that uses classic rock guitars with big drums. ‘Ansonia’ was the first song we were able to cut as a group after resuming full band practices. This entire project is basically a purging of Covid material. It represents a real shot in the arm for us. This feels like we’re back.”
The “Ansonia” music video was filmed over the course of a few nights at Robotic Hawks’ New Hampshire practice space with director Damien Pratt, and furthers the track’s theme is getting caught in a relationship no-man’s land. And Pollard has the “dance” to prove it.
“The idea might be a little on the nose, but basically, when you’re trying to convert a friendzone relationship into a more connected relationship you find yourself doing ‘the dance’. When you’re trying to convince the other person they’re actually in love with you, you’ll do whatever you think they’ll want from you and you can’t flinch,” he says. “You never know when or if things will change, but you’re committed to the dance. Fake it till you make it. You’ll notice that drummer Brian Sturk and guitarist Shawn Doherty are not featured dancers in the video, but I assure you they were juuuust fine with me doing this one on my own.”