The Vanities have unleashed their frustrated new single ‘Reality TV’ with their debut music video which sees the young band star in their own nightmarish hybrid of Britain’s Got Talent, Black Mirror and The Limmy Show – a tongue-in-cheek jab at the collective state of pacification under the guise of entertainment. The video was shot in Glasgow and directed by Rory Cowieson at Tongue Twister Films.
Would-be reality tv auditionee and The Vanities ringleader Alan Hannah explains: “Rory’s style was absolutely the vibe we wanted to go for. He made it the drugged up love child of Trainspotting and a 90’s Beastie Boys video, suits the tune perfectly, we got a bunch of our pals to come be the judges and the talent show acts, and went hectic.”
Appearing on Spotify’s New Punk Tracks playlist, ‘Reality TV’ smacks of an early Green Day with Alan Hannah’s demanding vocals giving you a taste of what Rancid may have sounded like if Tim Armstrong was Scottish. Aiming for an ‘in your face, snotty kinda tune’, The Vanities wanted a bass driven song dashed with hip-hop grooves that rounded off in a big punk chorus, and it’s safe to say they nailed it. They note Mura Masa & Slowthai’s ‘Deal Wiv It’ as a specific influence while writing ‘Reality TV’
Giving further insight on the new single itself, Hannah says “It’s about the mundanity of car crash reality television and feeling disillusioned with the modern celebrity. The lengths people will go to for their 15 minutes of fame. I wrote whilst finding myself in and out of unemployment and being on benefits, you are stuck alone with nothing but your thoughts and bottom of the barrel TV during the day. We truly do have ambivalence to the important, and an obsession to the pointless.”
‘Reality TV’ is the second single by The Vanities to be released by Glasgow-based independent label 7 West Music, following ‘OTC’ earlier this summer. Spurred on by last year’s support slots with punk legends Buzzcocks, The Ruts/Ruts DC and The Stranglers, The quartet have used time in lockdown to write a slew of new music and have hinted at a new EP coming early next year.