"I was like, 'Fuck, we should do a 7-inch,'" says Riley Hawk, pro skater and vocalist-guitarist in the stoner-psych band PETYR, and so the group did, teaming with Outer Battery Records for a new platter featuring the songs "Emerald Eyes" and "Wasted Soul" that you can order here.
"'Emerald Eyes' has a nostalgic late Sixties psych vibe," Hawk tells Revolver. "It was one of those riffs that just got stuck in my head. Then people started asking about it and that's when you know it's something worth playing. It's definitely different than most PETYR songs, but we all like it. The other track, 'Wasted Soul,' is much more fucking dark and heavy, like psych PETYR style."
Along with the two new monster tracks, the band is premiering its video for "Emerald Eyes" here with Revolver. "I actually edited the whole thing myself," says Hawk. "I knew how I wanted it to look after Jacob [Nunez] filmed it, ran it through a VHS recorder and then found a guy on Craigslist who transfers VHS back to digital. It was a process, but when we tried going with the digital filters that were available, they all looked cheesy. Doing it in analog — you can't beat that. So fuck it, we just did it the real way."
The "Emerald Eyes" video is a lo-fi performance clip featuring PETYR throwing down with just black tarps on the floor and behind the band. Hawk says the video comes with the pretense of having fun. "We don't want anyone to take this all too seriously," he explains. "The gigantic black tarp actually makes it look like we're playing inside a giant trash bag. We were going to have the video zoom out at the end and show this guy like tying up the trash bag and then tossing in the garbage. We got lazy and didn't do it, but it's all just us having fun and fucking around."
The new Outer Battery 7-inch comes pressed in a limited edition of only 500 copies on emerald green vinyl, along with an extremely limited test pressing version with an alternate cover. There are only 10 of those, so if you're looking for one, we suggest you jump on it right away.
As for PETYR's plans for 2019, Hawk tells us the band will release a follow-up record to its full-length SMOLYK and then look into hitting the road. "We've never actually done a PETYR tour," he says. "We always have done short runs with Earthless or Radio Moscow or just a few shows, so we don't know what the potential is, but we're willing to give it a go."
