Wallows Announce ‘Remote’ EP, Finally Attend Schaefer’s Party in New Video

Wallows finally find their way to Schaefer’s party in the Nineties teen movie-inspired video for their new, Ariel Rechtshaid-produced single “Nobody Gets Me (Like You).” It’s the lead single off their upcoming quarantine-made EP Remote, which will be released on October 23rd.

The video for “Nobody Gets Me” picks up where the video for “OK” left off. Both were directed by Dillon Dowell and embody all the classic tropes of Nineties and early Aughts teen comedies. In “OK,” the trio make a psychedelic fast food run on their way to their friend Schaefer’s party. In their new video, they finally make it to the party, where the song’s lead vocalist Braeden Lemasters pines for love. Across the way, he finds the girl of his dreams: himself in a wig. They fall in love before the party abruptly ends with the new couple being abducted and the revelation that their lives exist on a curly fry in outer space. 

“It was weird to shoot something during Covid,” fellow lead vocalist Dylan Minnette tells Rolling Stone over Zoom. To maintain social distance safety standards while filming a party, they had a small group of friends who were tested interspersed with mannequins and cardboard cutouts to maintain the illusion. “Part Three [of the video arc] is starting to come together now,” he adds.

“Nobody Gets Me (Like You)” serves as the first taste of the group’s upcoming six-song EP Remote, a collection entirely recorded while they all quarantined due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While they worked with Rechtshaid on the single, the rest of the EP was produced by the band with Sachi DiSerafino and John DeBold. Minnette tells RS that the original idea was to curate and record a mixtape with all the demos and ideas they had been putting together since the release of their debut album Nothing Happens. 

“The process was all over the place in that way because the idea of what Remote was going to be took a lot of different forms,” Minnette, who starred in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, explains. The band had started working on “Nobody Gets Me (Like You)” as the follow-up single to “OK” prior to sheltering in place; they thought they might hold it until it was time to release an album. Ultimately, though, they felt like it fit with the songs they were making for this in-between project much better. 

While at first a unique and challenging process to write and record separately, Wallows quickly adjusted. “Because we were doing this remotely, this EP forced me to learn how to use my computer programs better and record stuff in a better way,” drummer Cole Preston tells Rolling Stone. “As far as the songwriting goes, it was interesting to be apart because we weren’t writing on Zoom calls.” The group would exchange voice memos whenever they had new lyrics, and every vocal part was recorded with their iPhones (or, in Lemaster’s case, his mom’s iPhone). “Whenever I had an idea for a new song, I would get to sit with it myself before it would go anywhere, which is kind of nice,” Preston says.

When it came to paring down the songs, Wallows ended up focusing on making Remote a “concise, energetic project,” as Preston describes. “We wanted to put our best foot forward.”

Over the last several weeks, the Los Angeles-based band have begun getting tested regularly so they can not only perform for their virtual world tour but also write and record their upcoming sophomore album. The final two dates of their “tour” — all of which were pre-recorded following safety and health standards at the Roxy — will air on September 13th (the U.K. and Europe show, airing at 7 p.m. BST) and September 27th (the Australia, New Zealand and Asia show, at 6 p.m. JST). 

Remote Tracklist

1. “Virtual Aerobics”
2. “Dig What You Dug”
3. “Nobody Gets Me (Like You)”
4. “Coastlines”
5. “Talk Like That”
6. “Wish Me Luck”