Watch Eric Burdon Team Up With Hey, King to Recreate the Animals’ ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’
Indie rock duo Hey, King have released a new video that captures the recording of their cover of the Animals’ classic “We Gotta Get Out of this Place,” featuring Animals frontman himself, Eric Burdon.
The cover finds Burdon in fine form as he unleashes his perennially potent wail alongside vocals from Hey, King’s Natalie London and Taylor Plecity. Ben Harper — who produced Hey, King’s upcoming debut album — lends his voice to the song as well, and appears in the video, which was filmed at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.
Hey, King recorded their cover of “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” for their recent Be Still EP. The duo linked up with Burdon in part because the rocker’s wife, Marianna, had seen Hey, King perform live last December and had raved about the gig to her husband.
London tells Rolling Stone that they also reached out to Burdon after deciding to cover “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” for Be Still, saying: “I wrote a letter to Eric explaining how much the song meant to me and my family with the hopes he would give us his blessing to cover this song. Never in a million years did I expect we would not only receive his blessing but that he would wind up singing it with us!”
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The day of the session, Burdon remembers arriving at the famed Capitol Records building and hearing Hey, King working on the track as he approached the studio. “Their energy and enthusiasm reverberated throughout the tracking room, and with Ben at the wheel in the control room, all I had to do was step up to the microphone and lay down the track. Easy!” Burdon says. “I felt a degree of comfort as if I were at home, and then I thought to myself, ‘Hell… this is home!’ This is Hollywood, this is Capitol Records! What an inspirational place to be in! Glad to revisit a song that is as relevant today as when I first recorded it, given a fresh breath of youth and vitality.”
Harper adds of working with Burdon: “Eric’s voice is so powerful, you could record him from the corner of Hollywood and Vine, but witnessing him singing in that legendary environment, and getting to sing with him, as well as with Natalie and Taylor, was as good as it gets. I’m glad we have it on record so that I can relive this life-affirming experience.”
Hey, King will release their debut album next year via Anti-.
