Leather Jacket Love Song

Album: Payola (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the only newly recorded track on the Cribs single collection, Payola. The tune was written in 2010 when The Cribs were recording their Ignore The Ignorant album during Johnny Marr's tenure on guitar. It was the last song the band completed as a four-piece before Marr's departure. Ryan Jarman told NME: "It never got released, despite the fact that everyone loved it, because we made a fresh start. It's a three-minute punk rock song, typically Cribs-y. I started to think we should just sit on it and never release it, because I love the songs more when they're not released and they're still mine."
  • The song's music video was directed by Andy Knowles and features the Jarman brothers performing alongside their teenage counterparts in 1997. Knowles explained: "When The Cribs showed me footage of them as kids rocking out in a rehearsal room, it was obvious to us all that a music video had to be made with the content. After conversations with the band and watching VHS tapes of old footage, we made a start on a treatment which would be an ideal way to celebrate their best of album Payola.

    The video blends original camcorder footage from 1997 with newly shot footage to show current day Cribs performing with their younger selves," he continued. "Despite its lo-fi, VHS look, the video uses a sophisticated mix of visual effects, hidden cuts, lookalikes and set decoration to sell the illusion that two generations of Cribs are performing together at the same time. We went to great lengths to re-create the rehearsal room and gig venue from 1997. Shooting in the band's hometown of Wakefield, the video was filmed at the exact same locations as the 17-year old home movies."
  • Payola was released on March 11, 2013 to mark the Cribs' 10th anniversary. This song's opening line, "It was 10 years on" became a coincidental nod to the band's birthday. Ryan Jarman told NME: "The nostalgic element was something we recognised and played up a bit, especially with the video."

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