[Cover photo credit to Chrystal Kelly]
Raleigh, N.C.-area duo The One Eighties have released the Disco-Americana single “No King,” a song about the “demise of an oppressor”. It was an outlier in their early writing process leading up to their debut album arriving in 2023. Accompanying it is a video that depicts the rise of said oppressor and his “disco cult minions” who eventually plot his demise.
Daniel Cook comments on the song:
It was so far afield from the other music we were making that we almost threw it in the trash several times.
Coming up with the idea for the video actually saved the song, as Autumn Brand comments:
Doing it this way allowed us to finish the song with the video in mind instead of the other way around.
The video was co-directed by Cook, art-directed by Brand, and produced with the support of Myriad, a Raleigh-based video company.
“No King” follows The One Eighties’ debut single “Dead Star Light”, combining traditional Roots instrumentation such as guitar, drums, bass, and pedal steel guitar, with lush string arrangements and synths and features drummer Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, Kelsea Ballerini) and bassist Mark Hill (Reba McEntire, Kelly Clarkson, The Civil Wars).
The duo were both originally part of the band New Reveille, whose debut album The Keep was met with critical success. Despite their growing success and after a series of events, New Reveille parted ways. After many contemplative months, the songwriters decided to move forward as a duo, doing a “one-eighty” and changing the course of their musical lives.
