Smash Mouth to rock Batavia Downs

Fri, Jun 14th 2024 02:35 pm

Marking their 30th anniversary since forming in San Jose, California, in 1994, multi-Platinum-selling and Grammy-nominated global phenomenon Smash Mouth have returned with the perfect video for their new summer road trip song, “Ride On.”

The video was shot in Northern California (San Francisco, San Jose and Lake Tahoe) and was directed and produced by Logan Parks/The Hard Way. It captures the vibe of the dance-rock tune.

“Ride On” was written by Paul De Lisle with help from the four other members of the band and channels Daft Punk, Tame Impala and yacht-rock vets Pablo Cruise with its top-down, hair-flowing-in-the breeze lyrics tailor-made for cruising on Pacific Coast Highway.

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"We wanted a super chill vibe, a ‘Visit California’ kind of feel for this video, and we think that our awesome director, Logan Parks, did a great job of capturing just that,” De Lisle said. “ ‘Ride On’ can mean so many different things to different people. The main message is just get up and do it, whatever it is! Go outside! Get there! Enjoy your life, cherish nature, embrace your family and friends, you are in the driver’s seat."

“We wrote it as a continuation of our 2001 hit single, ‘Pacific Coast Party,’ with a similar good-vibe feel,” he added. “It’s a very Smash Mouth-California style of rock/disco custom song made just for summer, a respectful and loving homage to Pablo Cruise.”

Adds Zach Goode: “We had so much fun cruising around San Jose all day filming the new video. It’s not every day that you get picked up from the airport in a Cyber Truck and then they hand you the keys! It was a perfect California day in the band’s hometown and the positive vibes were strong. Cars, motorcycles, surfing and skating – it’s all part of the lifestyle that the band lives and loves we hope the fans feel some of that from the new song and video!”

“We got the wheels/We got the weather/We got the right of way together,” sings Goode, who co-wrote the song with founding member and bassist De Lisle, guitarist Sean Hurwitz, drummer Randy Cooke and keyboardist Michael Klooster.

The single was released on independent label Vydia, ahead of the band’s summer tour.

Smash Mouth will perform as part of the “Rockin the Downs Summer Concert Series” at Batavia Downs on Friday, June 21, in support of their “Ride On Tour” 2024. Click HERE for more information or for tickets.

More about Smash Mouth

Smash Mouth have been a force on the international rock ’n’ roll scene for three decades, known for their late-’90s chart-topping hits “Walkin’ on the Sun” and “All-Star,” the latter a staple of the first “Shrek” film and soundtrack. It recently surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify alone.

The band’s popularity has endured over the years, with a YouTube channel boasting more than a million subscribers.

Between 1997 and 2002, Smash Mouth notched six Top 20 hits, from their debut ska-punk-influenced Interscope album, “Fush Yu Mang,” which went double-Platinum thanks to “Walkin’ on the Sun” and subsequent singles “The Fonz” and a cover of War’s “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” which was featured in the 1998 Kevin Bacon film “Wild Things.”

The band’s second album, the triple-Platinum “Astro Lounge,” released in 1999, produced the hit single “All Star,” whose inclusion on the “Shrek” soundtrack (along with their cover of the Monkees’/Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer”) has led the band to DJ at numerous “Shrek raves” over the years, along with “Then the Morning Comes.”

Other career highlights include appearing as themselves in the climactic scene of the film “Rat Race”; the hit “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” featured in the movie “Can’t Hardly Wait”; and, last year, a second Christmas album, “Missile Toes,” featuring Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles, the band’s first full-length release in more than 10 years.

Smash Mouth has toured with U2, Lenny Kravitz, KISS and NSYNC and have collaborated with a variety of show business legends from the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck to George Clinton to Neil Diamond. Their appearances on “The Howard Stern Show” as a self-proclaimed favorite of the host have also been noteworthy.

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