Exclusive Video Premiere: ‘Wish I Knew You,’ The Revivalists

ABOVE: THE REVIVALISTS. PHOTO COURTESY OF TRAVIS SHINN.

The video for “Wish I Knew You,” the latest from New Orleans seven-piece The Revivalists, depicts what looks like a high school reunion-meets-prom. A group of adults becomes increasingly enthusiastic throughout the video, lusting over and eventually dancing with former crushes at their 50-year reunion, surrounded by banners, balloons, and punchbowls. The Revivalists perform on stage, frontman Dave Shaw singing, “I wish I knew you when I was young,” for an audience at least 20 years the band’s senior. Despite the age difference, however, the crowd acts equally as joyous and youthful (i.e. a grey-haired woman spikes the punch bowl).

“They were cast by the RITE media group,” Shaw says of the group. “They really didn’t know what to expect walking in, but throughout the day they got more and more excited, which comes across in the video.”

Filmed in Roswell, Georgia on a day off during the band’s tour, the video for “Wish I Knew You” is premiering below, and the song itself is special in terms of how it was written. “This was one of the first songs I had ever written where I started with the beat first,” Shaw explains. “I had been playing around with the chord progression for a while and I just started jamming on it and scatting melodies over it. Once I had the gist of how I wanted the first verse and the chorus to go, lyrically and melodically, I brought it to the band and we fleshed it out together.”

“Wish I Knew You” appears on The Revivalists’ recently released LP Men Amongst Mountains, which melds genres ranging from Southern-tinged rock ‘n’ roll to blues and jazz. When paired with the video, the song will likely remind you of a long lost high school lover or your childhood playmate, but as Shaw says, “A lot of people have come up to us with really off the wall suggestions of what this song is about. The video suggests one interpretation.” So when watching, keep your ears and mind open.

FOR MORE ON THE REVIVALISTS, VISIT THE BAND’S WEBSITE.