Asbury Park, NJ indie rocker Mike Chick is back with a lyric video for “Shake What They
Gave You”, the newest single from his latest album, More Thrills, Less Hills, out now via
Mint 400 Records. “Shake What They Gave You” is breezy indie rock that nods its hat to
groups like Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Stereolab and Steely Dan. The song is one of
Chick’s most beloved on More Thrills, Less Hills, as it features random things like
shuffleboard, shakers and seasonings.
“This was the last song on the record to get worked on. I was seeing the other songs
take shape and mature, while SWTGY remained this scrawny little demo. But once the
instruments started piling on, it quickly became one of my favorite songs on the record.”
You might also recognize a swishing noise at the beginning and end of the song. “The
song starts and ends with sounds of a shuffleboard disc cruising by, which for me is a
very nostalgic and soothing sound.” More Thrills, Less Hills also features sounds from a
Jai Alai game on its opening track, “Kicking Out.”
“Shake What They Gave You” features Bill Bourke on drums, Lou Panico on bass, Emily
Borneman on vocals and Richie Brown on the end spiel. “The song has a lot of shaker
percussion on it, so it made me think of seasonings, which are also always getting
shaken. I wrote this bit about the effects of salt on a dish and could hear Richie Brown’s
voice reading it. Richie is a visual/audio/life artist I have known for years and knew he
was the only person for this job. He sent me several versions of the spiel in different
voicings, which was a lot of fun to edit together. Thank you, Richie.”
The lyric video features footage from a trip Mike Chick took to Italy in August 2023 and
was shot on a MiniDV camera. “It was fun to watch people’s reactions to me recording
with a miniDV camera. Everyone has a cell phone, right? So people are looking at me
like “what is that guy doing with that thing, why doesn’t he just use his phone?” Chick
concludes, “It’s nice to not be on your phone for everything, even if it means carrying
around this whole other entity.” The video was edited by Chick’s Yawn Mower bandmate
Biff Swenson, who also shot and edited Chick’s videos for “Call Up The Doctor” and “Deep Moat.”
More Thrills, Less Hills, is Chick’s third LP and follows 2022’s I Don’t Write Love Songs.
Both are out now via Mint 400 Records.
