Brooklyn, NY-based indie rockers The Exits are due to release their debut EP any minute now. The band, which consists of Jared Schneider (guitar, lead vocals), Ryan “Cal” Calabrese (drums, vocals), and Tom Harrison (bass), have been causing quite the local commotion thanks to regular club gigs and house parties in New York City area.

Interestingly, the band may be all rock now, but their early days were actually steeped in hip-hop. Originally performing under the moniker DownBeat Keys while attending Hamilton College, Schneider and Calabrese shared the stage with acts as diverse as Future (SXSW) and Bon Jovi (PlayStation Theater). Fast forward in time and the pair teamed with Harrison and the band’s new incarnation was born.

The Exits have been featured at Pure Grain Audio, New Noise, and Impose, and now their atmospheric new video for “Please Don’t Tell” gets its premiere here at The Big Takeover. In the video directed by Sebastian Pinaud, a young woman is seen prancing happily along the shoreline with a wide smile on her face. These shots are made to look like old reel-to-reel footage, while in present time she finds herself asleep at the beach with a gas mask covering her features.

This young woman walks along the sand under a cloudy sky, encountering no one as she gets around to an uninhabited motel. She hangs out in empty rooms, musing and scribbling down her thoughts, until night drops and the colored lights turn on. She spies life in the form of the band performing outside the motel and she sways and twirls to the dreamy vibes of the song…

Jared Schneider details the backstory of the song and video, divulging, “The song doesn’t have a lot of lyrics. It’s basically a prayer. There’s only one direct theme, and that’s dishonesty in a relationship. But the song isn’t really about anything specific. It’s more of a feeling. I wrote it shortly after a friend of mine passed away from a drug overdose. “Please Don’t Tell” is actually the name of a bar in the East Village, somewhere we hung out together. So the song came out of those feelings, along with my experience in a troubled relationship.”

Jared Schneider continues, “The video matches the vibe of the song nicely. Because the song doesn’t have a direct narrative, it left space for the video to tell its own story. Much of the narrative is implied, but you’re basically watching a girl fight boredom in a post-apocalyptic world. She’s taken refuge in an abandoned motel, and imagines a band performing to entertain herself. It’s escapism.”

“We shot it at The Caribbean motel in Wildwood, New Jersey. It’s a town on the shore nicknamed “Doo Wop City” because they’ve preserved all of this ’50s architecture. It was a cold day in November, and the motel was closed for the season, all of which add to the eerie feeling of the piece,” Jared Schneider concludes.

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