West Of Rome’s Kevin Higginbotham wrote “Take A Ride With The Evil One” in Nanjing, China, on a cheap guitar. “It was given to me by a friend of mine, Lao Dong, the co-owner of the bar where all the expats hung out,” says Higginbotham, lead singer for the apparently well-traveled South Texas indie-rock quartet. “The song is about the false promises of a Western upbringing—and therefore kind of dark.”
It didn’t help that Higginbotham was living in a cheap hostel at the time. “It was miserable,” he says. “One night, I had a dream where (former NBA All-Star) Shawn Kemp was hanging out on a playground, sitting on a swing set. I asked him, ‘How do I get out of China?’ Then Kemp metamorphosed into Lou Reed, and he said, ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’ Shawn/Lou was right. I flew home soon after that.”
“Take A Ride With The Evil One” is the latest single from West Of Rome’s new self-released debut, Keep It Fly In The Negative Zone. Its video captures the actual recording process at Austin’s Ramble Creek Studio. “I look a little worse for wear—we’d been cutting all day—and I think it fits the track,” Higginbotham says. “I wanted to shoot this in Shanghai, but the airfare was outrageous.”
We’re proud to premiere West Of Rome’s “Take A Ride With The Evil One” video.
—Hobart Rowland
