Video premiere: The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, ‘One More Drink’ (feat. John Easdale)

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The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs (Photo by Sarah Remetch)

This one’s for all the last calls we’ve missed during the pandemic — the nights you want one more song, one more laugh or one more fleeting distraction from reality before hailing a rideshare and heading home.

“One More Drink” is a song from veteran punk rockers the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs, who last month dusted off their instruments to release an album of that name. It was their first in almost 20 years, a roaring bundle of visceral rock ’n’ roll not beholden to one style, savvy but not stuck in the past, an 11-song chug from the fountain of youth.

The band — original members Frank Meyer on lead vocals/guitar, Dino Everett on bass and Mike Sessa on drums, with Bruce Duff on guitar and Geoff Yeaton on sax — welcomed guest appearances from several of their heroes on the album, and none other than John Easdale of Dramarama turns up on the title track.

He’s featured prominently in the hilarious video, too. It was directed by Meyer, whose day job is as a director/producer of film and video content.

“When the pandemic hit and we couldn’t play live for a while, I jumped into music video director mode and had us start making them more frequently,” he says. “For ‘One More Drink’ I wanted to lean into the drinking concept of the song and make it seem like we were such alcoholics that we couldn’t even get through a lip-synching performance. So I had everyone collect their alcohol bottles from around the house for a week and bring them to the shoot. I expected a few bags. We had three garbage cans full. I have never been prouder of my bandmates.”

Easdale also got in the spirit, although he couldn’t be present for the shoot, at a Gardena rehearsal studio.  “Due to COVID, it didn’t make sense for him to come to the shoot, so he came to my apartment instead and I set it up like a music video studio,” Meyer said. “As if he’s the guest host on an MTV-style video show and introduces a live performance feed from us … but we get too drunk and screw it up!

“Basically, we shot a bunch of takes of us performing and slowly unraveling in a daze of alcohol-induced lunacy. Our bassist Dino took a header into the drum kit, and drummer Mike Sessa’s look of disgust is quite real. And, yes, I did really vomit a bit. Just a bit.”

||| Watch: The video for “One More Drink”

||| Also: Watch the video for “We Are the Ones (We’ve Been Waiting For)”

||| Also: Stream “One More Drink” in its entirety