Video: Momma, ‘Speeding 72’

Matt Wallock on April 22nd, 2022

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Brooklyn-via-Los Angeles indie rockers Momma this week announced their debut studio LP, “Household Name” — out July 1 via Polyvinyl / Lucky Number Music — with the lead single “Speeding 72,” a Pavement-inspired scuzzfest built around a prominent guitar hook.

“Speeding 72” is, quite literally, a driving anthem: “Look out your window / driving in a different town / same street, same home / Buckle up so we can go.” Momma is fronted by Allegra Weingarten and Etta Friedman, who share vocal and guitar duties, and rounded out by bassist-producer Aron Kobayashi Ritch, who co-wrote “Speeding 72.”

“Household Name” follows Momma’s 2020 record “Two of Me.” The concept for the record is essentially “What if Momma became a household name?” Weingarten, Friedman and Kobayashi Ritch embraced this question after watching Jack Black and Kyle Gass’s 2006 stoner musical Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, which follows “JB” and “KG” as they pursue rock greatness.

“This is a summer record, and it’s a road-trip record,” Weingarten told Stereogum of “Household Name,” which was produced by Kobayashi Ritch and mastered by Emily Lazar (Cherry Glazerr, Charly Bliss, Maggie Rogers). “It’s a record to listen to in the car with your friends; it just felt really warm and inviting and fun.”

“‘Speeding 72’ is probably the most collaboratively written song on the new record. We wanted it to be the sort of summertime anthem that you can turn on during a drive to impress your crush,” the band explains. “The most important part of the production was setting the right mood to transport the listener. The song starts with Aron getting into his car (which is featured on the album cover), and then turning on the ignition.”

The video for “Speeding 72,” directed by Madeline Leshner and Zach Stone, nods to that imagery, with Momma ditching school to go on a Big Gulp-fueled joy ride. Says Leshner: “I knew we had to find the perfect car since that’s such a big part of the song. While in pre-production, I saw this Volvo parked on my block and knew we had to have it, so I left a note on the windshield, and serendipitously that worked out!”

||| Watch: The video for “Speeding 72”