PREMIERE: Those Pretty Wrongs Strip Back to Basics on ‘Ride Along’

July 24, 2023

Those Pretty Wrongs is the project of founding Big Star drummer Jody Stephens and guitarist Luther Russell. The band’s latest album, Holiday Camp, came out in March 2023. Music Feeds is premiering the official video for latest single ‘Ride Along’, which was filmed at NYC venue Union Pool by Luke Rathborne.

Stephens, who performs lead vocals in the band, will bring Those Pretty Wrongs to Australia in August. He and Russell will play a run of headline shows spanning Meeniyan, Sydney, Eltham (NSW), Brisbane and Melbourne, performing tracks from Holiday Camp and their previous albums, Zed for Zulu and Those Pretty Wrongs. They’re also carving out space for a Big Star tribute – more details below.

Those Pretty Wrongs – ‘Ride Along’ (Official Video)

Stephens is Big Star’s sole surviving member. Frontperson Alex Chilton and bass player Andy Hummel both passed away in 2010, while guitarist and vocalist Chris Bell died in a car accident in 1978. Stephens and Chilton were the only two members to appear on each of Big Star’s canonical releases: 1972’s #1 Record, 1974’s Radio City, and 1978’s Third (also known as Sister Lovers).

Stephens was compelled to form Those Pretty Wrongs in the wake of the influential 2012 documentary, Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. ‘Ride Along’ is representative of his and Russell’s collaborative songwriting method.

“Musically it came about when I was messing around with a drop-D tuning on my 12-string Martin acoustic and some interesting changes were emerging,” Russell said in a statement shared with Music Feeds. “I had the skeleton of a melody over it, really as some sort of placeholder, and left it with Jody to mess around with.

“He ended up writing some very affecting lyrics about his first road trip with his soon-to-be wife Diana. At Ardent Studios, we built it up with engineer Mike Wilson at the helm until it became sort of a symphony of vocals and chiming guitars.”

Those Pretty Wrongs will be joined on the forthcoming Australian tour by songwriter Alex Hamilton and his band, featuring Jesse Williams, for a set of Big Star classics such as ‘Thirteen’ and ‘September Gurls’.