Ever since the departure of Austin Carlile, the remaining members of Of Mice and Men have been doing a good job of keeping the group going with several music festival appearances and some new tunes. On Monday (May 22), the California-founded band premiered “Back to Me,” their second song to feature bassist Aaron Pauley’s shift from backing vocals to frontman. The music video for the new track is a simple premise we’ve seen many times before; a day in the life of the band when they’re out on tour. Footage for the clip was recorded during the band’s performances at Jacksonville, Florida’s Welcome to Rockville, Fort Myers, Florida’s Fort Rock, North Carolina’s Carolina Rebellion, and the inaugural Las Rageous Festival in Las Vegas.
While the video may be simple, it does allow for the new song to shine. Watch “Back to Me” above.
In an interview with Alternative Press, Pauley reveals that Carlile’s departure earlier in the year helped inspire “Back to Me.” “For maybe a fan of the band this is an entry on our Wikipedia page about the chronology of the band, but for us Austin leaving the band was a life event.”
Pauley continues: “That’s a big thing, and I think in major life events, it’s easy to feel like you lose yourself or to feel like a piece of you is gone or to feel like, ‘How can I be the me that I’ve always known that this is different now?’ If you can hold onto the passion—whether it’s passion in art, or music, or, I don’t know, video games, anything—if you can find what you love and work diligently towards it and remember that that’s a huge part of you, then you will always be able to find a way back to yourself.” To see Pauley’s full interview from this past weekend’s Rock on the Range, head on over here.
“Back to Me” will join previously released song “Unbreakable” on a special 7-inch the group will release in late June. Pre-orders for the record, which is set to be released on June 30 through Rise Records, is currently available here. “Back to Me” and “Unbreakable” are the band’s first set of new tunes since the release of 2016’s Cold World.
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