Local band blows up with weird new music video

Back in February, if you were in downtown Petaluma and thought you saw a group of men denying the flirtatious advances of a fully clothed blow-up doll, you weren’t seeing things.

That was simply the four very creative members of local band Pardon the Interruption shooting a clever, low budget music video for their song “Cindy Will Prevail” off their new album, “Hot n’ Fresh.” The fun, ‘80s inspired album is available now on CD and streaming as well as a limited edition of vinyl records available solely at Petaluma’s Rain Dog Records. The band will be having a record release party on Sunday, June 25 at Brewster’s Beer Garden and have also been added to the lineup at Rivertown Revival this summer.

We caught up with Petaluma resident David Noble who is Pardon the Interruption singer and guitarist from his home to ask about the new album, the idea for the video as well as the most pressing question, who is the titular “Cindy” in the band’s ska-infused song “Cindy Will Prevail?”

Noble and his wife Mackenzie Brown (who also co-wrote a majority of the songs on “Hot n’ Fresh) relocated to Petaluma in July of 2020 from San Francisco. When asked what brought the two here Noble says, “I went to High School in San Rafael and a lot of my friends were from Petaluma so I always liked it.”

Obviously 2020 was the height of the pandemic and an odd time to pick up and move.

“I had always kind of had Petaluma in the back of my mind as a place to live and raise a family,” he says, “so we just decided to do it in 2020.” Brown and Noble have since welcomed to the family a daughter, who recently turned 1.

Anyone who’s ever spent any measurable amount of time in downtown Petaluma will recognize the outdoor spots that were used in the video for “Cindy Will Prevail.” It kicks off at the always freshly stocked outdoor corner market Jupiter Foods which Noble says was an easy location to get as his wife works there. Noble adds that they know the folks at Water Street Bistro, which also figures into the video as a location but admits, the band was trepidatious, as the star of the video is an Amazon ordered blow-up doll who’s designed purpose isn’t typically to be a fully clothed actor in a local band music video.

The shoot itself took about a half-a-day and features the band members Rob Fordyce (bass, vocals), Rob Hooper (drums, vocals), Jamison Smeltz (sax, percussion, vocals) and Noble, all being somewhat stalked by the aforementioned blow-up doll, who we will now call Cindy. Cindy approaches each band member, rather shyly, before being rebuffed in myriad awkward ways. In keeping with the upbeat and fun style of the song, however, Cindy eventually finds her man on the Jack Balshaw Riverwalk Bridge across the Petaluma River. With such an odd choice for a video star, it begs the question of how this was all presented.

“It was definitely funny,” laughs Noble. “I came to the guys in the band with this crazy idea and they were into it.” It was uphill from there. “I went to the [business owners] and just said ‘Hey, can we film a music video here with a blow-up doll?’ and they all said, ‘Yes, absolutely! That sounds like a blast.’”

While Noble was impressed that his band went along with the idea, it’s not too surprising if you watch another of the band’s music videos, the one for ‘80s thythm-and-blues-styled jam, “Rhythm is Right” where the band perform slow-mo dances wearing bright colored headbands and snug tights.

“Fresh n’ Hot” was recorded live at Calliope West studio in San Rafael using several pieces of equipment bought from Sausalito’s legendary Record Plant studio when they changed owners and revamped the space. Working with producer Sean Beresford, the basic rhythm tracks were laid down over the course of 3-4 days. From there, again in the peak of COVID-19, Noble and the band worked to layer in guitar and vocals to finally complete the 9-track album.

When asked just who the eponymous “Cindy” is, Noble says she’s an amalgamation of a few women, but mainly based on his wife’s friend Cindy, who Brown met while working the coat check desk at San Francisco’s The Chapel music venue.

“My wife is from Canada and when she first got here, she only knew me,” says Noble. “So we decided it was important for her to make some new friends. After she got the job at The Chapel, she met Cindy. She found a tribe but that was her first friend here.”

In a live music landscape overwhelmed by cover bands, the members of Pardon the Interruption prides themselves on their original tunes. However Noble points out they do sometimes include a number of cover songs in their set.

“It’s important to us to cover songs we love but put a PTI spin on it,” he says. “Like, we cover a song by The Police but we put a reggae vibe on it. Or we cover J.J. Cale but in a really fun way so people might say, ‘Hey, wait … I know this song’ and it takes them a minute to figure it out.”

You can watch all of the Pardon The Interruption videos, learn more about the band and plan to catch a show via the band’s website, PTImusic.com.