Apples with Moya Gather a Gang of Local Loves for '90s Sitcom-Inspired "Perry Fisher" Video (KEXP Premiere)

Last night I did something that you really should not — under any circumstances — do during this pandemic. In an attempt to look for footage of a specific show I thought I’d attended but couldn’t quite remember if, when, or where, I scrolled all the way back through my Instagram Story archive to the first saved post.

Apparently January 20, 2018, I was watching my little sibster play a characteristically haunting Power Strip set at a house venue in Seattle dubbed the Redlight. I remember the moment. I was sitting on the floor, like we often did for their intimate sets, only inches away from Nellie’s crossed legs. I can still smell the sweat and cheap beer. It’s a visceral memory that now feels a lot like a dream.

From there, a barrage of videos of exes, former friends, and acquaintances whose consistent presence sort of felt like we were friends, led me down a dark, deep hole of emptiness and longing. The acquaintances somehow stung harder than expected. Faces and names of people I knew I’d run into at some point in a normal month, depending on what kind of show I was going to, and thus took for granted. Opportunities for solidifying a more concrete friendship outside of going to the same shows are now options no more.

Today, a number of those beautiful faces that I miss ever so much have been lovingly gathered together in the video for the latest single from local supergroup-of-sorts Apples with Moya. Opening with a Seattle-scanning shot, “Perry Fisher” is one long Full House-inspired beginning credits montage featuring members of Lisa Prank, Dusty, SEACATS, Don Piano, Rob Joynes, Cumulus, and Salt Lick doing their best surprised pose as characters of a show that I truly wish actually existed. Special guest Weird Al Yankovic?! Sign me up!

“We finished recording the song right around when COVID hit and I was really missing going to shows and seeing my friends,” explains guitarist Sebastien Deramat (of SEACATS and formerly Special Explosion). “I decided to go for a lo-fi '90s sitcom format for the video since it seemed like a fun way to make all the footage feel cohesive despite being filmed separately. Also it was just nice to work on something silly, haha.”

“Perry Fisher” is the first single since the band’s 2019 debut Get Behind the Horses. Barreling in with the furious strums of fuzzy guitar, the song has a heightened energy from their previous work which honed in on a slower, moodier sound. It’s a lighter, brighter version of Apples with Moya and a welcome one. Guitarist Dylan Hanwright, who simultaneously strums with KEXP fav’s Great Grandpa, had this to say about the unorthodox making of the song:

"’Perry Fisher’ was written almost by accident. During a quick break in a band practice, a challenge was proposed to write a song in the time it took one member to grab a beverage. The result was captured on a voice memo--a mess of guitar chords and an improvised melody over an upbeat drum loop. Upon listening back, we found a few bite-sized chunks that really stood out, and spent the rest of the day making sense of what we accidentally made and turning it into a song. All of us maintain that we couldn't have written the song intentionally — a testament to the idea that there's no ‘best’ way to make music.”

“Perry Fisher is, at its core, a hopeful song,” continues vocalist Cam LaFlam (also a member of Great Grandpa). “A two-minute romp through some unknown town that's become tired and cynical in its ways. A place that's given up on magic. Except for Perry. It's a vignette about loneliness, about love, a reminder to lighten up and keep dreaming.”

Until we can sit on a sticky floor together again, I guess dreaming’s all we’ve got.

Watch the video for “Perry Fisher” as well as Great Grandpa’s KEXP in-studio performance from early 2020 below.