Since their inception, Great Peacock is a band that has continuously challenged the conventions of the indie rock, contemporary folk, and Americana scenes pervading their city of Nashville. Arguably, these blurred lines have arisen from the fact that they have managed to blend all three influences so finely into their work, all while reassembling their preconceived foundations into something a little more out there. The band’s “Rattlesnake” is a worthy example of the sort of innovation that they’ve laid claim to, blending soul, retro rock, and psychedelia in equal measure throughout the audiovisual experience that is their newest music video.
From Great Peacock’s recent Ropeadope release, Gran Pavo Real, “Rattlesnake” slithers and slinks just as well as its namesake. They navigate through a hazy collective of crisp guitar tones and a swamp-stomping percussion, both reminiscent of their Nashville roots while aspiring to bring listeners that extra something more. Featuring the likes of My Morning Jacket’s Tom Blankenship on bass alongside usual members Andrew Nelson, Blount Floyd, Nick Recio, and Frank Keith IV, the single is a stirring new addition to the Great Peacock catalog if there ever were one.
Nelson tells PopMatters, “The recording of it is not what I had envisioned in my head when I wrote the song. But I really dig it. It almost has sort of a Police type vibe in the verse, just the way the reverb sits. It’s very cutting, like an ’80s, post-punk thing. The chorus is exactly what I wanted. It’s like Tom Petty, the way the drums are driving. In that chorus, on the recording, we did a trick that they’d do on Tom Petty recordings later, and it was a big thing with the Traveling Wilburys where you have three to four acoustic guitars and they’re all tuned differently but playing the same chords. It’s four people playing around the same mic at the same time in windshield motion, all up and down. There’s no extra beats or movements to the riffs. It gives a real lushness to the background of the track. It’s really cool.”