Canadian duo Earth Rides Along drown sorrows with "Cheap Shots and Two Dollar Beers" [Premiere]

“Odd”, perhaps, but “pop”? Undeniably. The propulsive bass that snakes its way around hi-hat hedges sounds like it should have been sampled in some long-lost G-funk classic. It’s also every bit as danceable as that statement implies. Over the top, the Slade brothers describe what it’s like when you’re “living life secondhand”.

In a series of encounters that begin at youth and escalate in intensity as the narrator comes of age, the duo lays out the game of getting by while staying high. It doesn’t matter if it’s a dime they owe the ice cream man or a dimebag they owe the dope man, they’d like you to “let [it] slide, if you can”.

Speaking about the track, the band says: “It’s addressing issues like gentrification/regeneration, income inequality and outsourcing but it’s also about dealing with them in the right frame of mind. There’s nothing wrong with living on less despite always being told you need more."

Buoyant as it might be, “Cheap Shots and Two Dollar Beers” lays out just how hard it can be to escape the environment you’re born into. When the plan is “scrounge and save”, “pinching every penny”, looking for “somethin’ steady” and showing warmth to everyone you meet and greet and cheat along the way, well… thank God for cheap booze, right?

Earth Rides Along’s self-released, self-titled debut is released on 6 November.