Greg Wheeler And The Poly Mall Cops share a new twisted journey into the heart of modern American living on new single and video “Slimephone (You Can’t Hide).” The Des Moines based trio of Greg Wheeler (vocals/guitar), Jill Erin McLain (bass/vocals) and Hutch (drums) wield fuzzed out guitar hooks and ripping beats to dispatch an acutely self-aware treatise on the toxic allure of technology.
Says Wheeler, “We’re so in love with our smartphones that we’ve willingly given away our privacy and our autonomy. We allow our every move to be monitored by big tech, strangers, ex-lovers, family, friends, etc. It’s scary shit and I’m often struck by how weird it really is. We’re complacent with our loss of solitude.”
“Slimephone (You Can’t Hide)” comes from GWATPMC’s second album Slimephone Surveillance, out now courtesy of High Dive Records. This new album follows a ripping sonic trajectory previously outlined on the band’s 2023 outing Manic Fever where vintage punk spirit is distilled in an Iowa basement into a potent 21st century garage rock cocktail. While Manic Fever was created in a drawn out process amongst the pandemic, Slimephone Surveillance arrives with a fresh urgency as Wheeler & co emerge from isolation and seek to navigate life in a newly messed up world.
The single is accompanied by a visual that finds the Poly Mall Cops in an ominous mall security room, monitoring Wheeler remotely, obsessing over his every move as he sings the titular song. Intrinsically interwoven into the production of this new album, the “Slimephone (You Can’t Hide)” video was shot and edited in the band’s basement, where Slimephone Surveillance was also written and recorded. This video was shot by Anthony Scanga, whose photography adorns the album artwork, including a snap of the camera from this video.
