Weekend Recall: Night Drive

Rodney Connell and Brandon Duhon’s music is exactly the thing you want to be listening to while cruising the grimy, neon-bathed streets of Hollywood at night, pretending that you’re Ryan Gosling in Drive. The Austin-based duo embody this dark and cinematic synthwave aesthetic down to their moniker—Night Drive—and met in a fittingly dramatic way: after a woman they were dating at the same time, unbeknownst to each other, was killed in a car crash in 2013. Fast-forward four years and Connell and Duhon have been able to create something great out of this tragedy. The band is set to release their self-titled debut, Night Drive, on Roll Call Records this June, but for now you can listen to infinitely danceable single “Rise and Fall” and watch the accompanying trippy LSD trip of a video, at the bottom of this post. We asked Night Drive to take us behind the wheel for a weekend in their world, which meant hopping all over NYC as they put the work in before the album drops, but there was time for a bit of fun as well:

We stayed in Clinton Hill while spending the week in NYC. There was a great restaurant down the street we'd get coffee at called Sisters. Great decor and good vibes.

Went to ABC Radio offices which is above Madison Square Garden. Did an interview for The Gunz Show which will air in a couple of weeks. Everybody had a good time at this one.

Brandon and I in what appears to be deep thought while waiting at Marie Claire to perform stripped down versions of Rise and Fall, After Dark and Drones.

Went to a house party in Williamsburg. Made a lot of new friends that night!

One of our favorite places to hang out is Rough Trade NYC in Brooklyn. Probably one of the best record stores on the planet.

After spending sometime in Chelsea we ended up walking along the High Line. Hadn't been there in a couple of years and was amazed how much it had grown. Lots of new, inspired architecture in that area.

In the offices above Chelsea Market the good people at YouTube invited us to come and visit with them. It was a great space and we have plans to be back soon.

Waiting for the production room to wrap out at YouTube Space NY.

Having a listening party with a few friends of the test vinyl for our album coming out on Roll Call Records, June 16th.

We got an invite to do a few things at Bloomberg while we were in town and we're glad we said yes. Great group of people there and the building is very impressive. Lots of art installations everywhere. This was one of our favorites.

Celebrating Gibran's birthday on Cinco de Mayo at Panna II Garden Indian Restaurant in East Village. A very intimate place with great food and festive environment. The lights were insane!

Luckily we were able to squeeze sometime in to go to the Whitney Museum. So much great art in one building. Very glad we could make that happen. Here we are in the stairwell heading to the next floor.