Walton Goggins has teamed up with The Strokes for the new music video for ‘Going Shopping’, which makes nods to Paul Simon’s music video for ‘You Can Call Me Al’.
The track was the lead single to be shared from the indie icons’ upcoming album ‘Reality Awaits’, which is a highly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s ‘The New Abnormal’.
Although the single was released in April, Julian Casablancas and co have only just dropped a music video for the song.
For the visuals, the band teamed up with actor Walton Goggins, who is best known for roles in shows including The White Lotus, Fallout, and The Righteous Gemstones, and films like Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight.
The video sees them make a nod to the 1986 music video for Paul Simon’s smash hit single ‘You Can Call Me Al’ – in which he teamed up with actor and comedian Chevy Chase.
In both The Strokes’ video and the Paul Simon one, both visuals see the musician walk into a room with an actor, each wearing blazers and shaking hands, before they sit next to one another and the actor mouths along passionately to the song.
Taking to Instagram, Goggins shared a clip and explained in the caption what it meant to him to take part in the ‘Going Shopping’ music video.
“THE FUCKING STROKES!!! Video for the first release off their new album, ‘GOING SHOPPING’,” he wrote. “Never had the audacity to put something like this on my bucket list… I’ve been listening to ‘Reality Awaits’ since March..It’s so gatdamn special y’all.”
He continued: “Thank you fellas… Jules, Fab, Albert, Nikolai and Johann for this invitation. Days I will never forget! New Friends. Can’t wait to see you on the road gents! I’ll be singing my ass off in whatever seat I can get.”
The live shows Goggins mentions refer to the band’s huge upcoming tour, which will take them across the UK, North America, Europe and Japan. It will be their first full run of headline dates in the UK and Ireland in over 20 years, and includes stops at London’s O2. Support will come from Thundercat, Cage the Elephant, Hamilton Leithauser, Fat White Family, Alex Cameron and ÖLÜM, and more dates have been added due to huge demand.
They have also announced a huge New York show with Beach House, TV On The Radio and Fcukers at Flushing Meadows Corona Park on October 2. Find any remaining tickets here.
It’s also worth noting that Goggins did not thank guitarist Nick Valensi in his caption. This is because the band recently confirmed that the guitarist would be taking a “temporary break” from playing live.
‘Reality Awaits’ – the New York indie icons’ seventh studio album was originally meant to drop on June 26. However, earlier this month the band announced that it had been pushed back to July 24, without providing their reasoning. You can pre-order the record here.
Albert Hammond Jr. later said that the date was changed to match the vinyl release, and also referred to ‘Reality Awaits’ as his “favourite album” that The Strokes have ever made.
NME gave ‘Going Shopping’ a three-star review and described it as a song that “doesn’t feel bold” but also “does avoid playing anything safe.”
“You couldn’t definitively place its sound on any of The Strokes’ previous six albums, but the lack of spirit and tenacity – save for a guitar solo at the end – is noticeable,” the review read. “‘If you’re better than me you don’t have to judge me’, signs off Casablancas, with an imaginary raised eyebrow. But perhaps even he would admit that The Strokes are better than this.”
