Last month, Priests announced their sophomore album, The Seduction Of Kansas, with its title track, which pushed the band’s sound in an exciting, dance-y new direction. The album’s second single, “Good Time Charlie,” is more in line with what you’d expect from the Washington, DC-based band after Nothing Feels Natural, returning to knotty guitars and locked-in drumming.

The band say they drew inspiration for the song from the follies of US Congressman Charlie Wilson, more specifically his depiction in media via the Tom Hanks-starring film Charlie Wilson’s War. “Good versus evil of stories we tell/ We’re the ones who never go to hell,” Katie Alice Greer sings. “It’s not the stock and trade we sell/ the Hollywood and entertaining kinds of pell-mell.”

Here’s Greer’s statement on the track:

I like to think of this song a little bit like the Gilligan’s Island Theme song, but for a Hollywood tale of Charlie Wilson. It’s also a little bit about 9/11 but much like Otessa Moshfegh’s My Year Of Rest And Relaxation, the character sketch is more drawn out in its absence rather than presence. I saw a documentary about the history of the United States’ relationship with the Middle East, and there was clip of an 80s lady who looked a little like Vanna White (who turned out to be Joanne Herring) saying how she wanted to get the Mujahadeen guns to fight the communists because she believed they worshipped the same god as her. So I got curious about how this story unfolded, but even more so, how the tale has been told in western culture. I watched the movie Charlie Wilson’s War and it was so unintentionally funny the way they told this story, like think of the movie Team America, except the filmmakers weren’t joking (at least I don’t think). And then I read in the film’s Wikipedia page: “The film’s happy ending came about because Tom Hanks ‘just can’t deal with this 9/11 thing.’” I don’t know why exactly but this got stuck in my head and made my brain feel like it was exploding. So, with Daniele and GL and Janel Leppin on bass, we made it into a song. Hope you like it!

Listen below.

TOUR DATES:
03/08 Savannah, GA @ Savannah Stopover Music Festival
03/09 Birmingham, AL @ The Firehouse
03/11 03/15 Austin, TX @ SXSW
03/17 Nashville, TN @ Exit / In
03/18 Knoxville, TN @ The Pilot Light
04/15 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
04/16 Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere
04/18 Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
04/19 Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo
04/20 Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
04/21 Detroit, MI @ El Club
04/22 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
04/25 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
04/26 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
04/27 Omaha, NE @ Reverb
04/28 Des Moines, IA @ Vaudeville Mews
04/30 Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
05/01 Columbus, OH @ Ace of Cups
05/11 Brighton, UK @ The Great Escape
05/12 Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade
05/13 Manchester, UK @ YES (Pink Room)
05/14 Glasgow, UK @ The Hug And Pint
05/15 Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
05/16 London, UK @ 100 Club
05/17 Lille, FR @ Aeronef
05/18 Paris, FR @ Supersonic
05/20 Brussels, BE @ Botanique (Witloof Bar)
05/21 Cologne, DE @ Bumann & Sohn
05/22 Munich, DE @ Import/Export
05/23 Zurich, CH @ Rote Fabrik
05/24 Heidelberg, DE @ Queer Festival (Karlstorbahnhof)
05/25 Amsterdam, NL @ London Calling
05/27 Aarhus DK @ Tape
05/28 Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen
05/29 Berlin, DE @ Kantine am Berghain
05/30 Hamburg, DE @ Hafenklag (Goldener Salon)
05/31 Hilvarenbeek, NL @ Best Kept Secret Festival
06/01 Neustrelitz, DE @ Immergut Festival
06/15 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
06/16 Durham, NC @ The Pinhook
06/17 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
06/18 New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa
06/20 Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
06/21 Austin, TX @ Barracuda
06/22 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
06/24 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
06/25 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
06/26 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
06/27 Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
06/29 Oakland, CA @ Starline Social Club
07/01 Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
07/02 Vancouver, BC @ The Bitmore
07/03 Seattle, WA @ Neumos
07/06 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
07/07 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
07/09 Kansas City, MO @ The Record Bar
07/10 St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway

The Seduction Of Kansas is out 4/5 via Sister Polygon Records. Pre-order it here.