David Combs, one of the members of the DC band Bad Moves, occasionally puts out music under the name Dim Wizard, and today he’s back with a new single that comes stacked with some star pedigree. “Ride The Vibe” was produced by Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin, co-written by Jeff Rosenstock, and sung by the Sidekicks’ Steve Ciolek — Dazy’s James Goodson also did the single’s artwork (see above). Combs wrote about the inspiration behind the track in a statement:

It must have been 2010. I was working at a music venue restaurant/bar, when my friend Ben came in with a walkman. Our mutual friend Kevin Morby had recently moved to New York and started a new band called the Babies. Ben had their demo tape which he gave to me to listen to for a moment in between customers. The song “Breakin’ the Law” came on and it became an instant favorite. It was stuck in my head for at least a year before I heard it again. It sounded timeless, like a song that had always been there, and I was so impressed that someone I knew had written it.

In 2020, I started writing “Ride the Vibe” about that single moment at the bar with the walkman, about the Babies’ song, about the funny feeling of noticing your relationship to someone shifting from friendship to fandom, and about being so impressed when someone has what it takes to really “go for it” with music. 

I sent an early version to another mega talented friend, Jeff Rosenstock, and he sent back some ideas and we finished it up together. We recruited the mega talented Sarah Tudzin (Illuminati Hotties) to produce + engineer the song and the mega talented Steve Ciolek (Superviolet, The Sidekicks) to sing lead vocals. We recorded long distance style in May 2021 with Sarah’s bandmate Tim Kmet recording drums and all of us emailing tracks back and forth, and the whole thing came together really easily!

Check it out below.

“Ride The Vibe” is out now.