Redpath Traffic pose a crucial question — Do You Love Me Now? — in their sincere and stirring new single and lyric video, showcasing today on Tinnitist.
Hot off the heels of their single Hey Mona!, the Toronto pop-rock trio strike a different chord with their latest release. On the surface, Do You Love Me Now? speaks to the agonizing self-sacrifices we make to win the seemingly unrequited love of another. However, on a deeper level, it’s also a song about self-acceptance, with the singer voicing his questions to the mirror. For singer-guitarist and songwriter Rick Todd, the track is also reminiscent of the struggle his adoptive dad faced accepting himself as a gay man.
“Being gay in the ’70s was much more scandalous than it is today, especially as a married family man,” says Todd. “He struggled to be what society expected him to be, but it caused him unending strife and sadness. His fear of being found out was real, as were the potential effects on his family, career, and social standing.”
Todd remembers Toronto as a different place when his dad’s secret was finally out. In an era where gay men were targets of violence and even murder, his dad felt he had to sever ties with his old life to manage his truth and protect the people who mattered to him. “Dad found a partner with whom he lived for decades,” Todd says. “But he had to sacrifice his relationship with his children to do so without fear. I didn’t even find out he was gay until years later.”
Todd was reunited with his dad in 2001, after 16 years of no contact, and the two maintained a relationship until his dad’s death in 2004. Even after years of pain and sadness, Todd was happy they had the opportunity for redemption. “I understand how frightening it must have been to admit to me that he was gay,” Todd says. “I would have been OK with it. You can’t be angry at someone for being who they really are or loving who they love.”
In Do You Love Me Now?, Todd and his bandmates — drummer Kerem Balci and bassist Mark Fernley — alchemize the story into 3:48 of jam-worthy bliss that perfectly complements the song’s emotional depth. Grammy-winning musician and producer Chris Birkett (Sinead O’Connor, Talking Heads, Pogues) guests on lap steel, keyboards and backing vocals.
Redpath Traffic create genre-agnostic music that fuses blues and rock with a touch of punk, while weaving through their personal narratives of love, loss, redemption, and change. Their debut LP Under The Crimson Sun will be available everywhere this October.
Watch the lyric video for Do You Love Me Now? above, sample more music from Redpath Traffic below, and tell them how you feel on their website, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
