Strange Men leave you in a cold sweat on Hot Nights thanks to their fever-dream video — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The debut single from the San Francisco indie-punk duo of singer-drummer Róisín Isner and guitarist / bassist Ashley Clayton, Hot Nights is a 78-second nightmare of pure momentum and seething intensity reminiscent of The Bobby Lees. Composed in Róisín’s head while waiting for the bus on a chaotically cold evening, the track’s minimalist, mantra-like lyrics hark back to a period in New York, summoning a hazy image of warm East Coast nights and the vaguely sinister shadows of youth:
“Hot days make hot nights
Cold days make cold nights
On hot nights I come alive, come alive, come alive, come alive…
Hot dawn, then day’s end
Hot nights, strange men
On hot nights I come alive, come alive, come alive, come alive…”
Speaking of youth: Isner was 17 when she found a burned CD wedged between the crown molding and the ceiling at a punk show at San Francisco’s Bottom Of The Hill club. A year later she met fellow teenager Clayton at a birthday party. It would be a few more years before they realized the demo she’d found was his. Flash-forward to 2023 and they’re Strange Men. Róisín plays drums, Ashley plays an eight-string guitar/bass he made out of scavenged wood, and they both sing.
The fever-pitched video for Hot Nights was directed by and features Panda Dulce (aka Kyle Casey Chu), a Sundance Uprise award-winning filmmaker. Dulce and Isner are longtime friends and collaborators, and won Best Short Screenplay at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival this year.
Watch the clip for Hot Nights above, listen to the song below and meet Strange Men on their website and Instagram.
