The Kings return to reclaim their pop-chart throne with their new single and video Nowhere To Go But Gone — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
The Canadian rock legends’ new cut is currently climbing U.S. charts, a nigh-on-miraculous showing for a classic-rock band on U.S. radio. The tune continues to spread like wildfire, receiving airplay from Utah to Florida to Cape Cod. If this keeps up, the group might have to update the title of their documentary, Anatomy Of A One-Hit Wonder.
Nearly 45 years ago, the band’s debut album proclaimed The Kings Are Here. Truth is, they never really went away. Yes, they’re still best known for This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ To Glide, which peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980, earning them a gold record, a platinum album, a Juno nomination and a spot in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. But in the ensuing decades, they’ve put out an absolute wealth of stellar material, on albums like Amazon Beach, RSVP, Unstoppable, Party Live in ’85, The Lost Tapes of a Seventies Bar Band and Because of You.
Nowhere To Go But Gone proves that their mettle as hitmakers remains undiminished. It’s an appropriately driving little ditty in which singer-bassist David Diamond namechecks all the places he’s about to hit on a much-needed jaunt behind the wheel:
“Gonna head out on the highway
The highway is my friend
Gonna head out west
Where the highway ends
Then I’ll stop in Vancouver
Turn south towards L.A.
Twelve hundred miles of surfers
Waiting for a wave
There is no trip like a road trip
Nowhere to go, nowhere to go
Nowhere to go but gone.”
But what gradually comes into focus is that he’s actually singing about taking a breather from a relationship, to get a better perspective on why it’s one worth keeping. This is a song not of freedom and the endless open road, but of renewal and the journey home.
The cut is a tour de force by co-founders Diamond, guitarist Mister Zero, keyboardist Sonny Keyes, and new-guy drummer Todd Reynolds (in the lineup since 2007). The track was co-produced by the band and Chris Snow (Barenaked Ladies, Big Wreck, Arkells) and mixed by Garth Richardson (Rage Against the Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers). The song comes from The Kings’ most recent album, 2023’s The Longest Story Ever Told.
With more than 2,000 shows under their belt, these boys are perpetually in demand. And they’re even bigger virtually: The video for This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ To Glide has surpassed six million views. Now, with Nowhere To Go But Gone, The Kings make it clear they’re the Energizer bunnies of rock.
Watch the video for Nowhere To Go But Gone above, listen to The Longest Story Ever Told below and find The Kings on their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
