Goodbye June Back in the Saddle With Director’s Cut of ‘Step Aside’ Video

Goodbye June are back in the saddle, ramping up toward a new album and they recently teamed up with director Tyler Dunning Evans for a shoot 'em up duel in their "Step Aside" video. With the song starting to gain some traction and the video capturing the imagination of viewers, the band has issued a new "director's cut" offering a little more insight into the story.

For the Nashville-based band, it ended up being a fun but challenging day of riding horses and firing their guns all in the name of making an interesting video to accompany the blistering new single. The track will appear on their forthcoming album, See Where the Night Goes.

In advance of the new album, we spoke with guitarist Tyler Baker about the song's ties to their own dedication to music, the actual video shoot and the comparisons singer Landon Millbourn has garnered to a certain AC/DC vocalist after the arrival of "Step Aside." Check out the chat and see the director's cut of the "Step Aside" video below.

“Step Aside” very much talks about your dedication to music and what it’s meant to your lives over the years. What was your introduction to music? When did you know this is what you wanted to do above all else in life?

We all grew up in homes where music was a big part of daily life. Our grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and siblings all played instruments at home, family gatherings and church. If you couldn’t play an instrument you were expected to join in and sing. We’d sing mostly church hymns in our early life but in our teens and 20s we started to get introduced to blues, 60’s-70’s rock, and grunge.

When Brandon [Qualkenbush] was 12, he saw the movie That Thing You Do and it inspired him to form his first band. From that band Brandon’s journey began, and Landon joined a formation of one of his bands when Landon was in his teens.

I was brought up playing in a small country church and later started playing in a blues club in Bloomington Indiana. All of us knew we would play music individually in one form or another, but after my brother died in 2005, we began creating music together as a band.

As far as videos go, it has to be a pretty fun day when you can get up on a horse and do a little shooting. Can you talk about your experience shooting this video and your thoughts on how the story and video turned out?

We got a three person film crew and drove four hours north to my family’s historic farm. We spent three days filming stunts, riding, being out in the heat, shooting guns. It was so hard and so much fun at the same time.

During one of the stunts where Landon got shot off his horse, we tied him up to a rope and pulled him off the back of an ATV to simulate the fall. You can see this sequence in the credits of the “Directors Cut” of "Step Aside." He hit his head pretty hard on the ground and got up pretty slow from the stunt. We were worried about a concussion!

Brandon had to take a minute after one of his chase/shooting sequences to puke in the bushes. We gave a lot to try to make the story and the visuals of this video exciting and authentic and that takes risk and maximum effort.

Tyler Dunning Evans (the video’s producer) and we took a lot of care in crafting a story that has extremely deep meaning, if you want to dive in and really follow what’s happening. At the same time, you can sit back and enjoy a doppelgänger western shootout if you don’t want to worry about anything below the surface. We let the viewer decide how deep they want to go with us on this one. For us, it's a deep story about how addiction and your fears can get in the way of being the best version of yourself.

Goodbye June, "Step Aside" (Director's Cut)

It’s hard to deny the vocal similarity Landon has to Bon Scott on this song. I know your roots are blues, gospel and Southern Rock, but were you big AC/DC fans as well? Do you remember the first time you heard Landon sing and your impression on the voice that was coming out of his mouth?.

Landon has a pretty wide range of vocal tones and influences he can draw on with Goodbye June. Paul McCartney and Leon Russell are two of his favorite vocalists of all time. Look at our past recordings or the upcoming song “What I Need” and there is a very different vocal approach vs. “Step Aside.” He’s got this "gravel tone” as we call it, that fits incredibly well with the heavier riffs we were writing for this record.

We obviously respect AC/DC and what psycho doesn’t love a good Angus riff, but Landon is from this school of soul and grit that lends itself to that type of arena rock sound when paired with the right music.

To be honest, I’m probably the biggest AC/DC fan in the group and Landon and Brandon really didn’t dive into their music until recently. All this to say that Bon Scott is a legend, but not someone we were heavily influenced by on this record even though it seems like folks are connecting Landon and Bon together.

For years, when most people thought of Nashville, it was primarily country music. But these days many a rock star is coming out of Music City as well. What has been your experience coming up through Nashville and how much has the wealth of influences affected your own music?

We moved to Nashville in 2009, so we were part of the influx of different musical genres coming to Nashville. The city is flooded with incredible musicians and artists that are all fighting to get their music out and heard by the world.

I can remember when we first got to Nashville, just going and seeing a cover band or some local rock band that was a near religious experience, everyone was so good! This competitive atmosphere makes a musician look deep and realize there is always room to grow. If you are a shredder on guitar but lacking some soul in your notes, listen to a bluegrass band. If you want to craft great storytelling songs, listen to classic country artists. If you can survive Nashville and not quit, you’ll become a much better band.

The new album is titled See Where the Night Goes. Can you speak to how the title plays into the themes of what we’re hearing on the new record?

When we started imagining the "See Where The Night Goes” record, we wanted the type of record that you put on at a party and let play the whole way through. A feel good, pure rock n’ roll record that has depth and substance to it. The title "See Where The Night Goes” is an attitude; a straight ahead, no tricks, nothing to hide behind approach… We made sure every song carried that attitude.

What’s on the horizon for you as we end 2021 and head toward 2022?

We're going to be releasing more music videos to build up to the See Where The Night Goes release that’s slated Feb 2022, and after the release we will be touring to support that record in the United States, Europe, and hopefully beyond!

Thanks to Goodbye June's Tyler Baker for the interview. The band's 'See Where The Night Goes' album is due in February and you can pre-order it right here. You can also follow their activity via their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram sites.

Goodbye June, See Where the Night Goes Album Artwork + Track Listing

1. Step Aside
2. See Where the Night Goes
3. Breathe and Attack
4. Take a Ride
5. What I Need
6. Stand and Deliver
7. Baby, I’m Back
8. Everlasting Love
9. Nothing
10. Three Chords
11. Black