Kane Vincent was born and raised in Echuca, Victoria, and spent his formative years in the USA before returning to Australia. In 2017 he gave up his ‘day job’ to pursue music, having, by that time, played guitar for 25 years. He released his debut EP, I Don’t Think So, in 2020 and his next EP, Minute to Midnight, will be released later this month. From that EP comes the single ‘Cool Kids’ which was written during the 2020 lockdown. ‘I was feeling bit nostalgic,’ says Vincent, ‘thinking about back when life was simple. Growing up in a small town and the little moments that, individually may not mean much at the time, but combined they make you who you are.
‘But just a bunch of nostalgic thoughts don’t always add up to a song. Throwing rocks at trucks … that actually happened, so we framed the narrative from the truck driver’s perspective. The loneliness at the wheel, the little moments he witnesses as he drives through yet another small town, reminiscing about his own teenage heartbreak.’
The song isn’t stuck in reminiscence, though: it is uplifting and playful, and it will surely elicit fond memories for listeners too. And the accompanying video – which is having its premiere here today – will help with that. Set in some beautiful landscape, it features kids by the side of the road and Vincent behind the wheel of a truck, like the narrator of the song.