Zach Abels, guitarist of platinum-selling American rock band The Neighborhood, goes behind the scenes of “Sweater Weather” in a brand new installment of Vevo Footnotes. Nine years and 500 million+ views later, Abels and director Daniel Iglesias Jr reflect on their favorite moments while taping and how a song that Abels started writing in high school ended up catapulting the band to mainstream success.
0:18 “Sweater Weather” was the lead single from The Neighborhood’s debut studio album ‘I Love You’ in 2013.
0:31 “‘Sweater Weather’ came about when I was still in high school. I was messing around writing guitar parts that I thought were cool and I ended up showing Jesse some of them and he really liked them… So we recorded a demo of it on his computer at my mom’s house.” – Zach Abels
0:46 “Sonically I’d say the biggest inspiration for that song was from a band named Failure’s ‘Another Space Song’!”
1:02 “Jeremy, Jessie and I wrote and recorded ‘Sweater Weather’ at a studio in Santa Monica. Our friend Justyn Pilbrow helped produce it. I think with the lyrics at the time we wanted the song to feel like an area we grew up in and wanted to put the listener in our world.”
1:21 “All of the band’s branding was in black and white so we wanted to continue that.”
1:26 “The band’s subject matter and themes centered around growing up in Southern California, which is usually expressed in a sunny and sweet tone… But the music itself was so dark and melancholic, so we thought it would be interesting to capture the iconic imagery of that area in a way that reflected that – sort of a French film noir California summer.” – Daniel Iglesias Jr. Music Video Co-Director
1:45 “We shot 3 days. Day 1 at a loft space in downtown LA where we captured band portraiture and vignettes with a model… Day 2 was driving footage with the band riding around in an old Mercedes – mainly driving around PCH and Venice… Day 3 was sensory detail and B-roll footage captured by Zack and I around various areas of East LA, Hollywood, and Santa Monica” – Daniel Iglesias Jr. Music Video Co-Director
2:05 “I think the most fun we had was the day we captured all of the driving footage. It was just fun driving with the top down around PCH and Hollywood with the boys. Jesse would sometimes stand up in the car and lean against the windshield, which made for great footage and some of our favorite shots in the video.” – Daniel Iglesias Jr. Music Video Co-Director
2:25 “Honestly, I’m not really sure why it resonates with the bi community in the way that it has but I think it’s really cool that they do and have taken the song and made it their anthem!” – Zach Abels
2:42 “It was a long time ago but a standout moment was when I spray painted the house logo and remembering I didn’t want to f**ck it up!” – Zach Abels
2:51 “By the time the bass drum hits, the whole scene gets flipped upside down and we cut to a pulse of California imagery… This footage is cut to the beat and its purpose is to create a sensory representation of all different things that make up the California experience.” – Zack Sekuler, Music Video Co-Director
3:11 “To look back now almost 10 years later and see that the video has amassed over 500 Million views is insane and the song will always hold a special place in my heart.” – Daniel Iglesias Jr. Music Video Co-Director
3:32 “It’s really hard to believe that the song has gone this far and keeps going!! Very grateful for all the fans that have pushed the song as hard as they have and gotten it to where it is!” – Zach Abels
3:47 “I’ve gone through waves of hating and loving the song. It’s the first song the band ever wrote.” – Mikey Margott
3:58 “When you write a song, you’re never sure if people will gravitate towards it. This song hasn’t gone away yet and that’s really special.”
