Cynthia Rittenbach (vocals, guitar), Kayla Smith (guitar), Jen Amoscato (drums) and Kayla Cervone (bass) found out about Taco Bell accepting their band on Oct. 16, and they now join the likes of King Tuff, Cheers Elephant and The Whigs on the current Feed the Beat roster. More than 800 acts (among them Jersey's own Gaslight Anthem and Parlor Mob, plus recent hitmakers Imagine Dragons and Charli XCX) have received various forms of support and exposure through Feed the Beat since 2006.
"We received $500 in Taco Bell gift cards, and we'll get free Taco Bell food on tour, so that will really save us a lot of money that we can put toward gas and hotels," says Rittenbach, whose group plans to hit the road for an East Coast swing in early 2015. "In the past, some of our favorite bands, such as Wavves and The Drums, have been chosen by Feed the Beat."
The Feed the Beat support comes on the heels of the band's "Sleep Deprivation" video making its premiere Oct. 13 on My Old Kentucky Blog, which previously had posted a positive review of the song. Directed by Glycerine Queens guitarist Smith, a onetime film major in college, the clip was shot during August in various Jersey Shore locales, including Neptune City, Asbury Park, Shark River and Lavallette. According to Smith, the video's individual vignettes are "an eye into the lives and minds of each girl," with a common element being a yellow telephone that mysteriously appears in each vignette.
"The voice on the other end tells us to meet up, and perhaps the voice on the other end represents sleep deprivation," Smith explains. "At the end of the video, we are all gathered around the phone, in a way where we are worshipping the sleep — as spelled out in the sand — that won't come to us. In the last scene, the phone is off the hook and it fades to black, as if we will finally be able to get some sleep."
The next Glycerine Queens show is scheduled for Nov. 15 at the Asbury Park Yacht Club, 1000 Ocean Ave. in Asbury Park.
