Cuffed Up Get Bad Medical Advice From Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert in “Terminal” Video

The LA group’s “Asymmetry” EP drops this Friday via Royal Mountain Records.
Cuffed Up Get Bad Medical Advice From Silversun Pickups’ Brian Aubert in “Terminal” Video

The LA group’s “Asymmetry” EP drops this Friday via Royal Mountain Records.

Words: Mike LeSuer

photo by Noah Kentis

October 21, 2021

This Friday, LA post-punks Cuffed Up are set to release the follow-up EP to their self-titled debut released last year, with the sense of urgency they express on these intense songs being matched only by their lyrics sung by dual vocalists ​​Ralph Torrefranca and Sapphire Jewell. The latest single, “Terminal,” as its title suggests, is particularly dire, with Torrefranca explaining how the lyrics were informed by a borderline-crippling case of OCD. 

“I wanted to write a song that projects the anxiety and irrational thoughts that my body and mind go through during my worst ‘episodes,’ he explains. “The first chorus is a cry for help. It’s the dark place where my mind goes when the health OCD is at its worst: I’m convinced I’m going to die today and the universe has already decided this for me, and I have no control over this. The final chorus is when the irrational thoughts are pulled back down to earth and I manage to ground myself through meditation.”

The single arrives with a video that dramatizes the situation just a little bit, with the band members performing the songs in hospital gowns while one-by-one seeing a doctor who does little to prevent them all from suddenly dying off. If you recognize the doctor, don’t worry—he isn’t your old family doctor but rather Brian Aubert of Silversun Pickups, with whom Cuffed Up recently toured. ​​”Brian had such a great vibe to be around!” Torrefranca adds. “He turned our long shooting day into a really fun hang and played the doctor perfectly. Between his cameo and Ben Mehlman’s unique direction for the video, we’re proud of how it turned out!”

Check out the video below, and stream the track here. You can hear the full EP—er, I guess just one yet-to-be-released song—when it drops on Friday. Also, do not schedule a medical exam with the vocalist of your favorite alt-rock band.