Matthew Ramsey is the lead singer of the country band Old Dominion, which also includes Trevor Rosen on guitar and keyboards, Brad Tursey on guitar, Whit Sellers on drums, and Jeff Sprung on bass. The band assembled in Nashville, but 45% of its members are Virginia natives (Rosen is from Woodhaven, Michigan).
Matthew Ramsay and Trevor Rosen’s resume already includes a number of successful singles. Whether working alone or in tandem, they have written hit songs for artists such as Chris Young (“Neon”), Craig Morgan (“Wake Up Lovin’ You”) and The Perry Group (“Chainsaw”).
This song is from their first EP of the same name. When Old Dominion first started playing this song, they were on tour. Around two in the morning, while traveling to Myrtle Beach for a show, the band was “sitting in the back of the van working on it,” Ramsey told Country Weekly.
As one of the band members said, “this song is special to us because it’s the first song that all five of us have written together.” In the music video for “Back to the Future”, all the members of the band One Dominion dress up as characters from the film and perform several scenes from the film with Matthew Ramsey playing a role modeled after the film’s main character, Marty McFly.
Like the song’s genesis, the video’s concept was born on the road with Old Dominion. It’s a “crazy reconstruction of all our favorite scenes,” as Ramsay put it in “Taste of Country.” “On the bus, all the conversations revolve around the film.
As avid listeners, we felt compelled to go beyond simply performing the song in our own styles.” There’s a girl and a bully, so that’s the way we can do it, Ramsey said. “The main character’s love interest is currently dating the antagonist.
It fits the mood of the song and allows us to revisit a movie we enjoyed as kids.” In time, Old Dominion included the song on their album Meat and Candy. The band enlisted the help of Michael Ellins, the photographer responsible for Katy Perry’s One of the Boys album cover, to shoot their record cover.
He imagined a woman dressed as a 1950s soft drinker, sitting at a table piled high with delicacies and sweets. Ramsay told Rolling Stone, “We were lucky [Elins] was interested.” “You’re a country band,” he asked rhetorically.
You have no business doing that. But with social media, there are many places where people can see your face. You can get by without being featured on the front cover.”
The band described the song as “a song about getting what you want, chasing what you want when you see it” in a track-by-track commentary. Especially when it’s a girl, we think it’s crucial.
Rosen discussed the creation of the song in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, “It all started during soundcheck. When Whit laid down the groove, I joined. When that happens I usually start recording it on my phone like it was here.
We saved the channel. When we were on the road tonight, everyone was fast asleep in our van instead of the tour bus, but Matt woke up and said, “Man, I was thinking about that chute, I got this idea…” We were both trying not to wake anyone up by talking loudly, so he whispered, “Hey girl, what’s up?” as one of the first things said on the phone. He was trying to keep quiet, but it caused a big conflict.
We spent a lot of time perfecting it in Japan, and then a few years ago while we were in Texas for band rehearsals, we took it back to the rest of the band and worked out the kinks.”