Verity Credit Union’s Truth Series: The Gods Themselves
All around the Pacific Northwest, community goes hand-in-hand with music. A region’s state of culture can usually be determined by how robust its music and arts scene is, and in that respect, Pacific Northwest culture boasts some of the finest in the country. You practically can’t walk two blocks around these parts without stumbling across at least three worthwhile local acts, whether they’re found in a locally-owned music store, at one of the many reputable venues in our region, or simply on the street busking. Good local music comes in many shapes and sizes, spanning multiple genres and mixes of influences.
An exploration into our deep music culture led Verity Credit Union to put together an ambitious series in which they tap into that creative community with an array of commercials that highlight some of the most talented musical acts that this part of the country has to offer. Six esteemed local performers have partnered with Verity to perform their own take on a commercial, and the artists expressed themselves in their respective styles that have made them beloved hometown heroes. This is just the beginning, however, as Verity intends to do plenty more partnered commercials from worthwhile local acts to follow in the future.
“At Verity, we care about the communities where we have branches, and Seattle has a rich history with art and music,” said Melina Young, Director of Marketing and Brand at Verity Credit Union. “Instead of using stock music and imagery, we feature great local talent in our branding to help ‘all ships rise together’ for a true win-win experience that sets us apart in financial services.”
Between Red Jacket Mine with their bouncy, jangly indie pop, Jupe Jupe with their Britpop-esque and The Gods Themselves with their raw, down-and-dirty psych-rock, it’s safe to say Verity chose wisely with their picks for this batch of commercials. Also, it’s no secret that Seattle and the greater northwest are bursting at the seams with singer-songwriters at the moment, and some of our favorites happen to be in the Verity series, whether it’s 50 Bands in 50 Days finalists The Banner Days with their larger-than-life, borderline-gospel approach to roots and folk music or recent Northwest Music Month finalist Naomi Wachira with her stripped-down, emotionally charged blues. The Gods Themselves is another of the Verity acts that have previously found their way into our publication when we premiered the band’s “Stop/Listen” live video.
We see the driving force behind Verity’s “Verity Means Truth” campaign as an exciting and original way to celebrate local music, and we try to never pass up a chance to talk about our homegrown favorites so let’s talk about some the acts in this fantastic series. At the tail-end of this article, you’ll find one of the commercials that The Gods Themselves did for the Verity series, and we’ve got our eyes and ears on them as they make their ascent up the northwest music ladder.
The latest release from The Gods Themselves, Pink Noise, also received an honorable mention and just missed making it into our Editor’s Top Ten Albums of 2015. While the band is a relative newcomer on the scene, starting in spring of 2014, the musicians certainly aren’t, and they’ve proven that if you’ve got what it takes around here you can make waves quickly, which they have. With a unique take on a retro sound that mixes elements of soul and funked out dance-rock, peppered with synthpop and indietronica, the band forgoes the bass, instead relying on the twin guitars of Astra Elane and Dustin Patterson. Drummer Collin O’Meara completes the trio, and this three-piece is lacking nothing.
We’d highly suggest catching them live and grabbing their fantastic release Pink Noise, available HERE. You can also find them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.
Learn more about how Verity is partnering up with musicians HERE.
