Portugal. The Man know the importance of a good value on the road. Which might explain why the band has teamed up with Taco Bell again by lending their new psychedelic single, “Dummy,” to the ad campaign for the fast food chain’s $5 Cravings Trio. The dreamy song — the first taste of the band’s upcoming album, Chris Black Changed My Life (June 23) — appears in a new spot advertising the meals.
In addition to the music placement, PTM singer John Gourley and drummer Jason Sechrist appear in a separate 3-minute clip in which they reminisce about finding variety eating on the road, how Taco Bell helped feed them during the lean years and writing “Dummy.”
In it, Gourley calls the song “that goth kid dance… ‘yah the world is ending, everything sucks, but I kinda want to go dance to ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’” he explains. “And then I’m gonna be up at 4 in the morning staring at the ceiling thinking about the end of the world.”
The band has a yearslong relationship with the Bell, dating back to 2010 when they were part of the “Feed the Beat” campaign, and then again when their song “Evil Friends” was used in the ad for the chain’s grilled stuffed nachos. “When the Feed The Beat program came along they started giving us these five dollar gift cards and each member would be walking in, for once not thinking about money, but rather, ‘I can get some food and I finally feel like a PERSON!,’” Gourley recalls in the video.
“Taco Bell really fed all these young bands coming up,” he continues in the chat with Sechrist. “When you think about how many vegan, straight edge bands we toured with, and vegetarian, and diet restrictions. You couldn’t do that anywhere else. Taco Bell was really that place that fed us all. Feed The Beat is a really really great program and I’m really thankful for it.”
Taco Bell’s 16-year-old Feed the Beat program has included spots with music from Doja Cat, Dolly Parton, Turnstile, whiterosemoxie, Priya Ragu and Meet Me @ the Altar.
Listen to “Dummy” in Taco Bell’s “The Hang” ad below.
