Do you ever feel as though you are screaming ‘Look at me! Listen to me !’ Just to realise you are whispering to yourself in a dark room. You have so many stories to share and songs to sing but no one is listening.
Bayboards explore this concept of invisibility in their latest single, How I Wish I Was Cool, a guitar infused banger accompanied with a fun video, filmed in their home city, Manchester. It’s a slow burner as it settles you into the song, exploring deeper themes of covering up your true self in order to fit in and still failing to do so. The build up before the anthemic chorus is one that bubbles in your chest, this is a song that was made to be sung- I must admit I was belting the chorus the second time through.
How I Wish I Was Cool is like a bedroom floor anthem that wouldn’t feel out of place at a summer festival this year. You can see the bouncing heads and mosh pits forming in the chorus you can see people causing concern for their housemates as they scream this, falling to their knees on the bedroom floor. This is a song that demands attention and will hopefully be the reason Bayboards finally start gaining the recognition they deserve.
The video for this track is a follow on from a series of music videos where the band are caught in a simulation, trapped by The Mystical World of Bart. In this video they have escaped the simulation but are forced to function as ‘normal human beings’ in order to prepare for their headline show at Manchester academy 2 in November. Get tickets for that here!
We all feel like outsiders but what about when we feel like outsiders to our own lives? stood at the window watching ourselves. You feel as though you are evaporating from your own existence, only worth something if someone is watching your performance. What is the point in your talent when it can not be perceived by others?

Wishing you were cool enough to feel seen by others, to be cared for by others. I wonder how many of us think, “I have so much to offer, what will it take for you to turn your head in my direction? I am searching for that spotlight but it is not looking to shine on me”, but these are thoughts we bury deep, hoping that silence will disguise them and we will shine just as those who are deemed ‘cool’ do, but we all share these thoughts, perhaps its time we started talking about them, perhaps its time we started listening.
What does cool even really mean anyway? Who determines what is popular? If you have a passion, if you have a talent you should pursue it, even if you are made to feel as though you are living an invisible existence, make the noise, drive the dream and live for yourself first.
Speaking about the song the band said “I want people to take whatever they want from the song, it will be unique to everyone’ and isn’t that just the magic of music, everyone’s ears are different but that feeling of union is always the same.
I think fans of this song will also like Get You Down and Moving to America, also by Bayboards which both boast a bouncy beat and follow and booming chorus. Bayboards make songs that boast stories, packing lyrics with meaning and a beat you can move to.
Bayboards certainly are gaining a reputation as being more than ‘cool’ with their energetic live shows fuelled with passion and full of power. On record they offer similar sounds to the likes of Circa Waves, The Black Keys and Sea Girls. Experience this banger and many others live at their up coming gig this October in London. Find out more here.
The metaphor of ‘evaporating from your own existence’ really hits hard. It captures that strange state where you’re
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