Rich Chambers “High School Can’t Last Forever”

Rock and roll, and high school have gone hand in glove since the very beginning. Not only were the first rockstars barely out of school themselves, they wrote songs about their high school lives, and in turn, their fans, largely still in school, found their music relatable, as it chronicled their own experience. And while rock has moved on somewhat from those early days, and grown up a little, the the innocence and impatience so prevalent in the earliest rock songs is still present in high schools, and likewise still provides plenty of inspiration for today’s songs.

Rich Chambers certainly knows a thing or two about music, and that unbreakable bond between rock and high school. With a perfect balance between early rock and contemporary pop-punk, Rich’s songs have that urgency known all too well by high school students, tempered slightly by the adult perspective that knows the responsibilities that come with growing up. His latest single, ‘High School Can’t Last Forever’, has a vibe that means it could easily be dropped back into the 1950s and nobody would be any the wiser if they heard it on the radio, or played in the school gymnasium. A tale of the sunset of youth, and the promise of endless possibilities ahead, the track additionally waxes on the passage of time, and its inevitability. Chambers reflects on the heightened emotions of high school, matching them to a frantic guitar instrumental worthy of Eddie Cochran himself.

In the video for ‘High School Can’t Last Forever’, directed by Rob McFayden, we see Chambers standing alone in front of a typical US high school building. Singing with his amp and old style microphone, Chambers plays ferociously, while McFayden intersperses the video with clips of the students going about their lives. While they’re kayaking, and diving into water, or jumping out of aeroplanes, they’re also betraying their emotions on their faces. They’re proud, anxious, and ambitious; getting ready to face the future while at the same time worried about what’s to come. Whatever comes their way though, they’re going to rock it.