COIN just released their new video for “Crash My Car,” an electrifying track that feels designed to fill stadiums. It’s a love letter to music, to fans, and to all the bonds that unite them.

Of course, it’s been released in the time of self-isolation, when stadiums are closed and musicians have been relegated to their homes. We were supposed to interview the band and premier the video live at our Popdust office, but due to the current circumstances, the conversation took a very different path. From our respective homes, we spoke to lead vocalist and synth player, Chase Lawrence, about being present, about creating music during disaster, and of course, about the stars of the new music video: the fans.

The “Crash My Car” video is a tribute to COIN’s dedicated fans. It stars some of their top Nashville-based supporters, each as much a part of the performance as any of the band’s actual members. In a way, the video feels like a shoutout to all music fans, a reminder that the euphoria we feel in the audience is also being felt by performers, a reminder that in the end, music is a celebration of connection. It’s a love letter to art in general, a reminder that no matter how irrational creation may seem, sometimes you just have to let go and let your heart take the reins.

Watch the video below, and read on to discover the story behind the music.

COIN – Crash My Car [Sound & Mind Sessions]www.youtube.com

POPDUST: How are you?

CHASE LAWRENCE: I mean, as good as any of us can be in this situation, I guess!

Are you at home?

I’m at my parents’ house in West Virginia. We were on tour, but we reached a point where we started thinking it was irresponsible to keep gathering people.

So we just paused. Now I’m hanging out with my parents and sister and niece and nephew, and it’s great. I’m making the most of it. It’s weird times, but happy days.

Can you tell me a little bit about your new music video for “Crash My Car”? It’s so euphoric—like a little energy burst, a nice change in the midst of a lot of staying at home. What was the inspiration, and how was making it with the fans?

There’s this symbiotic relationship between the fans and the music we make. We feel like the music is just as much theirs as it is ours. Without them, it would be this indulgent journal, but the fans take it and they give it a whole new meaning.

We were wondering how to best represent these people’s voices, and we thought, why not actually represent them? So we sent an email out to a hundred people in Nashville. We asked them all to wear a monochromatic color, and they all showed up. I knew a lot of them because they’ve been to so many shows over the years, and we’ve developed such close relationships and friendships with these people who come to so many shows and wait outside the venues.

There’s nothing like the relationship between the music fan and the bands they love.

Again, it’s symbiotic. It was so cool to hear their voices so clearly, equally loud or louder than ours.

“Crash My Car” is such an earworm of a song, and it sounds so electric, like it must’ve been fun to make. What’s it like when you guys are writing and making your music?

It keeps changing. Every time we think we have the process down, we realize we could improve. It’s so spontaneous. There’s this tightrope of figuring out what’s too candid and too perfect and of finding this balance between passion and perfection.

For “Crash My Car,” we were playing a festival in Atlanta, and we’d just come off a weird trip to LA. There were these crazy fires, and the clouds were literally dark, and it was a really sad, dark week. A lot was canceled because of the fires, and everyone was affected by the weather more than we’d admit. We were in between albums, and we were wondering—do we even want to do this anymore? Is this what we’re meant to do? We had a good run, but maybe we should just quit… There was so much uncertainty. So we decided to just take things one day at a time.

That night we played this show in front of 15,000 people, and the crowd was singing back every word. It was the most surreal experience, seeing everything we’ve worked for come to fruition in a 45-minute window. We came off the stage electrified, and the next morning we went into the studio and decided to write something louder than anything we’d written before. That song came out in just a few hours. It was a combination of extreme uncertainty and pseudo-sadness combined with this euphoria, and we got this silver lining of a song.

That seems relevant now. I feel like music can sometimes remind you what’s really important even if you’re doubting it.

When we pressed pause on this tour and came home, I was like, what am I going to do? I’m not just going to go live on the Internet and just post things. So I just buckled down and started writing.

We’ve fully written, collectively and collaboratively, another album’s worth of songs. I think the darkest times produce the most honest songs.

Has being home changed what you’ve been writing about?

I feel like these songs, sonically, are more R&B-sounding. There’s some hip-hop and some gospel and sample-infused things. Maybe I’m nostalgically connecting to who I was in high school. I grew up in churchland, so I think that’s why I’ve been thinking about gospel; I feel like I’m reopening this envelope that’s been closed for years. I don’t know, but I want to explore every angle.

I’m excited to see what comes out of it.

Honestly, me too. I’m just as uncertain as you are.

Lack of certainty seems like a theme of this era. So your last album was Dreamland, and I’m curious about the title. What inspired it?

I had come home, where I am now, after being gone for a very long time. My cousin was married, my sister moved, and I couldn’t believe that my friend had a baby… and all these life changes happened. I’d been removed from the conversations about this whole sequence of events, and someone said, “You must be living in dreamland!” The next week I was flying somewhere, and this woman was reading a pamphlet called “Dreamland.” I started wondering—what does this word mean to me?

I realized I’ve spent so much time over the past few years—and I think we’re all guilty of this—almost… living above myself, trying to figure out the best way to tell the story. I was hovering above where I was, trying to strategize how to tell people where I am.

The idea of being present became very important to me, because I realized I’d been looking up, trying to figure out what the next move was without realizing that there was a beautiful view all around me.

So when I made the album, Dreamland, I was trying to be more present.

How’s that working out?

In this time specifically, there’s never been a better time to practice being present, because there’s really nowhere else to go. I guess some people could choose escapism, but reality is facing us harder than ever. There’s less and less to do for many people, so now’s the time to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, and maybe staring at a tree… It sounds stupid, but I’ve learned so much just looking around and seeing the intricacy and the beauty in the normal things and all around. Even washing a dish can be so satisfying, if you make it purposeful and meaningful.

Right now, we’re just sitting, and that’s enough. You don’t have to be sitting and thinking about what you’re gonna watch later or what you did yesterday. You’re just sitting. And that’s enough for me.

Sounds so different from the rockstar life you must’ve been wrapped up in, jet-setting from one place to the other.

I’m kind of privileged to even have the opportunity to do this; some people have to really think about what they’re going to do and what their next steps are going to be. But right now, regret isn’t really possible, because the past is gone and worrying about the future—well, there’s never been a better time to practice being present, because nothing has ever been more out of our control.

How’s the rest of the band faring?

The band’s great. Ryan the drummer lives in LA, but he came home from tour and was like, why would I stay in Los Angeles where I just have friends, no family? He packed up his car and went back to Cleveland to his parents. It’s a crazy time to be away from family.

Joe lives in New York, so flying home wasn’t really an option. He decided to stay put in Nashville, and it just happened that his girlfriend was there, so they’re doing great. We’re writing a ton together by proxy, sending voice memos back and forth, focusing on making a deluxe version of Dreamland and putting out as much new music as possible. We’re taking advantage of this time, these hard times and happy days, taking it one step at a time.

COIN – Into My Arms (Official Video)www.youtube.com

How did you all meet?

I met Joe, the guitarist, on the first day of college in Nashville. I sat down, and he was right beside me. After two weeks of classes, I hadn’t said a word to him, and I have no idea why, but I asked him if he wanted to write a song together. He came to my dorm room, and we wrote one dumb song and it didn’t really work out, but as he was walking out the door I showed him a song I was working on and he helped me tweak it. We kept meeting over and over, and then he was like, I know this drummer, Ryan. It was just kismet. For us, the stars literally aligned. None of us were trying to start a band, but this is what we’re doing all these years later. Things like that make you realize there’s a purpose in whatever we’re doing.

Anything else you want to add?

We’re just making a lot of music and we’re excited to share it, that’s all.

Like I said, I hope that people can let go, because there’s truly nowhere else you can be than right here.

Follow COIN on Spotify, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.