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Jul 21, 2023 By Kat Ramkumar Photography by Andy Howard

San Diego-based DIY quintet Pleasure Pill have shared a video for their new Jonathan Rado-produced song “Not Giving Up.” Check it out below followed by the track’s cover art.

Pleasure Pill are Jonah Paz (lead singer, his brother Ethan (rhythm guitar), and friends Luke Blake (lead guitar), Ivan Delgado (bass) and Dom Friedly (drums).

Of the track, Paz says in a press release: “This is a song focused on its timelessness and universality. Written for everyone, meant to be understood by everyone. This is the festival song that the young indie nerd and their 60 year old chaperone sing together. I like the idea of using the traditions of rock and roll that are already established. ‘Not Giving Up’ is a song about being optimistic in hard times—it’s a simple notion, but I’m not trying to confuse anyone about it.”

On working with Rado, Blake adds: “The first time we even went up to the studio to meet him he was like ‘Man, I wish you guys had all the gear so we could lay down a track right now.’ We loved that Rado was so gung ho about jumping in right away.”

The band, who grew up skating and jamming out at DIY punk gigs together in San Diego’s underground scene, took what was around them and made it their own. “The DIY ethos teaches you at a very young age that you have to do everything yourself because no one else is going to do it for you,” says Blake. “We’re not waiting on someone else to do stuff for us – we would just rather do it ourselves.”

“Not Giving Up” takes into account everything the band stands for and puts them on a soapbox as a perfect introduction. “We’re just trying to be all of our favorite bands,” says Blake. “There’s no point in being in a band if you’re not striving to be something. We’ve all been in shitty little punk bands—what’s the point of being in another one? We want to be the biggest thing, and reach the most people.”

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