British guitar sensation Sophie Lloyd has dropped her brand new single and video for “Runaway”, featuring Michael Starr. Teaming up with the STEEL PANTHER frontman, the collaboration tells the story of a young girl born to rock and her metalhead parents, who goes on to pursue her destiny as a shred superstar.
“‘Runaway’ is one of my favorite songs of [my upcoming] album,” declares Sophie. “It’s inspired by all the high-energy, super-fun 80s rock that I absolutely love. Eddie Van Halen was an especially big influence for the guitar work throughout the song. And to have Michael Starr feature on the song is such a ‘pinch me’ moment. I’ve loved STEEL PANTHER so much growing up and they were such a big influence on my playing style. He really is a rock legend and I’m so honored he wanted to collaborate in this. I absolutely love the story he tells in this song and I can relate to it a lot myself, and I had so much fun recording guitar lines to go along with the lyrics and help tell the story.”
Starr comments: “What a killer experience getting to work with Sophie. She’s a great guitar player and loves metal just like me. This song came out awesome. Enjoy!”
The song is accompanied by a colorful, sexy video that brings the spirit of the song to life in a vivid and powerful way.
“The music video was probably one of the craziest days I’ve ever had!” says Sophie. “We wanted to have that ’80s nostalgia in the video. However, this time it’s the girls taking the power back and showing that you can be a powerful, sexy boss babe! We invited loads of people down to a local rock bar in London and things got crazy, everyone was so into it and just having so much fun and I think this really translates in the video. It was inspired by one of my favorite movies, ‘Coyote Ugly’, and follows the story of a dive bar where the staff are also the in-house band. Michael applies for a job but is pretty useless at the tasks he’s given! However, when the staff overhear him singing, this leads to Michael being brought on stage and wowing the audience. Loki Films did an incredible job at bringing our ideas to life and capturing the energy of the whole day. We are so grateful to everyone can came down to be in this video. It was amazing to unite a bunch of rockers together from all different walks of life and have an amazing day.”
Sophie recently launched her own signature guitar, the Kiesel SL6 — a new, permanent addition to the Kiesel catalog and the first signature guitar from a female artist for the prestigious Californian guitar builders.
“My signature model combines all the best bits of my artist series such as the chambered black limba body and 24-fret, 14-inch radius thin neck profile, but adds some incredible new features such as a walnut neck, sustainiac pickup option, and gives peoples the ability to customize the guitar to their own taste, choosing their own fretboard, top wood and color, making each guitar truly unique. They are really unlike any guitar I’ve ever played and are sure to enhance and inspire players of every ability.”
Photo credit: Nathersonn