Skylark Soul Co. / An Eastwood Music Group Label / YouTube
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It’s no secret that we love Cure for Paranoia.
Back in September, we premiered Cameron McCloud’s single “No Brainer” before he headlined The Kessler Theater for the first Louder Than Stigma Fest, which raised awareness and funded free mental health programs offered by Amplified Minds.
Another group we love supporting is Silver Skylarks, the duo of Danny Balis and Jeff “Skin” Wade, who released “The Math” and “Dead End Streets” with Cure for Paranoia and Uncle Roy & Spice in October. It’s a Dallas and Austin connection for these fiendishly creative songs, where Silver Skylarks’ production of old-school funk and slinky grooves has us lost in another dimension.
The songs take cues from the ‘70s (think Sly Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin’ On” era). For “Dead End Streets,” Skin Wade tells us it was an elaborate concept that only McCloud could pull off. “I actually had him listen to ‘Born Under Punches’ and ‘Once in a Lifetime’ in order to channel the energy of the character David Byrne was playing in those Talking Heads songs and put that into his verses on this new creation,” Wade says. “Despite it being new to him, I told him I wanted him to tap into his acting background and I knew he could do it. But having said that, he took it well beyond my expectations. He’s such an insane talent.”
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“The Math” is directed by Stack Moses and Tyler Sloan. It’s a who’s who of Dallas’ famous folks in a vibey lounge setting, starring Janine Czajka as the lead with cameos by Paul Schalda, Guitar Slayer, Willie Dutch, Billy the Kidd, Sam Anderson, Krystina Ray, Bekah Jones and Margo Mier.
Wade provided us with some insight into the video, which was shot at Akai, a Japanese-inspired speakeasy and cocktail lounge in Dallas, and C-Boy’s Heart & Soul in Austin.
In the video, Czajka’s character is surveying the scene for her next hook-up. She’s pretty detached from anyone she encounters, a brutal reality of dating in 2025. According to Wade, she sees “sex as something transactional and has either naively or overtly removed emotional connection from the equation” – the math.
On working with Cure for Paranoia and Uncle Roy & Spice, he said:
“Let me just tell you that if I lived in the same city as Spice and Roy, we’d be together in the studio with them every single week. I love them so much and we have more stuff recorded that will be released in 2026 and more stuff that I want to record with them. They have become a part of our musical family and good friends and any time spent with them makes my life better. As for Cam, Cold Cris introduced me to him when I was looking for a vocalist for a song for my nephew’s movie Shithouse. What he delivered based on what we needed blew me away and any opportunity to work with him is an automatic ‘yes.’”
You can watch the video, premiering here, below.
