NYC ska/reggae lifers The Slackers are back with a brand new visual, and it’s a beauty. The band just dropped a music video for “The Whole World Was In On It,” the latest single pulled from their 2025 Pirates Press Records EP, Money Is King. If you’ve ever felt like the universe was conspiring against you on a particularly weird summer night, congratulations: this one is your new anthem.

Watch the music video here: https://youtu.be/tACtNZecabo

The song was penned by guitarist Jayson “Agent Jay” Nugent, who traces its origins back to a uniquely chaotic chapter of his childhood. “The summer of ’77…there was a fire in my building in Queens, Elvis died, and New York fell into a legendary blackout,” he recalls. “In my mind, as a kid, all these events happened on the same night, and were all related. The blackout caused Elvis to die, and my building to catch fire…which caused the blackout, etc. Everything was connected…the whole world was in on it!”

Of course, hindsight has a way of untangling our childhood conspiracy theories. “Things aren’t as connected as we’d like them to be,” Agent Jay admits. “Nothing makes sense anymore.” Honestly? Same.

The video itself is a slick collage of fresh Slackers footage shot by Eric Durkin and Alyssa Tennyson, edited by Pat Byrne, and woven together with public domain archival clips of New York City. Post-production and creative direction come courtesy of Rock and Roll Creative, the same team behind the band’s previous videos for “Hold On” and “No One Likes the Truth.”

“The Whole World Was In On It” is one of five tracks on Money Is King, the band’s most substantial batch of new studio recordings since 2022’s Billboard-charting Don’t Let the Sunlight Fool Ya. The EP pairs a cover of Calypsonian Neville “Growling Tiger” Marcano’s 1935 classic “Money Is King” with four originals, each helmed by a different songwriter in the band: Agent Jay, trombonist Glen Pine, saxophonist David Hillyard, and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Vic Ruggiero. Anchored by the rhythm section of bassist Marcus Geard and drummer Ara Babajian, and joined by frequent collaborator Larry McDonald on percussion, the band tracked the EP at New Jersey’s Shillelagh Studios with Marc Critelli at the board. Multiple Latin Grammy winner Victor Rice handled mixing at Studio Duke in São Paulo, with Fernando Sanches mastering at Estudio El Rocha.

Money Is King is available on 12″ Kelly Green Cloudy Vinyl or 12″ Gold Nugget Vinyl from Pirates Press Records, both featuring UV-printed artwork by in-house designer Catt Gould on the B-side. It’s also streaming everywhere and up on Bandcamp.

The Slackers are also on the road throughout 2026, with a North American run kicking off in Omaha on May 7, Canadian and West Coast dates through May and June, and a massive European tour landing in September and October. Full ticket info lives at theslackers.com.

Press play, turn it up, and let yourself believe — just for a few minutes — that the whole world really is in on it.