SO LOOK, it’s not even news anymore: 2020, and the world is busy going to hell in a handcart.
So just what is a scuzzily excellent, guitar-totin’ US alt.rock band to do? There ain’t no gigs; there no signing sessions. Hell now even the goddam pressing plants are backing up like bad plumbing.
The answer? Create, create, create.
Taking all that fizz and buzz and angst, Dean and Andy of low-slung LA noise rock architects are on a mission to bring visuals down the alley for as many songs from their latest Goons Be Gone album as the Lord is willing to allow.
“Turned To String” is the latest tune for the treatment, the powerchords kicking up dust alongside a short film in which they career down evening-sun streets with abandon; by contrast others palm at glass, their shield from the outside. None more 2020, that.
Director Jonn Herschend was at the visual tiller. He said: “When Randy, Dean and I started talking about this video back in January, we initially had a much different and more ambitious plan. We were going to shoot with a crew down in Austin and in LA. But as with everything Covid related, we had to scrap it and went for simple, which turned out to be the right move.
“I asked choreographer Kaite Faulkner to listen to the song and see what she might do. We then shot a series of sketches (just the two of us) around Alameda, CA, over a period of two months – staying six feet apart.
“Because it was just the two of us, it allowed us to vibe off the energy of the song, try things out and keep moving. I was able to let the camerawork fall apart and feel it’s way through the song, syncing up with Randy and Dean via Katie’s moves.”
No Age’s Goons Be Gone is out now via Drag City
