Filmed and edited by Evan Lockhart Borman and Ryan Lee, the new video features the six bandmembers - along with a group of cameo victims - getting pummeled by paint, flour, water, eggs and other missiles thrown from off-camera.
"The concept came out of the original album art, where we would show people with their faces distorted somehow," says Confer. "We were looking for a concept where we wouldn't have to act, but just react, and this is where we landed."
With the plodding rhythm and octave-heavy guitar lines of "Curse Us All" as its background, the video relies on a straightforward brand of imagery that's repeated throughout the three-minute video.
It kicks off with a brief montage of profiles set against a black background - a rapid-fire slideshow of folks wearing black sunglasses and white T-shirts. The lineup includes Confer and his Hindershot bandmates Patrick Kelly, Lucas Johannes, Jesse Livingston, Spencer Alred, John Fate. It also features faces from the local scene, including all of the members of Sauna,C.J. Macleod, Ethan Hill, Samantha Davis and Molly Bartlett. (Backbeat's own Bree Davies of Night of Joy also has a cameo.)
From there, the assault begins. As Confer's lyrics about solitude begin, we see folks doused with water, pummeled with pies and smacked with raw eggs. Johannes get sprayed with PBR. Paint is dumped on Kelly's head. Water balloons full of paint land on Confer. It's a simple concept, but it lends for some moments of visceral reactions captured brilliantly. Of course, there's no real narrative here, save for the shock and discomfort of the video's subjects. According to Confer, capturing a wide range of colors and textures was a big part of the video's aesthetic.
"We filmed in Spencer Alred's back yard," he says. "It was trashed. We climbed onto the roof of his garage with gallons of colored milk, water balloons and PBR. You can throw an egg at someone pretty hard without really hurting them. It turned into a party," Confer recalled in an email. "We also used a lot of flour, mayo and mustard, glitter, Skittles, party poppers and five-gallon buckets of water. Everyone was complaining they had flour caked in their ears for days."
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