In the category of lyric videos there are few exceptions that won’t garner a solid eye-roll. Just because MuchMusic doesn’t play videos anymore doesn’t mean you need to give them any more excuses. However, necessity can yield some surprisingly results.
When Fredericton’s Kill Chicago needed a new video ahead of their upcoming album, and with most of the band tied up or out of the province, they had to get clever in a hurry. That’s when they slid into your DMs with their new video for “Show Me.”
The band are in the middle of prepping the release of their second album, The Fix, and they’ve collectively marched into the fray with more optimism than free time. With their respective work schedules, newfound infants afoot, and Dillon Anthony’s propensity for venturing into the wilderness, some preparations were aided by less conventional means that didn’t require the band to physically be in the same place at the same time.
“Video idea was a solution to a problem,” explains Kill Chicago’s lead vocalist, lyricist and guitarist Greg Webber. “Dillon was in NFLD doing science/nature stuff and we needed to get a video done. All of our schedules are hectic so it needed to be something that we did remotely.
This summer I organized a canoe trip down the St Croix (which we’ve done almost every year for the past 6 and the planning thread always dissolved into idiocy. It clicked when Zach [Atkinson] mentioned that we should also do a lyric video. We did a test run and tweaked some things and then set a time to meet online to create the video.”
The video speaks for itself, relaying the song’s lyrics via messages and animated gifs. Without getting over-analytical, it does seem a little questionable, and a little amusing, to see which bandmate got assigned which lines.
“It says a lot in the way that technology solved a problem, but also allowed us to not be physically in the same room so that’s sad at the same time,” says Webber.
Of course, no Kill Chicago song would ever be complete without an embedded morality play place prominently among the riffs. Ol’ Fire & Brimstone Webber has a few more things to say about the bill of goods we’ve been handed down for our future.
“‘Show Me’ grew out of a campfire argument with a group of Boomers about the problem with my generation. After following all of their advice, we landed flat. We lack financial security, health plans and pensions. As a result, we are waiting longer to have children, or settle down in any way and what we’re left with is an unstable, delayed adulthood.”
Fortunately, we won’t be waiting so long until Kill Chicago’s new album, which will be available in early November. We can probably survive at least that long, right?
Tour Dates:
11.08.19 – Fredericton, NB @ The Capital Complex
11.09.19 – Moncton, NB @ Tide and Boar Gastropub
11.15.19 – Saint John, NB @ Callie’s Pub
11.16.19 – Halifax, Ns @ The Seahorse Tavern