DO YOU LIKE 2005? We love 2005 at Noisey. Love it so much that we dedicated an entire week to it last year. 2005 was the year we fell for NYC's We Are Scientists. Is 2005 having some kind of revival? IDK but Bloc Party released a record this year so that's rad. Equally awesome WAS return with a new LP Helter Seltzer out on April 22 via 100% Records. It's a classic cut from the Chris and Keith. Heavy on the pop, edged out with a little melancholy and replete with a video where the duo do the ridiculous. Remember "Dumb Luck" where they injured themselves in a host of gory ways? Too good. Or "After Hours" when Keith is on a date with a hottie and Chris ends up with a dog? Yeah we're not being rude about the lady—he was on a date with an actual dog.Once again Chris gets the shitty end of the stick in "Buckle." Everything is thrown in his face: food, bottles, insults. So we called him up to find out what the exact deal was.Noisey: When was the last time you used Brah in a sentence and what's your favorite way to use that phrase?
Chris Cain: I actually never use “brah” in sentences—I pair it up with an ellipsis and call it a day. Like if somebody does something that I need to react to, I’ll go, “Brah…” You just let it dangle. In the video, Keith says, “We good, brah?” That's true to life. He says that at the end of almost every conversation. Like, that’s how he concludes a purchase at a deli. Did you flip a coin to decide who was going to get it in the face for this video or did you willingly volunteer?
Well, we’re gentlemen, so we made the decision the way gentlemen do: with a refereed arm wrestle, on stage, in a theater we rented for the occasion, full of 4000 contest winners. To be honest, I got distracted by all the people—we rarely play to crowds that large, and it threw me, big time. Kudos to Keith for maintaining focus. Is the glass smashing special effects or are you a superhero?
Well, yes and yes. The glass is breakaway glass, a.k.a. candy glass. It’s made from sugar. It’s the stuff they use in movies and TV and elaborate cons. We’ve been obsessed with it since day one, and we try to work it into our videos as often as possible. In the video for “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt,” a bear jumps through a whole wall-sized window made of this fancy glass (we only had two panes for the shoot, each having cost something like a thousand bucks, and the first one broke when the set designers were trying to install it). And in the “After Hours” video, Keith breaks a candy glass beer bottle over my head during an argument (that’s why I get the girl in that video—girls hate that kind of behavior). Anyway, it’s a good thing we used candy glass, because, without saying much more, my super power isn't rhinoceros hide. What was the favorite thing that landed in your mouth on this shoot?
The chocolate cake started as my favorite thing, but ended up being one of the worst things, because its flavor/scent took forever to get out of my mustache. Like, a day or two. Everything else rinsed right out with a thorough face scrubbing, but not that goddamn chocolate cake. I don’t know what they used in the icing that gave it such incredible endurance—it was a very cheap cake, so maybe petroleum? I guess my “in hindsight” favorite thing that landed in my mouth was carrot juice, which I don’t normally drink, but which was delicious, and washes off your face in seconds. Strangely, the most dangerous thing wasn’t the glass (as we established: fake), but the confetti, which I inhaled into my bronchial tubes twice, to distressing effect. It must happen five thousand times in Times Square on every New Year's Eve. What is "Buckle" about please?
It’s about that moment in a relationship when you’re waiting to find out if it’s "a go," I think, and wishing the situation were more clear, more storybook. I mean… you're talking about song right? The video is about watching food move through the air in extreme slow motion, and seeing it hit a man in the face at that speed.///LOVE WAS. As well as the record they have some other exciting new coming up. But until they tell us we can tell you, you'll just have to watch "Buckle" over and over and over.For more info about the boys and they're upcoming record go here.
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Chris Cain: I actually never use “brah” in sentences—I pair it up with an ellipsis and call it a day. Like if somebody does something that I need to react to, I’ll go, “Brah…” You just let it dangle. In the video, Keith says, “We good, brah?” That's true to life. He says that at the end of almost every conversation. Like, that’s how he concludes a purchase at a deli. Did you flip a coin to decide who was going to get it in the face for this video or did you willingly volunteer?
Well, we’re gentlemen, so we made the decision the way gentlemen do: with a refereed arm wrestle, on stage, in a theater we rented for the occasion, full of 4000 contest winners. To be honest, I got distracted by all the people—we rarely play to crowds that large, and it threw me, big time. Kudos to Keith for maintaining focus. Is the glass smashing special effects or are you a superhero?
Well, yes and yes. The glass is breakaway glass, a.k.a. candy glass. It’s made from sugar. It’s the stuff they use in movies and TV and elaborate cons. We’ve been obsessed with it since day one, and we try to work it into our videos as often as possible. In the video for “Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt,” a bear jumps through a whole wall-sized window made of this fancy glass (we only had two panes for the shoot, each having cost something like a thousand bucks, and the first one broke when the set designers were trying to install it). And in the “After Hours” video, Keith breaks a candy glass beer bottle over my head during an argument (that’s why I get the girl in that video—girls hate that kind of behavior). Anyway, it’s a good thing we used candy glass, because, without saying much more, my super power isn't rhinoceros hide. What was the favorite thing that landed in your mouth on this shoot?
The chocolate cake started as my favorite thing, but ended up being one of the worst things, because its flavor/scent took forever to get out of my mustache. Like, a day or two. Everything else rinsed right out with a thorough face scrubbing, but not that goddamn chocolate cake. I don’t know what they used in the icing that gave it such incredible endurance—it was a very cheap cake, so maybe petroleum? I guess my “in hindsight” favorite thing that landed in my mouth was carrot juice, which I don’t normally drink, but which was delicious, and washes off your face in seconds. Strangely, the most dangerous thing wasn’t the glass (as we established: fake), but the confetti, which I inhaled into my bronchial tubes twice, to distressing effect. It must happen five thousand times in Times Square on every New Year's Eve. What is "Buckle" about please?
It’s about that moment in a relationship when you’re waiting to find out if it’s "a go," I think, and wishing the situation were more clear, more storybook. I mean… you're talking about song right? The video is about watching food move through the air in extreme slow motion, and seeing it hit a man in the face at that speed.///LOVE WAS. As well as the record they have some other exciting new coming up. But until they tell us we can tell you, you'll just have to watch "Buckle" over and over and over.For more info about the boys and they're upcoming record go here.