Filmed on “a lil more than a microdose of fine psychedelics,” the video for the BK band’s new single is a kidnapping caper unfolding on the streets, sidewalks, staircases and studios of Bushwick
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I’m not sure what, exactly, our fave punk poet Zach Ellis did to inspire this sort of ire in his bandmates.
Did he shit on their song ideas? Refuse to add their snack requests to the rider? Steal their drink tickets, insult their girl/boyfriends or embezzle merch money?! (That might be what’s in that briefcase…)
I don’t know. But it can’t be good. Because in the new video for “Hell Shack”—the latest Dead Tooth single—the artist’s collaborators-turned-kidnappers wield weapons including chains, baseball bats and a sure-as-shit SWORD while stalking our skateboarding, cigar-smoking protagonist through the streets of Bushwick before (spoiler alert!) eventually apprehending him and Tetris-ing his very long limbs into what is apparently an extremely spacious trunk.
That said, I saw the entire band perform (live! indoors! what a world!) at Our Wicked Lady last Wednesday, so I think it’s safe to say that either the fight was fictional or the mystery issue has since been resolved—at least well enough for them to get together and put on one hell of a fucking show.
Despite the fact that “Liars” was my most-played track of 2020 (+ gunning for #1 in 2021—I LOVE WHAT I LOVE), I hadn’t actually seen Dead Tooth live before last week, and the rager of a performance—with Zach, clad in the same outfit he wears in the video, jerking around the stage like a manic marionette with mad mic skills—was not just a blast to witness, but served as a true celebration of many things: the return of live, loud, in-your-face and in-your-space music; my fave frontman’s 34th birthday; and, most relevantly here, the release of the band’s new single, for which Zach sent me the following description:
“‘Hell Shack’ is about getting up on your horse after you’ve fallen off. It’s about being stronger than you were before. It’s about grappling with the id. Inspired by tumult and anger during the Trump era, as well as an ever raging battle for self realization and betterment, it’s a surrealist story of destroying the narcissistic monster that art making can create, told from the perspective of said monster. A character with the almost dumb and brutish voice of a self depricating ephemera addict who’s trying to find words for indescribable feelings of anger, hurt, mistrust, doubt and shame. The character is owning and acknowledging these feelings and letting them empower him. It’s about setting fire to what was. It’s about what’s on the other side of the inferno. It’s the destructive and creative forces working together to ‘build up my heaven like I built my Hell Shack.'”
The ~hot~ track was recorded at Trout Recording in Brooklyn, and the very entertaining video was shot and edited by the one and only Dalton Patton, the camera wiz responsible for the equally excellent “Small Town” music video from Dead Tooth and No Surrender, which premiered on BdBK a few short months ago.
Listen/watch/buy/etc. the new release now, and when you have the opportunity—because THIS IS A THING WE CAN DO NOW!—be sure to catch “Hell Shack” (+ “Liars,” obv) live—
+ BONUS REC: If you’re an artist with bandmates… hey, maybe watch your back.
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Follow Dead Tooth at @dead_t00th, buy their music on Bandcamp and add them to your Spotify playlists now!
Video directed by Zach Ellis; shot and edited by Dalton Patton
Feature image provided by the band.