Awolnation sure puts a lot of efforts in the aesthetic surrounding the band. A new video, or rather a series of vignettes (some of them lasting one minute or less) has been posted on their website, alternating between quiet a cappella or acoustic rendition of the songs in intimate settings, or loud outbursts of the songs, and I must say that the funky hand-clapping ‘Guilty Filthy Soul’ goes very well with basket ball!
Among the videos, there is a series of fake trailers of Awolnation films, in which Bruno Van Hammer (Aaron Bruno) seems to vanish each time, as if we were seeing lost films inspired of fantasy-science fiction-adventure movies of the 50’s.
Like the old fashioned movie ‘Lost Signal’, that is supposed to revolutionize science fiction, half ‘Forbidden Planet’, half ‘2001 Space Odyssey’, or ‘Deep Danger’, a deep sea adventure photographed in ‘Dynamo-color’, half 40,000 leagues under the sea, half commandant Cousteau’s documentary, although there is a mermaid.
I’m not sure what all this mise-en-scene has to do with the music, it’s like the band wanted to be more than a band, and it is very intriguing, there are even pages presenting the fake movies!
But if you are in LA and want to see them live, Awolnation is playing at the Sunset Strip Music Fest with the Smashing Pumpkins, Slash, Common and Kid Cudi, Saturday 28th at 1 pm.