WATCH: Houndmouth Journeys To Clarksville In Music Video For “Las Vegas”
WATCH: Houndmouth Journeys To Clarksville In Music Video For “Las Vegas”
The Midwest Trio Introduces The Closing Track To Their Forthcoming Album ‘GOOD FOR YOU’
Words By: Jordyn Kieft
Alternative trio Houndmouth just released their adrenaline-inducing music video for “Las Vegas,” the vibrant closing track off their forthcoming album Good For You. After first getting together back in 2011 in New Albany, Indiana as friends with limited recording experience, but soon discovered their love for rock-and-roll and each other. Over the course of the next ten years, Houndmouth released several singles and EPs in addition to three full-length despite experiencing several member changes. Built on a long road that’s taken them from Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo to the late-night stages of Conan and Letterman, “Las Vegas” is Houndmouth’s most recent achievement. The track invokes last-ditch escapism and envisions a Midwestern response to the novel ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.’
Houndmouth’s music video for “Las Vegas” finds frontman Matthew Myers dressed like a bootleg Evel Knievel as he and his bandmates embark on an adventure to the Clarksville, Indiana SportsDrome. The music video begins with the band loading up their car with set materials while the guitar and drum beat enters in the background. We are introduced to the feel-good vibes of the music before following the band into the first verse. The camera switches between images of the group in the car and the various makeshift stages they use throughout the video with grainy-looking footage reminiscent of the 1970s roots-rock era. We find ourselves back in the days of our youth as we nod along to the catchy and upbeat tune.
By the chorus, the group has reached the stadium and we are enveloped in the small-town nostalgia Houndmouth showcases throughout their discography. Myers delivers the chorus’s lyrics as the camera pans around the stands with Myers as the focal point. Houndmouth continues the video with an iconic scene accompanied by home video recordings of the band in the second verse. Within this moment Myers is at the mic jamming as a rockstar should alongside his fellow band members while a line of expensive cars in the background. The intimacy of the lyrics as well as the home videos gives us a nostalgic push back into our own summers as kids. When the chorus hits for the second time, Houndmouth is found in a car lot outside of the track walking next to damaged race cars. After a guitar solo by Myers, the band slows down for a soulful and music-less version of the pre-chorus. Houndmouth then dives into the chorus one last time, ending with the band trailing off both musically and lyrically.
Good For You is set to be released on November 5th of this year via Dualtone Records. Recorded with Brad Cook [Waxahatchee, Hiss Golden Messenger] and mixed by Jon Ashley [The War On Drugs, B.J. Barham], Good For You provides the graduation from youthful degeneracy to more adult concerns. The album includes Silver Jews-style vignettes [“Good For You”], boozy shout-along [“Make It To Midnight”], and triumphant credits-rolling delusion [“Las Vegas”]. The album has already received praise in the music and entertainment industry. MOJO calls Good For You “an escapist tonic” that is “highly attuned to nuances of mood and scene-setting.” In addition, this past weekend, Houndmouth executed a set of rousing performances for CBS Saturday Morning including the single “McKenzie” from Good For You.
Houndmouth will kick off their tour for Good For You come mid-November. Starting in Detriot, Michigan, the trio will travel to various states including New York, Missouri, and Kentucky, ending with the Shellraiser Music Festival in Mcgill, Nevada. Tickets for the tour are available now.
