Today WEIRDS release their dystopian new video for PHANTOM, which documents the slow burning of the stunning artwork for debut album SWARMCULTURE, due 26th May on Alcopop! Records.
WEIRDS saw a flurry of interest recently after their Facebook page was bizarrely hacked and transformed to a viral videos page. After each member received a notification that they had been removed as admins from the band page, they reached out to Facebook to begin the long winded process of restoring the page. When it was eventually resurrected, their online following had exploded from around 3K Likes to over 100K Likes. However this was short-lived, as the page was hacked a second time last week and WEIRDS have been unable to regain control since, forcing them to create a new page entirely.
When talking about the video, -vocalist Aidan Razzall said:
‘This video stands in stark simplicity. We sought to achieve the exact opposite from our previous video for ‘Valley of Vision’, which was a more cinematic and dramatic story.
‘Taking inspiration from the K Foundations ‘Burn A Million Quid’, we burned an effigy of our debut album cover in unadorned surroundings.
‘As they burnt a million pounds in cash to spark debate on worth of currency, we visualised the Phantom video with an element of catharsis.
‘Our record ‘Swarmculture’ is a polished example of time, effort and passion, and to see its physical form brought down to ash and dust over the course of two and half minutes serves to deliver it into the world.
‘You could draw references to iconoclasm, but it’s far more simple than that- the cuts between the wasteland backdrop and the cover being engulfed in flames echoes the structure of the track.
‘As each chorus comes in, the burn becomes more severe until nothing but scraps are left. ‘Phantom’ is probably the poppiest and most colourful track we’ve written, so it was a conscious decision to create a tension in the video between the psychedelic sonic world and the stark, brutal visual one.’
Pre-order bundles for SWARMCULTURE are now available at including a very limited edition WEIRDS custom leather jacket package.
Tour
18-20 May – The Great Escape, Brighton
31 May – Gullivers, Manchester
01 Jun – Full Moon Club, Cardiff
03 Jun – Camden Rocks Festival, London
04 Jun – Crofters Rights, Bristol
06 Jun – The Cookie, Leicester
07 Jun – Brudenell Social, Leeds
08 Jun – Broadcast, Glasgow
09 Jun – Cluny 2, Newcastle
12 Jun – Polar Bear, Hull
06-08 Jul – 2000 Trees Festival, Upcote Farm
21-23 Jul – Truck Festival, Oxfordshire
10-12 Aug – LeeFest, Tunbridge Wells