Artist:
LOVE EQUALS DEATH
Label:
FAT WRECK CHORDS
Video:
“TRUTH HAS FAILED”
Director:
Elliot
Add Date:
April 20, 2007

Howdy fellow music lovers! It’s Andy and the HIP staff coming at you with yet another in our seemingly endless stream of kickin’ videos – this time around a new clip from a brash punk band we’ve had the good fortune of working with before. But it’s a different side of Love Equals Death that we’re showing you today – ruminative, thoughtful, semi-acoustic, and gentle. No, they haven’t changed up completely: at heart, they’re still the bold, stylish glam-punks you’ll remember from “Pray For Me” and “Bombs Over Brooklyn”. But the multifacetedNightmerica ends with the somber, gorgeous “Truth Has Failed”, and the song has become a fan favorite. Singling a ballad isn’t a common strategy for a punk band – but Love Equals Death is no common punk band, and “Truth Has Failed” isn’t an average mid-tempo rocker. It’s a cinematic, lyrical track that cries out for a visual interpretation.

It’s also not so far removed from the band’s other material. No matter how boisterous it becomes (and songs like “Bombs Over Brooklyn” are about as kinetic as modern pop-punk gets), Nightmerica is a complex and thoughtful album, filled with dreamscapes, horror stories, and dark reflections. Singer Chon Travis possesses a remarkably elastic voice: he can shout and snort his way through a rock and roll stomper, and then pull back and croon with astonishing sensitivity. The multifaceted nature of Nightmerica is a mark of its strength, and critics have noticed: Corey Apar, writing in the All-Music Guide, called the album “a breath of fresh air”, praised the Petaluma quartet’s energy, imagination, and social conscience.

What’s so commendable about Love Equals Death is that their flexibility doesn’t dilute or erode their identity. They can score a video game (“Bombs Over Brooklyn” will be appearing in the soon-to-be-released Road Rebel) and make an articulate political statement; they can play a show with new-wave revival acts, and then share the stage with bands like Pennywise and Suicide Machines. LED has been touring with AFI – another ambitious punk act that draws inspiration from glam and new romantic music. Like Davey Havok, Chon Travis is a frontman too colorful, and too talented, to confine himself to one mode or one genre.

The “Truth Has Failed” clip matches the mood of the song. The camera captures Travis in a dressing room, and in a club hallway – possibly before a show, sitting with an acoustic guitar, and singing to the wall mirror. There’s a suggestion that Love Equals Death is on tour (footage of familiar city landscape is interspersed between shots of the singer) and that the frontman is homesick, or just thinking of absent friends. The camera snaps in and out of focus; lenses are switched, images are sharpened. A group of listeners is first pictured sitting together on a sofa, unmoving, staring defiantly at the camera. Later, they’re all shot individually, standing with that same fierce look, one in front of a chain-link fence, another in a hall lined with framed punk memorabilia, another against a brick wall, another occluding a portrait of the Virgin Mary. But this is no ordinary group of listeners. Love Equals Death has recruited a who’s who of their punk rock friends to appear in this clip. We can see members of AFI, Pennywise, Suicide Machines, No Use For A Name, and the list goes on and on. Each communicates longing and loneliness – and each questioning expression seems to demand an answer from the viewer..

Huge thanks go out to the fine folks at Fat Wreck Chords and to the guys in Love Equals Death for including us on their team for this endeavor. We’re stocked up with copies of Nightmerica and other LED goodies for your on air giveaway needs. If you need more info, call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779 or e-mail us at info@HIPVideoPromo.com. The band is currently on tour with AFI and Viva Hate!. To find out when they’ll be in your area, or get additional info, you can visit www.LoveEqualsDeath.com, or www.FatWreck.com. As always, it would be our pleasure to set up a video interview or ID for you.

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For info about Love Equals Death’s previous video, “Pray For Me” click HERE