{"id":2440907,"date":"2019-02-22T08:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=796292"},"modified":"2019-02-22T08:00:37","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T15:00:37","slug":"see-snarky-puppys-whimsical-animated-video-for-bad-kids-to-the-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/see-snarky-puppys-whimsical-animated-video-for-bad-kids-to-the-back\/","title":{"rendered":"See Snarky Puppy\u2019s Whimsical Animated Video for \u2018Bad Kids to the Back\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Jazz<\/a>-meets-funk mini orchestra Snarky Puppy has unveiled a new video for \u201cBad Kids to the Back,\u201d a crisp, strutting new track written by trumpeter-keyboardist Justin Stanton and slated for the group\u2019s upcoming LP, Immigrance<\/em>. The clip combines studio footage with whimsical animation that shows everything from band members playing against a desert backdrop or on a moving school bus to animal-headed musicians replacing Snarky Puppy\u2019s own trumpeters and saxists.<\/p>\n

The visuals closely mirror the music, such as when flashes of light stream out of a saxophone. Before a section featuring consecutive solos from Snarky Puppy\u2019s three drummers, a sign reading \u201cGet Ready for Drum Breaks\u201d flashes on screen. The video winds up with the musicians blasting off into space, playing the song\u2019s final notes while dressed as astronauts.<\/p>\n

Bassist-bandleader Michael League, videographer Stella K and director-animator Micha\u00ebl Alcaras (also a composer) collaborated on the clip.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter making so many videos over the years of the band playing live, I wanted to do something different with this one without abandoning the thread we\u2019ve had running for so long,\u201d League tells Rolling Stone<\/em> in a statement. \u201cI remember seeing Waking Life<\/em> in college and thinking how much I\u2019d love to rotoscope a live performance. \u2018Bad Kids to the Back\u2019 was perfect for this, especially considering the triple drum solo at the end. I encouraged Micha\u00ebl to go as far as he wanted to in terms of making the video trippy\/left of center, and I loved seeing what he came up with. He\u2019s such a talented artist and the fact that he\u2019s a musician made all the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaras says he drew inspiration from everything from Disney\u2019s Snow White<\/em> to\u00a0Ralph Bakshi\u2019s Lord of the Rings<\/em>\u00a0and Richard Linklater\u2019s A Scanner Darkly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Stella K gave me the edited video, I started drawing over it frame by frame, and from there I could isolate all characters, redesign them, and place them into several created scenes,\u201d Alcaras explained to Rolling Stone<\/em> in an e-mail. \u201cWe all agreed that the more crazy it was, the more cool it would look. So I was interested to play with abstract and psychedelic designs for the backgrounds as it allowed more improvisation and trippy transitions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother important part of the creation focused on synchronicity between music and graphic animation,\u201d he continued. \u201cHow can we draw music? I really wanted to emphasize what is happening in the track. If the audience was somehow able to see what\u2019s been written and played, it would allow every viewer to relate even more to Snarky Puppy\u2019s rich and groovy music. So I tried to draw accents, breaks, melodies or any evocative musical aspect of Justin\u2019s composition. If you take a close look at the sax solo for example, you\u2019ll probably get what I\u2019m talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Composer Justin Stanton explained the meaning behind the piece\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Bad Kids to the Back\u2019 is a reference to the group of guys who gravitate towards the rear of the van or bus in our years on the road,\u201d he told Rolling Stone<\/em> via e-mail. \u201cOne of the keys to the longevity of the band has been the mutual respect and tolerance of everyone\u2019s personalities. I tried to reflect that balance through the ways various sections interact with each other. Whereas Immigrance<\/em> is a statement about tolerance and acceptance on a macro and global level, \u2018Bad Kids\u2019 is a reflection of that idea within the band.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to League, the title of Immigrance<\/em> ties into our current political moment. \u201cThe idea here is that everything is fluid, that everything is always moving and that we\u2019re all in a constant state of immigration,\u201d League said in a press release announcing the album. \u201cObviously the album\u2019s title is not without political undertones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigrance<\/em>\u00a0follows several years\u2019 worth of collaborations<\/a> between Snarky Puppy members<\/a> and legendary singer-songwriter David Crosby. The album comes out March 15th and is available for preorder<\/a> now. The band will be touring throughout the year in support of the record \u2014 for a complete list of current dates, go here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

via:: Rolling Stone<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jazz-meets-funk mini orchestra Snarky Puppy has unveiled a new video for \u201cBad Kids to the Back,\u201d a crisp, strutting new track written by trumpeter-keyboardist Justin Stanton and slated for the group\u2019s upcoming LP, Immigrance. The clip combines studio footage with whimsical animation that shows everything from band members playing against a desert backdrop or on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2440907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-14 12:06:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2440907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2440907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2440907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2440907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2440907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}