Photo: Press
“We're human and like anyone else doubts go across our mind but we're just stupid enough to try it,” responds Tim Nordwind, the chunky-framed spectacle wearing bass player in OK GO, to a question about whether they feel they're gambling a lot in going all the way to Russia to film their video.
For their latest one, ‘Upside Down & Inside Out’, they flew out to a reduced gravity plane in Russia to prat around in what was a huge investment of time for the band. Fortunately, the results have been incredible. As a band who are continually given top awards for the viral videos they produce, this latest release raises the bar again. “The actual time we spent in Russia where we shot it was three weeks. It took a good two or three months of pre and post production and shooting too” reveals Nordwind of the feat that it took.
“I used to be afraid to say that but now I think we are more than a band, now with slight unease" he continues. "We're some kind of weird 21st century hybrid art collective. It’s weird for me to say that - we’ll be 18 in November - for the first eight or nine years we were very traditionally a rock 'n roll band."
Before OK GO started concentrating a lot of their efforts on video, set design, as well as music, they were indeed very much a rock band - with straightforward performance videos. In particular, their hit single, ‘Get Over It’, was an important landmark. In 2002 it became the breakthrough hit the band needed: “Certainly at the time it was big for us as people. Before that we were playing to 100 or 200 people in towns across America,” remembers Nordwind.
With that hit OK GO became one of the names that fed an exciting garage rock revival movement in the early 00’s with the success of the likes of Jet, Franz Ferdinand, and The Strokes who held a similar image and sound. They were all supported by heavy airtime on MTV 2.
But with cable TV beginning take a backseat as internet speeds skyrocketed, bands had to adapt to sustain their success. OK GO took this change into their own hands, trailblazing with lo-fi deadpan choreographed dance videos for their singles ‘A Million Ways’ and ‘Here It Goes Again’ in 2005 and 2006 respectively. This satisfied people’s new dedication to using YouTube to share and listen to music.
"When those videos came out, it was a big for us because all of a sudden we realised the internet is the place to create in and to make things for. We realised we could get our music heard through this channel. At the time, not many people were trying to do that," remembers Nordwind.
In order to get ‘A Million Ways’, which was the first of the two videos they did in this style, released, the band confidently didn’t let the opinion of some weary label executives get in the way. "Initially it was like, 'So you're going to put THAT out! This isn't a high production video, this is like something you did in your back yard', they would say.
"But they also like everyone else including us were just trying to find out what the lay of the land was now that the internet was here. No one believed that people watching MTV would want to see something like that but the thing was we realised we were making it for a much different space."
Incredibly, the video became a viral hit and set was the record for most downloaded video of all time. This allowed their natural hunch for what would work in this new digital landscape to flourish and over the years they’ve been able to expand in scope and budget and their most recent work is jaw-dropping.
2014’s ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ is particularly special, it was made in a huge disused warehouse in Japan and it features thousands of extra for large scale choreography filmed from a birds eyes view on a drone. Meanwhile,the aforementioned ‘Upside Down & Inside Out’ takes things up another notch. What other band have made a video in a low gravity aircraft?
The band's sunny disposition has really helped them see no barrier to what’s possible and get these impossible bucket list type scenarios done.“I do think that certainly the music and the videos have always inspired a sense of joy and and wonderment and I think that's why they end up doing so well. People want to share them. They go ‘How did they do that.' or 'This fucking awesome. These guys took it so much further than I would have.'"
Having pushed themselves so far to the limit to get the result at the low gravity centre, Nordwind admits says he’s still recovering. But their infinitely creative minds aren’t at rest: “We’re working on a new live show. It’s more like an art installation and less like a rock show. Also, there’a couple of video ideas and we’ve just started to write a new music.” he says.
Judging by their appetite to out do each other on every video attempt whilst consistently churning out infectious pop rock tunes, leaves us hungry to see what comes next from the OK GO camp.
- OK Go have joined with the likes of Jude Law and Jenson Button for Johnnie Walker's campaign, Joy Will Take You Further - pushing the belief that happiness is the key to success. Watch the trailer below.
