Premiere: Couch Jackets devise cream pie revenge in ‘Pillos N Rillos’ video
Indie-rock band mount a Mob Boss plot for revenge in their new video.
By all accounts, gangster film (a sub-genre of crime film) began in the early 1930s with such classics as Scarface and The Public Enemy. But in 1934, the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (later called the Motion Picture Association of America) enforced what is commonly known as the Hays Code, named after the then-president of the organization, Will H. Hays, a precedent that placed strict content safeguards over what was acceptable to be portrayed in popular cinema. The ban wouldn’t be lifted until the mid-60s, and fortunately, a revival of crime-based movies began a few short years later. Such films as Bonnie & Clyde, The Godfather and a remake of Scarface reinvented the genre and served to push the needle even further.
The legacy of gangster films possesses such enduring magic, the impact remains as palpable today as it did then. So, it only made sense for Arkansas quartet Couch Jackets to draw upon their love of such brash storytelling in their music. A video for a new single, “Pillos N Rillos,” premiering today, retells their own version of being mob bosses on the prowl through scripting a fantastical narrative that’s as serious as it is a little bit silly. Band member Ben Eslick (on vocals and bass) took major creative strides in the visual, which was shot on location at his family’s Italian restaurant, an apt setting to further hammer out the storyline. “We love us some mob movies. There’s not one in specific we were trying to emulate but we love all of [Martin] Scorsese’s gangster films: ‘The Departed,’ ‘Goodfellas,'” guitarist Brennan Leeds tells B-Sides & Badlands. “The entire sub-genre is awesome. ‘The Godfather,’ ‘Reservoir Dogs,’ all insane cinema. Our hope was to make somewhat of a tip of the hat to those films.”
In lieu of faking gun blasts, the group, rounded out by Hunter Law on drums and Harry Glaeser on keys, pick up whipped cream pies for an slap-stick comic effect. “The cream pies are integral to the irony of the video. We wanted to make it feel serious through out but use the cream pies to present a bit of silliness,” says Eslick, who had previously helmed the group’s previous “The Brute” video. “The song was a lot of work. We went through several renditions before we finally landed on something we all liked. We put more initial pressure on that tune because we knew from the beginning we wanted it to be one of the first ones on the record.”
“Frack and Retract the favored nectar / Snag the sap we’re the victors / Fissures full of snacks,” Eslick sets the scene, introducing the smorgasbord of street-weary characters. The production is equal parts enveloping, energizing and erratic; Eslick’s voice is caked in haze, popping out in incisive increments. “Pouring out, running rampant / Hardly call it home but I swear that every seconds okay,” he reassures himself. The guitars bang against each other, reaching a fevered pitch, and just when they fall completely away, exhausted by their own devices, stark piano traces out what is left (a suitable transitory moment for the video’s 10-year time skip).
“Pillos N Rillos,” produced by Andrija Tokic, is the first taste of the band’s new album, go to bed, out tomorrow.
Watch below:
Leeds: Recording it all through tape was the tip of that iceberg. We also had the time to take the analog recordings from Adrija’s studio back home so we could really mess with them there ⎯⎯ find out what worked for them in terms of manipulations or additions. Andrija’s production touch helped with that a fuck ton, as well. He took our ideas and honed them all back through his analog gear to achieve that sound.
Eslick: Not particularly. We’re just all storytellers by nature, I think. And we love all genres and mediums to express them through.
Leeds: Bob Dylan (if you’d count his ‘Nashville Skyline’ phase), Johnny Cash, of course, Levon Helm. Would you consider Jimmy Buffet a country artist? Those country dudes whose self-seriousness is more rooted in a sense of irony; it feels like they perfectly reflect what country music is about to me. Appreciating the simple things in life because they’re often the most profound.
Eslick: I think we’re interested in expanding in all ways, musically. Country will and should definitely have a hand in that.
Leeds: The first track on ‘go to bed,’ “Sideways Chicken,” is more of a prelude of sorts, an open hearted introduction to the introspective theme of the album. “Pillows N Rillos” is the second track, and it’s meant to serve as a full realization of the band’s entrance to help express that theme together.
Eslick: Maybe a little bit…in subconscious ways.
Leeds: There are several that we pass around, but conceptually, everything hops around the idea that we often overthink and beat ourselves up for every mistake we’ve ever made, and sometimes, we even try to justify those mistakes. But opposite that sits a certain self awareness and the liberating understanding that we truly know so little about our universe, and that’s okay. What defines a human isn’t their past mistakes, but how they learn to find just resolve in the present. All we have is our perspective, and if we can learn to control it in accepting ways, life can be pretty magical.
Eslick: It’s a picture of my dog that I’ve always thought was really funny. When we were planning the record, everybody just kind of liked it. And then Harry drew in some plants. It kind of just came together without too much premeditation.
Leeds: [laughs] I think so! We all get socially anxious pretty often, so maybe throwing our personalities out there is a good way to combat that fear.
Eslick: Maybe just a little. Certainly aspired to be anyway.
Leeds: We want to be serious about creating thought provoking and inspiring music, but a big part of that is learning to not give a fuck about the right things. Sometimes that can be really funny, sometimes it’s super insightful, but at the very least it keeps it fun! After all, that’s why we started doing it in the first place.
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