If a bit of good-natured hipster razzing makes you laugh you’ll most likely enjoy Asleep’s new video for the band’s latest single “Hip to Deaf.”
The video, which premiered today, shows the Youngstown, Ohio rock quartet donning porkpie hats, oversized Wayfarers, unicycles and other hispter culture tropes.
Asleep recorded “Hip to Deaf” as part of the band’s third and latest album Unpleasant Companion, with production handled by the legendary Chicago producer Steve Albini.
Though famous as a producer for working on albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind, Albini is also known for his militant blue-collar ethic and his preference for working with bands that come from a similar ilk. As such a band, Asleep completely funded the album with donations through a Kickstarter campaign last year.
“It’s definitely not the cheapest record I’ve ever done, but it was money well spent,” said bassist Cory Snyder in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “For us, the most important thing was keeping our integrity alive. We wanted it to be the best possible recreation of what we do in a room together as we could find. And who better to get other than the man himself?”
As for poking fun at hipster fashion and social trends, Snyder said the band wanted to remind people that rock and roll is supposed to be dangerous and dirty.
“People get further away from making music and having fun and get more like ‘I do it better than you. My pants are tighter, my mustache is crisper,'” Snyder said. “We wanted to bring the punk rock vibe back a little bit. We’re kind of nasty. We’re a rock band.”
Unpleasant Companion is due out on Feb. 7th.
We’ll let you know when the band schedules tour dates later this year.
