The Moog “You Raised A Vampire”

The MoogArtist:
THE MOOG
Label:
MUSICK RECORDINGS
Video:
“YOU RAISED A VAMPIRE”
Director:
Veszejesaron
Add Date:
May 27, 2009

 

Greetings fellow music video fanatics! It’s Andy Gesner and the staff from Hip Video Promo, here to share a video by a new group of genuine historic significance. They’re named after the world’s most famous synthesizer, but they’re indisputably a guitar-based band. The country of origin stamped on their passports is located in Central Europe, but they’ve developed a sound that wouldn’t be out of place in the nightclubs of Goteborg, London, or the Lower East Side. They tackle dark subjects in their songs – the lead track on Sold For Tomorrow is positively vampiric – but their videogenic faces are sweet. They’re The Moog, and they’re Budapest’s answer to The Strokes, The Hives, and other internationally successful garage-pop luminaries. The first Hungarian band to make a splash in the United States (their show at this year’s SXSW was the talk of the event) stand as further proof of the cosmopolitan nature of alternative music and the power of the Internet: if your songs are good enough, recognition will accrue to your project no matter where you’re from.

Razzmatazz Orfeum won’t be out until July, but while we’re waiting, the band has thrown us quite a teaser. “You Raised A Vampire” is many things: a propulsive guitar rocker spiked by the elastic analog synthesizers that give the band its name, an instant European club hit, a cheeky nod to the band’s Eastern European heritage, and a showcase for Tonyo Szabo’s powerful, immediately-appealing vocals. It’s also a heady fusion of the band’s Goth and modern rock influences; a ghost story told with style and played with staggering energy. Produced by Geoff Ott (Pearl Jam, Queens Of The Stone Age), “You Raised A Vampire” is bigger, sharper, and spookier than anything the band has previously recorded. The spectral forces don’t stop with the single, either: Razzmatazz Orfeum will begin with the roaring “This Is Horror”, and closes with a song inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula. They’re true to their heritage, and their musical sources, too: flip over the seven-inch single version of “You Raised A Vampire”, and you’ll find the group’s remarkably empathetic cover of Bauhaus classic “The Passion Of Lovers”. David J himself contributes backing vocals and bass harmonica – and the stamp of art-rock authenticity that only an original Bauhaus member can provide.

The Moog’s Lugosi-inspired iconography extends to their choice in cover art, too: Gris Grimly, illustrator of Edgar Allen Poe reissues, has put his acid pen to work for the band. His dazzling, colorful 7” sleeve recalls silent movie posters, Edward Gorey cartoons, and Lemony Snicket books; it’s perfectly suited to The Moog’s knowing brand of horror. The clip for “You Raised A Vampire” is similarly haunted, and similarly self-aware. Directed by frequent collaborator Veszejesaron – another young Hungarian artist making a name for himself in Budapest and beyond – the video finds the quartet in a shadowy Gothic mansion, playing their song to the shadows. Astute viewers may recognize the Gothic building as the setting for the first Underworld film. The ghost of an attractive young woman (dressed smartly in authentic period costume!) stalks the halls as the band perform; Szabo, too, is often as incorporeal as a phantom. There are candelabras, old spiral staircases, grandfather clocks set to midnight, creepy old portraits in oil, bare trees, tombstones and ravens, bats and black cats: all the classic tropes of vampire fiction are present and resonant. Szabo’s relationship to the young woman is intentionally ambiguous: she may be a victim, she may be a master or muse, or she may have been the monster that sired him. The clip concludes with the Moog frontman in his coffin, ringed by his bandmates, in repose with a suit and cravat on, waiting for the night and another chance to strike.

We are very happy to once again have the opportunity to work with Art Bourasseau and the MuSick Recordings team. If you need more info, call Andy Gesner at 732-613-1779 or e-mail us at info@HIPVideoPromo.com. You can also www.Moog.hu orwww.MySpace.com/MoogBand to find out more about The Moog.

Visit MuSick Recordings Visit The Moog
Visit MuSick Recordings Visit The Moog

 

For info on The Moog’s previous video “I Like You” click HERE

For info on The Moog’s previous video “Everybody Wants” click HERE