Happy Times Sad Times have a brand new video for their track “Bombs.” The cut is off the Seattle band’s upcoming LP release Don’t You Want to Dream Again? due out via Den Tapes on July 17th. The visuals were produced and filmed by Ace Wilson, and they are directed by the band’s drummer/vocalist Jacob Tice. He also stars here as one of the video’s “conductors” alongside Mattiah Shaman, “opera fan” Lissa Gilliam, and “chauffeur” John Puschock.
Discussing the video, Tice explains: “I didn’t really plan on anything beyond the base idea of someone getting pushed around in a wheelbarrow and conducting pigeons…” While that image might have been the genesis for these visuals, reflecting on the video’s final product has yielded further insights for Tice. Elaborating, he offers:
“The absurdity of the general concept aside, we wanted to leave it open to interpretation whether or not the conductor roles were brothers, rivals, or even two sides of the same person…each character could also be a different aspect of the creative mind at work. Gilliam’s role relishes watching a fight, a struggle to get an idea right—itself a performance. The chauffeur character helps to show the viewer that regardless of the motivation, the whole debacle is something that happens often, faithfully seeing it all through time and time again.”
Happy Times Sad Times formed in 2016. Originally a duo consisting of guitarist/vocalist Roger Hutchins and drummer/vocalist Jacob Tice, the bassist Dylan High joined before the band released their debut LP New Album via Seattle’s Den Tapes that year. The trio would go on to add Aniela Sobel on keys and guitar before going into the studio to record their upcoming effort Don’t You Want to Dream Again? The group reports bassist Evan Captain also filled in for High when he left “to enjoy new parenthood.”
Don’t You Want to Dream Again? was recorded in Seattle at Mysterious Red X with Richard Hoag handling production and Matt Stegner on mastering. Due out July 17th, you can also catch the band live that night for their record release show at the Sunset Tavern in Ballard. Doors are at 8pm, and the group is joined on the bill by Choke the Pope and Coach Phillips.
