Premiere: Never Better – “Flood” (Live at Extra Chill HQ)

A few weeks back my good buddy DJ Edwards called me up with another one of his stupid ideas. He wanted to bring his band, Never Better, over to my house to film a music video in my backyard. Now, normally I would have nothing to do with Never Better or any of their silly shenanigans, but DJ said something about an explosion, and that made me curious.

So, the whole gang saddled up to Extra Chill HQ, including videographer Taylor Hickman of bsides and a small crew of friends, and we got drunk and filmed a video for Never Better’s new single “Flood”, which will be released on October 2nd.

“Flood” is a seasonally-appropriate release from Never Better, with lyrics that use flooding rain as a metaphor for change that is brought about by forces in life outside of your control. “Flood” says, through distorted dystopian tones, that you might as well embrace that life sucks sometimes, because there’s nothing you can do to stop it. So let’s make a fire!

While the band worked with Taylor and audio engineer Matt Tuton to get everything looking and sounding just exactly perfect, I was designated pyro and fire safety expert, and thus was tasked with building the fire. First, I made a large pile of kindling, and covered that with a large pile of logs. Then I doused the whole thing in about half a gallon of gasoline and let it soak in real nice while the crew finished preparing for blast off.

With everything in place, I got the green light from Taylor and it was time to give my masterpiece its time to shine. The problem is, it had to be done in just one take, because once the fire was lit there was no turning back. So I added some more gasoline for good measure, and soaked a small piece of wood kindling in gasoline to use as a match, and Tuton set the metronome to give me and the band a countdown.

I lit the piece of kindling and tossed it into the fire and… nothing happened. The wind blew out my match before the flame could reach the pile.

Frustrated, but not defeated, I took another piece of kindling and wrapped the end of it in cardboard, and soaked that whole contraption in even more gasoline. Then I gave the pile another quick dousing, the metronome was set in motion, and I lit my fuse, nearly burned my hand, and tossed it into the more-than-ready pile.

The resulting explosive blaze was so large and intense that I’d be sitting here all morning if I tried to find the words to describe it. It shot out in all directions from the fire, even coming close to the band, but unfortunately DJ was unscathed and they were able to perform their new single “Flood” in its entirety, right beside the fire. Taylor captured the whole thing on video, including the part where I let everybody know how I really feel about Never Better.

Watch the video for “Flood” by Never Better below.