LESS LOVE’s new single “Snow White Trash” is a crass but effective protest to the rising concern about bigotry in the United States. Comparable to the Randy Newman song “Rednecks,” LESS LOVE pulls back the curtain and shines a light on an increasing problem of hatred in this country.
“When making the music video we discussed several concepts,” explained singer Sky McCullough. “Initially we wanted to make a video that was an extension of the protest. Then we discussed something Merle Haggard once said. At the height of music video popularity, Merle stated music had become just soundtracks to the videos. He felt the audio no longer mattered as much as the visual. We concluded this song had to remain the focus. So we basically made an antithesis music video.”
The result is three minutes & forty-one seconds of a multicolored lizard standing still looking around. Sky offered this interpretation, “It’s like an Andy Kaufman joke. You wait three and a half minutes for something to happen and just as it begins to happen the video ends. Initially, we discussed adding text and making it a lyric video. It was the director Mike Mills that decided it had more impact without the text. He wanted it to be as minimalistic as possible while still making it powerful. The song is about discrimination. The image is an animal to which skin color is ever-changing. It’s kind of perfect, but like an Andy Kaufman joke I didn’t really expect many people to get it.”
Some may not understand the video but the concept has resonated (at least) with those that matter. The Los Angeles Music Video Awards has nominated the video in the category of Best Rock Video of 2020.
“In the past, I have seen some great work be nominated for this award and still not win,” stated video director Michael J. Mills. “Just being considered was a shock for me. I am honored.”
When asked about the video’s chance of winning Michael laughed, “That would be a much greater shock. Music videos don’t allow a lot of room for interpretive thought. If Jean-Luc Godard was making music videos today people would hate them. Moving pictures was once an artist’s medium. Now it is just a commercial application used to fulfill pre-existing expectations. Yes, the video is just this animal looking around but open your eyes. Take a look around. The system isn’t working. Wake up!”
Asked the same question Sky replied, “I wouldn’t even know where to put the trophy if we won. Getting the song heard is what is important to me. We come from the very red state of Oklahoma. I have been confronted with this type of ignorance on a daily basis. Being nominated for this award is helping us get the song heard. That means everything to me.”
“Snow White Trash” is the first single from the band’s upcoming anthology. The album titled “Everybody’s Somebody’s Satan” will be released December of this year. Discussing the project Sky informed me, “This album will consist of everything we have ever recorded. Some of it is old demos. Some of them are new tracks. This will likely be our final hurrah. The band has grown apart. Right now we live in three different countries. We may do singles in the future but no more long play records.”
The video for “Snow White Trash” is the second collaboration between Mills and the band to receive critical acclaim. In 2016 working with Grammy award-winning producer Michael Trepagnier (Coldplay) and engineer Kevin Lively (Rage Against The Machine), LESS LOVE recorded the song “Horse Race.” The video for the song, also directed by Mills, received multiple awards including a Global Music Award for Best Music Video of 2016.
