Exclusive: The new video by Canadian alt-rock act Chastity shows the sad, clumsy face of evil.
For Ontario alternative rock act Chastity, evolution has been about taking off the mask. On last year's full-length album Death Lust, the band's music was drenched in bristling distortion and a mordant sneer. But for their new album, Home Made Satan, mastermind Brandon Williams steered their tone in a clearer direction, channeling the jangling, peaked sounds of acts like The Cure and Hole. The result is a record that still comes from a heart full of rage, but drops any sort of veneer and hits the listener with brutal honesty.
Chastity's new video, Flames, plays with this concept by showing what happens when everyday people remove -- and put on -- the costumes they wear every day. The video acts as prequel to Chastity's two previous videos, Sun Poisoning and The Girls I Know Don't Think So, focusing on a typical American kid wearing an old-timey devil costume. But while the previous videos show the Devil at a Halloween party and taking part in a political rally -- events that have a certain vibrant life to them -- Flames just shows him at a typical adult dinner party, witnessing the clumsy truth at the heart of an American family.
READ THIS: 12 of the most uplifting songs about Satan
As part of our exclusive stream of Flames, Brandon took a moment to talk to us about the messages behind the video, and the album.
Tell me about the title of the new record. What does Home Made Satan mean to you?
Brandon Williams: It means, like, isolated fucker. It’s about staying inside and letting your mind be freer than it should in the absence of quality influence. I don’t want the title to mean an overbearing amount to me -- I want to allow the space for it to mean a lot to others. It's a concept record about fear, evil, America.
It seems like you've given up some of the harsh fuzz of Death Lust. What inspired that change?
The very first line of this record is, 'Life is simple, life is plain, fuck the future, stay the same.' I love Death Lust, and I hope I’ve grown from it.
Anger is still center, more so this time even. It's a maturation of sound, and themes are still approached with hard emotional intensity, if not the same guitar tone. This record was recorded at the same spot as the last, often using the same amps and pedals. If there's a departure heard on this, I hope it's me departing with insecurities for places I thought I couldn't or shouldn't go.
Is the Devil in the videos the Home Made Satan in question?
When I was picking the Halloween costume he would wear, I definitely kept the title in mind. The costume is made of wool and is from the 1930s. When I was finished being obsessive over the production of the record and it was finally handed in, I passed my obsession over to the details of this film to help fill that void.
Why continue the devil character between the Sun Poisoning video, the Girls I Know video, and Flames? He makes sense at a Halloween party, but maybe less so at a rally, and his presence at a dinner party definitely makes a statement.
All of these individual videos are part of a film I wrote, and it spans the record front to back. These videos are plucked from the film in order to drop singles. The premise of the film is, a young boy walks into a trailer park to trick-or-treat, and every door he knocks he enters into a new world.
What's the arc of the Devil's story?
The crux of the film is that the boy can go anywhere and everywhere. It’s a coming-of-age story that takes place over the course of 10 songs. I think the whole thing will be out this spring? I want to do a tour where we play the record front to back with the film synced up like an orchestra in the pit of a play.
Watch our exclusive stream of Flames below:
Chastity's Home Made Satan comes out Friday, September 13th, via Captured Tracks, and is available for preorder.
Catch Chastity live at one of the following tour dates:
September
07 - Toronto, ON - Matty Fest
October
12 - Phoenix, AZ - The Rebel Lounge *
14 - Austin, TX - Mohawk *
15 - Houston, TX - Satellite *
16 - Dallas, TX - Canton Hall *
18 - Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium *
19 - Detroit, MI - Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit *
20 - Cleveland, OH - Phantasy *
22 - Boston, MA - Paradise *
23 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts *
24 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw *
27 - Washington, DC - Black Cat *
* = w/ DIIV
READ THIS: Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill freed my angry voice
