Chicago via Scranton trio Boo Baby are not quite your average indie rock band. Founding members Kevin Tellie and Robert Salazar have both done improv comedy, and drummer Thomas Huston is a conceptual artist, which might not mean anything in itself, but does act as a clue that Boo Baby will be anything other than ordinary.
The band released their debut album, Orange You Glad, back in 2017 on Hickory Lane Records, and are now busy preparing the follow up, The Opening Band. Boo Baby say the new record is intended to “plant two big flags,” the first being “don’t take yourself too seriously,” and second “go join a band.” The record draws on the members’ backgrounds to celebrate creativity and collaboration in a manner that’s colourful and unpredictable.
Today we have the pleasure of unveiling a single from The Opening Band. Clocking in at over eight minutes, ‘Jazz?’ showcases Boo Baby’s sense of fun and ambition perfectly. It builds from some nice subtle guitar and easy-going percussion into a sprawling and absurd epic. The lyrics flow like one long meandering anecdote, a preposterous stream of consciousness that sounds as joyous as it does silly.
The track comes complete with a video, a montage of “smartphone-era home movies,” short clips that juxtapose with the song’s long-form nature. In this way the band explore the absurdity of sharing our lives in bite-sized chunks online, “teas[ing] us by how we memorialize passing IRL moments for an audience passing the time on the internet.” Watch the video below!
To give us some background on the video, the band were kind enough to give some explanation on some of their favourite clips. Read on below to find out more:
“This was taken at Ellis Island, in the grand hall where they decided which immigrants could stay. I had a camera but anyone for a hundred years could’ve been experiencing these same wild shadows. I like thinking we’re all artists but some people write it down.”
“This was taken in a park in Lima, Peru. Behind me was the pacific ocean. Growing up, I spent my summers (their winters) in Peru because that’s where my family is. This was my first time visiting in summer and people were wildin’! Right after this I saw a massive LARP fight.”
“Everything about this wilds me out: the way they magically dance to the beat of “Jazz?”, the way my mom and pop look so joyful. Part of making this video is that I know I’ll watch it years from now and it’ll spark tears. This one’ll crush me I know it, but it’ll remind me to groove too.”
“The lyrics to this song are literally 100 percent a true story. What I wear in this video is based on Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber and the plot is sort of inspired by that too. Kevin and I looove big budget comedies and here’s our wild little micro-budget comedy.”
“This was the least wild thing I saw at Burning Man.”
“I showed up way too early to a Kentucky Derby party. The girls were still getting ready so I offered to go get the beer. On the walk to the store, I ran into these wild animals.”
“I thought it was wild these wigs represented our own different hairstyles. Overall, the different wigs reminded me of different types of fur that’s why it’s set to the awoo!”
“This was a great night. It was folk night at Innertown pub, my favorite monthly Chicago event. Ellissa wore her Uggs. Dan laughed as he showed me his surgery scars. Everyone shared their SAT scores and it turned out we all scored wildly different. I remember thinking, only in a fucked up world would people’s friends be based on test scores. If there’s one thing I hate it’s quantification. Putting a number on something misappropriates real value. I guess I say this to say Boo Baby isn’t about the numbers, it’s about the joy. It’s about drawing something wild in the snow to make you laugh for a minute. Jazz?”
Keep an eye on the Boo Baby Bandcamp page for further news on The Opening Band.
