behind the video with Curls Ultra ("Vegas (Mandalay Bay)")
Quick question, what is in the water in the greater Chicago area?? Because this city continues to produce a disproportionate amount of the world's weirdest and most fun art. Fire-Toolz is one of the most interesting artists of the past decade...Cocojoey has been throwing down...the netlabel Blorpus Editions is consistently releasing wild stuff...the whole zone is bursting with compelling oddities. Maybe they're storing some kind of special creativity substance in the Bean that radiates across the city.
And Curls Ultra, a Chicago group led by Michael Fansler and putting out music on the label Truth Zone Records, is no exception. Curls Ultra have been making music for a decade (they were previously playing as The Curls) but their current experimental iteration is a post-pandemic product. They aren't afraid to get a little nutty with it. They put out a release last year featuring song titles like "NSA Nightclub" and "When Philip Seymour Hoffman Says Pig Fuck In The Master>". Do you like improvised psychedelic jazz rock? Have you ever thought about liking improvised psychedelic jazz rock? Let it wash over you. You're ready for it, you just don't know it yet.
The band's song "Vegas (Mandalay Bay)" is a 9-minute epic, a slow burning croonfest that builds to an ecstatic peak and then simmers down into a tipsy coda. There's a dive bar in Vegas called the Double Down Saloon that's covered in a fine layer of grime; they sell shots of a mysterious brown potion called Ass Juice (if you pay an upcharge, it comes in a commemorative toilet-shaped shot glass you can take home) and needless to say, there's so much cigarette smoking in the place that even the cigarettes are smoking little tiny cigarettes of their own. "Vegas (Mandalay Bay)" embodies the type of person to be at this type of place: scuzzy, lonesome, earnest, deranged, forever teetering on the edge of either glory or disaster. Life lived with an eternal LED screen of video poker machines reflected in your corneas as you lean over the bar to order yet another Ass Juice. As a known Vegas enjoyer, I find this vibe irresistible.
For the "Vegas (Mandalay Bay)" video, Curls Ultra tapped the comedy collective Crud Country—you might know them from the instant classic video "My Weekend As A 28-Year-Old In Chicago"—to shoot the perfect trippy, neon-lit visual accompaniment to the lurid torch song. "They’re bloody mental and downright twisted in the head. Like da joker or David lynch," Michael from Curls Ultra wrote of working with Crud Country. Read on for some intel on the making of the song and video...pull the lever on the ol' slot machine one last time...
First I need to ask about this epic song—I would love to hear the general backstory on how this particular song came to be.
This song inhabits a few different worlds. In one respect it’s a meditation on some mysterious, romantic and downright destructive changes that were occurring in my life at the time. I was also fascinated with the Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock. There were so little details or explanations about what happened and why. He had a strange life and was a hardcore gambling addict. Supposedly he was in Vegas for a few days before the shooting—gambling, sightseeing, eating sushi, goofing off with casino workers. He had a longtime girlfriend who he flew to the Philippines right before it happened to seemingly protect her from the trouble to come. I imagined what their relationship was like, what he was like. Musically—brought a very simple and restrained ballad to the band which then collaboratively simmered into a glorious soaring drone cacophony that eventually disintegrates into meditative mantra bliss. Very emotional, very fun to play live!
How did the video come together? What was the shoot day/shoot days like? Any fun behind-the-scenes info you'd like to share?
Similar to most things we do it was very spontaneous, improvised and full of joy. We use the band CAN’s “Instant Composition” method when it comes to these things. But yeah, the famous psychedelic comedy outfit and auteur Chicago filmmakers known as Crud Country proposed throwing us into their “Cave” (which gives Cronenberg, HP Lovecraft and '90s Nickelodeon game show set) and seeing what happens. They filmed us for about 3 hours on a Friday night. The video was finished and released a week later. Instant composition :)
This is kinda specific but what exactly is being filmed at the 4:30 mark??
Hard to say but I believe that’s an infrared tracking shot of some strange otherworldly set piece the crud boys constructed in their beautiful cave.
Curls Ultra is based in Chicago...what is your personal relationship to the city of Las Vegas?
None whatsoever outside of Stephen Paddock, history, films and books. I’ve never been!
Lastly, what is your favorite music video of all time?
Wow. I am in love with the video for Bob Dylan’s "Tight Connection To My Heart." Directed by the great Paul Schrader. Bob wanders around Japan and gets into trouble with the law. Very noir, Completely absurd and gorgeous.
And of course "No Money Down" by Lou Reed. A grotesque masterpiece of the medium.
Honorable mentions:
Anything by Butthole Surfers
Fat by Weird Al
I Can't Put My Finger On It by Ween
A Thousand Miles From Nowhere by Dwight Yoakam
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak
I'm A Slave 4 U by Britney Spears
Anything by Busta Rhymes in the 90s
Looking For Clues by Robert Palmer
Closer by Nine Inch Nails
Justin Timberlake lip syncing The Killers All These Things That I’ve Done in the film Southland Tales (maybe the greatest achievement in history)
Wow that last pull...Southland Tales is a 100%-I Enjoy Music-approved film for sure. Thank you Michael and Curls Ultra! Follow them on IG and listen to their latest release, American Blood.
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