They spoofed Michael Jackson in their video for “Smooth Criminal,” and they cavorted with cartoon hot dogs in “Movies.” But anyone expecting Alien Ant Farm to aim for the funny bone again with their new video, “Attitude,” will find themselves somewhat short of giggles. And considering that the clip was directed by the Malloys, who have shot quirky rib-ticklers like Blink-182’s “First Date” and Foo Fighters’ “Breakout,” it comes as quite a surprise.
“The song is kind of somber and has a Latin feel to it, so we couldn’t see much joking in the video,” vocalist Dryden Mitchell said during a pass through New York to appear on “TRL.” “We kind of wanted to [be funny] in a sense, but there really wasn’t much place for it.”
The video features mostly black-and-white performance shots of the band, and Tye Zamora plays stand-up bass in a style somewhat reminiscent of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” Footage of the band hanging out in an alley and holding a pigeon are equally devoid of yuks. But just because Alien Ant Farm are getting serious onscreen, that doesn’t mean the members are any less juvenile.
“There’s a scene where we’re walking down this alley, and I did it naked one time, but they didn’t put it in,” joked Mitchell.
“There was a little old lady that saw it and thought it was pretty nice,” added drummer Mike Cosgrove. “She was getting redder than the blush on her cheeks.”
Since releasing ANThology (2001), which has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, Alien Ant Farm have written two songs for soundtracks – “Good (For a Woman)” for “American Pie 2” and “Bug Bytes” for “Spider-Man,” which comes out April 30.
“Lyrically, it lends itself to the whole web thing,” Mitchell said of “Bug Bytes.” “The chorus is ‘I’ll swing from anything, I’ll sing you anything.’ It’s kind of cheesy, but it’s a cool song. We play it live. It gets a good response.”
Now that the bugs are out of their system, Alien Ant Farm are determined to get serious about writing their next record, which they have exactly zero songs for so far. This month they’re in Riverside, California, to remedy that. Then they’ll head to Europe before returning home to write more in August. “We’ll probably start recording in October,” Mitchell said.
