Mutemath Brave Discomfort, Drum-Stick Pelting for 'Blood Pressure' Video

New Orleans rockers Mutemath aren't quitting anytime soon. After the departure of guitarist Greg Hill, the band soldiered on and soon developed an aggressive sound with 'Odd Soul,' a fierce combination of power pop and indie grit.

Mutemath's newest video 'Blood Pressure' is a spazoid, stop-motion trip directed by the band's own Darren King. Spinner caught up with the drummer to talk about the video and how the put together such a complex project.

Where did the idea for this video come from?

I had done a couple of videos already that were very heavily edited and had little ideas from each of those. We didn't plan out the video until the hour prior to shooting. We were in L.A. doing a show and then press at Warner Brothers and realized we wouldn't have another chance to be all together until the tour so we just decided to throw caution to the wind. A lot of the ideas were improvised with the hope that they would work once edited together.

How long did you shoot for? Were there any injuries?

We filmed it in one night. Initially we were bummed when the sun started coming up but that turned out to be one of the cool things about the video. It was the editing that took a lot of time.

Can Paul Meany actually walk on his hands or was that just another stunt?

No. Paul had to do about 13 consecutive handstands to achieve that effect. I felt guilty for making him do that but we all had to do something equally discomforting.

Watch 'Blood Pressure'

So you got to direct the video for 'Blood Pressure.' How did the rest of the band respond to you throwing drumsticks at them?

My bandmates were OK with me throwing sticks at them but with each take I got a little more confident and threw the sticks harder. They politely asked me to cool it a little.

Do you direct anything outside of the band?

No, we direct our own videos out of necessity. I should also point out that the whole band collaborated on the project and our friend Claire Vogel co-directed. There aren't too many people I could call and ask "Hey, could you put together a nice video shoot for us in ... oh ... a couple hours?" Editing everything was quite a task -- I worked on it a little every day for about two weeks.

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