LA punks The Paranoyds talk "Carnage Bargain" video

"We’re living in the dystopian future"

Los Angeles-based punk band The Paranoyds are anything but conventional. The foursome are on the cusp of releasing their debut album Carnage Bargain this coming September and have been making a lot of noise. Musically, they've got elements of proto, indie, and early punk- but have forgone conventional genre sensibilities to meld the best of punk's frenzied urgency with the artful tones of indie rock's most captivating sounds.

Fresh from the release of their latest music video for the title track, we spoke to bassist and vocalist Lexi Funston of the band to talk their sound, their music video aesthetic, and how today's manic society has influenced their music.

I love the video’s aesthetics- where did the concept of the video come from? 

Funston: Staz has this digital camera that was probably top-of-the-line in 2007 or something. It takes classic "Myspace" type photos and really grainy, but nice, videos. We wanted it to feel like a video we would have made in high school.

How was the shoot? Where did you guys shoot the video? 

Funston: Everything was filmed during our most recent summer tour. There were some long drives, so when it felt right or if we needed a break from being in the van, we would pull over and film some stuff on the side of the road. America has a lot of beautiful landscapes. 

It continues on the creative, unconventional videos you’ve done- “Girlfriend Degree” and “Hungry Sam” previously. Were there music videos or films that have influenced your visual style? 

Funston: Our past two music videos were definitely influenced by like D-horror films, John Waters, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure and things along those lines; we love being camp and over-exaggerating things. But this one was different for us--we just wanted to do something that was like a fun, summer sing-along. 

You worked with drummer David Ruiz and Max Flick on the video- what were some of the reasons you felt they were the best choice for the video? 

Funston: David always had a vision for the scene whenever we would pull over to film something. He's very patient and has a good eye. And we worked with Max on our previous video, "Girlfriend Degree"--he's so good at what he does it's crazy. He came to our rehearsal space and filmed us a few times and then took all the footage we took on the road and was able to turn it into a goofy, energetic video. Both David and Max definitely got across who The Paranoyds are.

So while the video is quite fun- the song itself is about something a lot of more serious (people higher up wanting to get all this evil work done at a wholesale price) right? Do you explore a lot of these themes on the new album? 

Funston: Lately, we've been writing more about contemporary events (it's hard not to). We have songs about being an empowered woman, the ills of social media, cyber-stalking, etc... but we also have songs about having to do laundry on a hot day and wanting to be a bear to hibernate during winter. 

Was the idea for the video being a little less serious something you wanted to do and were there other ideas you thought about doing? 

Funston: Despite the lyrical content, the song itself is upbeat and we always imagined filming something that was more on the light-hearted side. 

The Paranoyds new album, Carnage Bargain, is set for release September 13th on Suicide Squeeze.