Bugs. Most people don’t like them. They shoo them out of their house with a broom. They squash them with the bottom of their shoe. They slowly sneak up to them and snatch them with a napkin and flush them down the toilet. Why? Most aren’t poisonous and are probably much smaller than you are. Regardless we are still freaked out by their presence.
People like spiders even less. They cringe and point and scream at them when they are found hanging from a web in the corner of a room. They flick their hands violently when they get tangled in a web and can’t shake it off. Spiders watch humans and wait patiently to take over the world. It might not be tomorrow, but it will happen eventually.
“Earworm 2: The Sequel” itself has very little to do with invertebrates, except for the title and the first line of the song. But that was enough for us to commit to filming a video at Insectropolis in Toms River, NJ with our friend and Accidental Seabird Jesse Lee Herdman, a long time employee of the museum. Jesse is not in the video, but he was our host for the day and coach on how to properly hold millipedes and roaches. Mike boasted, “Me holding a millipede is the equivalent to Slash holding the boa constrictor in the “Patience” video”. Fun fact: the millipede defecated on Mike at least three times. It looks like thick ink.
“E2:TS” features guest vocalist Rachel Hock of Out Like Lambs and Laddie Canon. Rachel noted, “What a unique place. Had fun shooting this video with my pals Yawn Mower and managed to not have any creepy spider dreams that night”.
Jesse, as mentioned before, works at the museum, which has been closed since the lockdown in March. “It was really nice to have friends and music in the building again. It was an entertaining day, with wardrobe changes, skateboarding, lots of coffee and laughs. Bugs are so polarizing, so people are either going to love or hate this video”, says Jesse. Fingers crossed it’s the former.
Overheard conversation from the day:
Mike: I want to hold a giant millipede.
Jesse: Cool, how about a giant cave roach too?
Mike: Yeah, sure. Biff, you wanna hold something?
Biff: Nah. I’m good.
Speaking of Biff, this was the drummer’s first time getting to direct a Yawn Mower music video and he was excited to finally apply that side of his life to this project. Biff states, “After directing Mike’s solo video for “Call Up The Doctor”, I knew we’d be able to create some magic together in this new way. Couldn’t have asked for a better location than Insectropolis! Jesse was too kind to us all day and night. His dog was adorable and curious. This was my first non-photo shoot with Melissa, and I can’t pay her enough compliments! It was very easy to convey shot ideas back and forth. The execution was flawless. She had just got that gimbal, so it was fun to experiment with new toys on short notice. It was exciting to get to create something like this in the midst of a generally awful time in history”.
Melissa McLaughlin stated that her experience with creating the music video for E2TS was a positive one. She recounts, “We had the opportunity to roam free in an insect museum (Thank you Jesse!), which gave us a great opportunity to mess around with all sorts of critters. It was certainly one the most unique experiences with a band that I’ve ever had. Both Mike and Biff are easy to get along with so it was an incredibly fun day”.
There you have it folks, a recollection of the day YM made a video for their song “Earworm 2: The Sequel”, from Return of the Lentils, out now and streaming via Mint 400 Records. Thank you to all who participated and watches the video.
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- Sam Lowry, BMN Contributor