Indie pop act The Neighbourhood released a new video for their song “Hell or High Water,” one of the tracks off their recent album Chip Chrome & the Mono-Tones. The video starts out with a Looney Tunes parody but the song was directly inspired by Spongebob Squarepants. 

“Watched Spongebob in the morning, Walk Hard in the afternoon & wrote ‘Hell or High Water’ in the evening,” frontman Jesse Rutherford commented. The guitar chords resemble one of the TV show’s main themes, but there’s a bit of an Americana twist and the lyrics are likewise thematically inspired by Walk Hard. “I went through hell/To get to high water/And now I’m tryin’ not to drown/Each time I fail/It makes me try harder/I’ll reach the stars next time around.”

After the Looney Tunes-styled intro, the video moves to a set where Rutherford is acting as album concept character Chip Chrome during a music video shoot inside the music video. A dazzling use of overexposure highlights Chip Chrome and two comically-dancing backing musicians. 

At the end of the video, The Neighbourhood tacks in a self-aware advertisement for the new merch they made available at whothefuckischipchrome.com on Black Friday. There’s still plenty of clothing options on the site, as well as unique items like a Chip Chrome lunchbox, a jigsaw puzzle and a mirror & comb “Pretty Boy” set. Some sold-out options include a pinball machine, a barstool, a cornhole set, a wall clock, a lifesize cardboard cutout of Chip Chrome and a license plate frame.

Other singles from the album have also had creative music videos, such as “Cherry Flavoured,” “Devil’s Advocate” and “Pretty Boy.” The Neighbourhood recently announced a deluxe edition of Chip Chrome & the Mono-Tones with four new bonus tracks. It will come out December 11 via Columbia Records.

Photo credit: Marisa Rose Ficara