The American rock musician Paul Leary, best known for his work as guitarist and vocalist for the psychedelic noise rock band Butthole Surfers, has shared a music video for his track “Mohawk Town.” The song comes from Paul Leary’s latest studio album, Born Stupid, released in January of last year.
According to Leary, this track is intended as an homage to an artist that he and his bandmates listened to many years ago. In a statement, Leary explains that “Back in the eighties, when Butthole Surfers were touring America in a van, we listened to cassette tapes on a boom box while driving down the highways. ‘Mohawk Town’ by The Vandals was one of our all-time favorites.” The musician further explains that this track was far more memorable than others at the time, stating that the song “would play in my mind like a juke box until I finally broke down and recorded a version. Having Vandals’ drummer Josh Freese play on the song was icing on the cake.”
The new music video for the “Mohawk Town” is a beautiful compliment to the energetic, western-influenced rock song. The visual strikes a great balance between offering trippy imagery often associated with psychedelic rock, alongside imagery that shows off the sense of humor the Butthole Surfers member is known for. The video focuses on a shot of Leary singing over a green screen filled with sometimes kaleidoscopic imagery relating to old cowboy-style TV shows, hypnotic pictures of abstract colors and highly filtered images of people in mohawks. Early in the video, we see a shot of Leary in a cowboy hat surrounded by a rotating set of two other pictures of his face, and later witness other humorous shots including shots that look like mirrored images of his face that cut most of it off.
Watch the music video for “Mohawk Town” via YouTube below.
“Mohawk Town” is the third track that the rock musician has given an accompanying music video from Born Stupid. Previously, Paul Leary has also released music videos for his tracks “Do You Like to Eat a Crow” and “Sugar is the Gateway Drug.”