Punk rockers Violation Wound, featuring Autopsy drummer/vocalist Chris Reifert on guitar/vocals, has just put out a music video for their song “Combustible Life.” The song is sandwiched in between clips from a fake news broadcast in which the anchor discusses the origins of rock ‘n’ roll and heavy metal.
The video also pokes fun at the United States presidential candidates, the recent Democratic National Convention and Star Wars.
Once you watch the video, keep scrolling to read comments from Reifert about the new video.
Violation Wound also released Open Up and Burn, an acoustic guitar-driven album, in July on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions.
Were there any ideas or themes you were trying to portray through the music video for “Combustible Life?”
As far as the video content goes, we left that up to Nick Gomez, who along with Kohl Smith are the creators. Our part was drinking a bunch of liquor, playing the song and letting Nick
film us. After that, he started editing and throwing ideas our way for approval. We liked what he was coming up with and he ran with it. Mostly we wanted to rock the fuck out and have it be entertaining to watch. Hopefully people are digging it and demanding we get armloads of awards, trophies, medals, accolades, sashes, keys to various cities and lots of free drinks wherever we go!
In a previous Decibel interview, you said you were trying to avoid the topic of politics in Violation Wound, but the new video shows a news broadcast making fictional and real news references, including the Democratic National Convention and Star Wars. Has your stance on politics in Violation Wound’s lyrics changed?
We’re still not a political band and don’t plan on converting into one. Lyrically the song is about all the shit we’re surrounded with everyday and how it makes us all nuts. From the obsession with always having to be staring at a lit up screen wherever we go, to losing idols like Lemmy and Bowie, to being filmed everywhere we go, to being bombarded with constant information (most of it filler bullshit) to just waking up in the morning and going “fuck, here comes another day….what kind of annoyances am I going to have to deal with today?” There are actually no political messages in the lyrics whatsoever. It’s not up to us to tell anyone how to think, ya know? We’re just a band that likes to do what we do and get our kicks, simple as that.
However when we saw what was happening in the video, it made sense and just added to the exasperating and frazzled atmosphere of the song. Besides, the video pokes fun at everybody and the shit show we’re getting pummeled with every day. And hey, add a subtle Star Wars reference to the mix and can you really take it very seriously? If you can’t get over yourself and have a laugh while viewing, then I sure can’t help you.
What’s it like being a part of a band so different than what a lot of people knew you for before (Autopsy)? Is there more or less pressure to create a make an album with a certain sound with Violation Wound?
It’s big fun, man. That’s why we do it. We’re not looking to change the world or anything, we just want to down some beers, come up with some cool songs and let it fuckin’ rip. As for pressure, there isn’t any. I think we have our own sound already, even though we do weird shit sometimes like the Open Up And Burn acoustic album. The good news for us is there’s no rule book and if there was, we’d ignore it anyways.
Life’s short, so we might as well get our rocks off, kick out the jams and bring anyone who digs our racket along for the ride. Case closed!
