The Dandy Warhols are busy. The Portland psych-rock survivalists are hitting the road with The Black Angels next month, culminating in a headlining appearance right before Halloween at LEVITATION music festival in Austin. So Courtney Taylor-Taylor and the gang have turned to A.I. to craft the music video for punchy new garage rock single “The Summer of Hate,” off their forthcoming ROCKMAKER album.
“Musically, ‘The Summer of Hate’ became our homage to the sounds of The Damned, The MC5, and probably a bit of the Stooges in there as well,” Taylor-Taylor says. “The record was the manifestation of our desire to hear a record of heavy raw punk and metal guitar riffs handled in a way that we felt was cooler than the standard knuckle draggin’ man-rock that still tends to dominate a lot of popular culture in America.”
The Dandys’ new single was inspired by Summer 2020, which he describes as “hell” as his Pacific Northwest city experienced riots and downtown destruction. A.I. took it from there.
“Apparently A.I. felt that what his track is about is a macabre alien hot cave dance party/’60s mini motorcycle rally, and it pretty much nailed it,” Taylor-Taylor admits. “A.I. is like a brilliant child, complete with ego and defense mechanisms. If you try to control it too much, it will rebel by doing some fucked up shit to your project.”