Video: Wimps – “Insomnia”

Directed by Stacy Peck. From Garbage People, out July 13 on Kill Rock Stars.

Seattle’s Wimps are a catchy three-piece punk band consisting of grownups. Their latest single explores the debilitating heartbreak of insomnia.

They told Tidal: “We used the latest brain-scan technology to process the actual thought-images that circle through our brains when we suffer bouts of insomnia. Then, we were able to re-create those images through the magic of film. Special thanks to the talented and photogenic dog actor, Roger, for his inspirational and sure to be award-winning performance!”

Personally, I rarely have a hard time falling asleep. I’m snoring as soon as my head hits the pillow, which drives my poor wife crazy. It’s because I have a clear conscience, at least that’s what my dad used to say, which drove my poor mom crazy as well.

Sometimes I wake up at like 3:30am, though. I used to get upset if I couldn’t fall back to sleep right away, worried that I’d be too tired to function the next day. But then I heard about the theory that sleeping for eight hours straight is a thoroughly modern invention. There’s a ton of historical evidence that people used to sleep for a few hours, wake up and do stuff for an hour or two, and then go back to sleep for a few more hours.

So now when I wake up in the middle of the night, if I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep quickly, I just go to the bathroom and read articles in the New Yorker about capitalism and democracy. A few paragraphs of that and I’m conked. Print edition, of course. I charge my phone in a different room overnight. Keeping your phone by your bed will fry your brain. And nobody needs that.

Especially not the Wimps.

Sleep tight, everybody!

Wimps: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Video: Wimps – “Giant Brain”

Directed by Mary Stone-Francois. From Garbage People, out July 13 on Kill Rock Stars.

Like Elon Musk and Matt Sharp my first computer was a Commodore Vic 20. I never learned to do very much with that thing but it was a cool toy and it was fun to be a kid during the initial wave of home computing. Back then I couldn’t have imagined what kind of power we’d carry around in our pockets and take completely for granted today.

I remember reading Wired magazine around the turn of the century when they had the “Japanese Schoolgirl Watch” column that talked about how all the cool kids were using their mobile phones nonstop to listen to music, communicate with their friends via text messaging, shop online, etc. Oh how I laughed at those silly little girls! Wasting all their time staring at their stupid phones! And now look at me. Look at us all! What have we become?

Seattle’s Wimps know what’s going on. They’re building a giant brain.

Wimps: web, twitter, amazon, apple, spotify, wiki.

Continue reading New Wimps video: Giant Brain →