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!