MusicRadar

Damian Kulash on stage with OK Go at the Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco, 2011. © Paul R. Giunta/Corbis

The idea of four guys driving through the desert in a car outfitted with arms and fins designed to play, strike, pound and beat musical instruments of every possible stripe might sound like some sort of juvenile frat stunt.

That is, until you realize it's the latest high-falutin' video from OK GO, one for their song Needing/Getting, and it's been bankrolled by Chevrolet, in fact, to promote the company's new Sonic sub-compact vehicle - in which case it all makes perfect sense.

According to OK Go singer and guitarist Damian Kulash, context is everything, and when it comes to the elaborate clips the band has become famous for since 2006's award-winning, viral-tastic Here It Goes Again (otherwise known as 'the treadmill video'), "The crazier the idea the better," he says, "We're pretty much alone in this arena of videos, so we might as well see what our imaginations can really do."

Over the years, OK Go (which also includes bassist Tim Norwind, drummer Dan Konopka and guitarist Andy Ross) have cornered the market on video genius with clips that feature both stunning dance choreography (A Million Ways, All Is Not Lost) and how-did-they-do-that? mechanical wizardry (This Too Shall Pass). Needing/Getting, co-directed by Kulash and Brian L. Perkins, sets a new creative highwater mark for the band, and with 15 million YouTube views in the two weeks since it premiered during the Super Bowl, it might hit the top audience-wise, as well.

In an interview with MusicRadar, Damian Kulash talks about the making of the Needing/Getting clip, OK Go's unique place in the music-video world of 2012 and where the band might head musically on their next album.

How did the concept for Needing/Getting come about?

"We were just trying to figure out what we could do with a car, actually. Far in advance, we were talking to Chevy. We were inspired by old Italian motorcycle choreography, which led to me thinking, What could we do with cars? That was it.

"In truth, having the idea is always the easy part; turning the idea into reality is what's tough. I think lots of people have insane ideas, but how many of them are naïve enough to think they can actually work?"

Who in the band is mostly in charge of 'insane ideas,' or is it a free-for-all?

"I'm kind of the captain of the video ship. In the case of this video, Brian L. Perkins, the director and I worked together on it for a pretty long time. Some of the videos, the band has been pretty involved in; others are more me and a collaborator. With projects of this scale, of course, you have to draw on everybody's skills."

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