Video: The Moth & the Flame, ‘Young & Unafraid’

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Director Rebecca Thomas found the perfect protagonist for the music video for The Moth & The Flame’s “Young & Unafraid” — 58-year-old Neal Unger, something of a hero for coming to skateboarding late in life and embracing it as if he were, well, young and unafraid. A funny thing happened en route to the video becoming a hit, though — it was hijacked Sunday by the British skateboarding magazine Sidewalk, which ripped it, removed TMTF’s credit and posted it on their website. The video went viral, getting 3 million-plus plays, while the real version, on YouTube, had managed only about 20,000 as of Sunday night. The band took to Reddit [see below], and users rallied behind them, bombarding the mag on its Facebook page and posting links to the real version. Early this morning, the magazine posted a brief apology, which has since been removed. The dust-up even drew the attention of the Telegraph. Meanwhile, between 2 and 10 a.m. Pacific time, “Young & Unafraid” has amassed more than a quarter-million plays on YouTube. And the band, which is working on its full-length debut for Elektra, continues its residency at the Echo tonight.

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