Video premiere: Hundred Handed, ‘Vibe’

Kevin Bronson on January 18th, 2017

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If you’re going to ignore the real world for a moment and become a party animal, you should at least rage with guys who know how to do it right. Submitted for your upheaval: Hundred Handed, the L.A. trio of singer-guitarist Jordan McGraw, bassist Matt Black and drummer Drew Langan. Their new synth-rocker “Vibe” — co-written with Mike Green (Paramore, All Time Low, 5 Seconds of Summer) and Nico Stadi (Justin Bieber, A-Trak) — truly makes “vibe” a verb. The song, out Friday, is the first of 12 monthly single releases the trio has planned for 2017, each with a video.

And what a video Hundred Handed has to kick off the series. Conceived by McGraw and directed by John Perry, it’s an orgiastic, OK Go-esque frolic that required 88 lights, eight walls, 30 pounds of confetti and a crew of friends — and it was filmed with one camera in one shot (after 16 takes). “There were so many moving parts, but once we hit the home stretch on that last take, the party became very real,” Langan says. “We made a house disappear in a matter of seconds and let 30 pounds of confetti fly. Everyone went nuts.”

Says McGraw: “‘Vibe’ was a turning point for our sound. We took the feel of live instruments, which we love putting into our music, and colored it in with some seriously fun dance elements and out came the new sound. It’s a song about partying like the world might end before your night does. We try to end each day with a smile … not feeling guilty about enjoying our lives or having a good time. That’s the feeling we want people to take away with them when they hear our music or see us live.”

||| Watch: The video for “Vibe”