Holy Roller Baby just release the new album "Smile Like Heaven" and to celebrate we asked mastermind Jared Mullins to tell us about the song "Ant Hills". Here is the story:
'Ant Hills' started with the chorus line. I really didn't have any intended plans of writing a song that sounded like a satirical infomercial, but that's how it ended up. I am fascinated by late-night infomercials. I love the cheese factor. I love the graphics and the cult of personality involved. So eventually I incorporated the late-night infomercial concept in a satirical way and applied it to various aspects of life: the commercialization of thought, philosophy, worldview, product placements, etc. Everything is for sale, right? With the lines "you can buy now" repeated over and over, the song eventually turned into a friendly, tongue-in-cheek challenge to our licensing company to get our music placed somehow. How in the world can we NOT get a song synced that literally says "buy now" about 100 times? It applies to everything, really.
The satirical outlook of 'Ant Hills' then informs the rest of the mood of the album. It's really the best introduction to the themes of the album since the lyrics are so heavily influenced by literary satirists like Kurt Vonnegut and Chuck Palahniuk. I wanted to write an album that made observations about the absurdities of life rather than having a message. No one likes to be preached at. But I do enjoy making observations about Life. Life is pretty absurd. You can drive yourself nuts trying to connect the dots. You can obsess about the Past. You can freak out about the Future. No one knows, and that's the joy of it all. All I can assume is that whoever is in charge Up There has an incredibly dark sense of humor.
Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here
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