(Premiere) “Bryce Clifford & Brother Superior” Storm Away With Mountains of Cash in Newest Video ‘TV Snow’
Canadian alt-rock Americana artists ‘Bryce Clifford & Brother Superior’ are on the run from the authorities in their brand new music video ‘TV Snow‘, which we’re excited to be premiering with you here on Dropout! The single is from their new 12 song LP “Rebounder” which was released in December.
“TV Snow” is a great animated video, it keeps you interested the whole time, you have to pay attention to really get the mesage and just when you think it’s over ends with a fantastic twist to tie the story together. If you love the new video as much as I do, you’ll be happy to know that Bryce Clifford & Brother Superior will be holding a video release party tonight, also featuring Heather Valley & The Current State at Clifford Brewing tonight! For more info on the show, visit this link https://fb.me/e/1rJ54VlQ2
To go along with this incredibly written rock track, the animation depicts the bandmates storming off with cash in the bed of a truck, somewhere in the American south. “On the surface the video depicts a bank heist” says Clifford, “but at a deeper level it’s about the ubiquity of video screens in our lives: security cameras catch the robbery, news screens cover it, the cell phones watch it, and narrative can be twisted by whoever’s behind the camera.”
Bryce adds, “A director-friend in Austin came up with the concept of a bank heist and we were going to shoot it live-action in some old small Texas town, before the pandemic made it impossible.”
Instead everything went online in 2020 and Clifford came across videos by ‘Aeophex’, a hip-hop focussed animator in California. “We began correspondence 2 years ago but he’s in high demand and so we didn’t even begin work until this November. The first phase was to send him pics of my new bandmates so he could sketch caricatures of each.”
Clifford splits his time between Hamilton Ontario and Austin Texas. In Austin, Bryce has fronted several permutations of ‘Brother Superior’. In Hamilton he has started a northern chapter of the group. During pandemic he cold-called musicians in the area to see if anyone would be game to jam. The best musicians suddenly had clear schedules and free time on their hands. “Not only were they free but everyone was super-hungry to jam. That’s when I met these guys and became fast-friends.”
Last September they started a Friday night residency at a brewery in the city. Clifford says “I decided that’d be a great way for us to get together once a week and have a paid ‘live-rehearsal’, while also inviting other bands and songwriters in town to play and hangout.” Bryce’s brother owns and operates the spacious brewery on the eastside of Hamilton, aptly named ‘Clifford Brewing”.
“Crowds there get a weekly 2-hr taste of the group’s disparate styles, ranging from indie-rock, blue-grass, honky-tonk, punk-a-billy, old school soul … name it – you might hear it. That said, a Bryce Clifford & Brother Superior set is dominated with driving melodic rock songs that get stuck in your head and are played with joy. head, are played with joy, and have a touch of nostalgia that feels right and hits home.” – Maydee Distefa
The bandmates featured in the video include Greg Brisco (keys), Andrew Marshall (bass), Robin Pirson (drums), and CJ Altmann (twice nominated for best pedal-steel in Canada by CMAA). Clifford adds, “also making a cameo appearance in the vid is Lauren Small, drummer of ‘The Barettas’, a great local band.”
The 12-songs that comprise the album Rebounder are what came out of a secluded writing session in 2020 for Clifford, along with a determination to continue making music and keep his creative feet planted in two artistically inspiring cities on both sides of the border. Clifford spent two years repeating that round trip from Hamilton to Austin and back to record the album, incorporating the talents of many musicians he’d made over the years.
With hooky melodic indie-rock, downtempo piano balladry, alt-country and echoes of revved up post-punk all woven into his new album, it’s apparent that Bryce Clifford continues to make his musical landscape borderless in style. And always heavily focused on ‘the song’.
With added influences of post-punk, blues and old-school soul woven in, the band’s newly minted third album sews in a bow the frontman’s storied 10-year sojourn to Austin, Texas and back.
Before this year’s release, it had been ten years since Bryce Clifford & Brother Superior’s debut LP, Hail Tapes (2010), and another four since the sophomore EP, Whatever Coach (2016). The band has toured, performed and been featured extensively, including at or on NXNE, MTV, CBS, The Syfy Channel, Bravo Canada, The CW, and in the award-winning indie film, Here We Are.
