Music videos are always exciting to watch because here, the director needs to be more careful to the movement of the characters and to the color choice of the environment (all in accordance with the meaning of the music on the background), than in a regular short film. The difference between a random music video and a great music video stands in the small details that are always hiding in plain sight. In ‘Dead Brother’ there are some elements that transcend the regular spectrum, walking with high confidence into the big boy league. The video and the song are perfectly tuned together, making it impossible not to like the combination in its entirety even though you may not be a massive fan of the genre.
The visual part has some surprising influences that are not so hard to spot. For us, the video looks like a mash-up between The Killers ‘Mr. Brightside’ combined with Alice in Chains’ ‘Would.’ In more simple terms – one man looking like Lance Staley got the keys to the set where ‘Mr. Brightside’ was filming and intervened in a manner we usually see at Wrestlemania. We don’t know if it was made on purpose, but the singer resembles the former Alice in Chains superhero, and the music as well brings back massive grunge influences with dirty overdrive, punchy basslines and a drum track that goes back to Dave Grohl’s technique on ‘In Bloom.’
The ending is surprising in both spectrums: the music you hear and the video you see – the man meets the woman, he is covered in blood, but that does not seem to be a problem, as they hug and feel free. Music-wise, the guitar unleashes a dose of fuzz to raise the intensity of the moment, creating the climax we were all expecting. Jeff Daniel Phillips connected different generations with this music video, giving rock music the power and beauty it deserves. Listening to this song will make you relive the glory days of grunge, and will bring back the vibes of the nineties.
Written by Vlad A. G