The members of Nashville’s slacker rock group Bully could not be more emotionally detached and dismissive than they are in a new video for the song “Too Tough.” Fronted by singer Alicia Bognanno, the band members plod their way through the song in a nondescript suburban living room, completely distracted and disinterested in their own performance. Drummer Stewart Copeland intermittently grows bored and stops playing all together.
The whole scene oozes sarcasm. “Calling me but you can’t come clean,” sings Bognanno. “I had to hear it from family, hear it on the answering machine.” Not a lot happens in this world, but it’s oddly captivating to watch, in part for Bognanno’s penetrating gaze into the camera.
“Ever since the record has come out,” Bognanno tells us via email, “I am constantly being asked about the intensity and honesty of the lyrics and whether or not I regret putting them out there. This video is a friendly reminder that, yes, obviously we care, but we don’t need to be taken so seriously 100% of the time.”
“Too Tough” is from Bully’s debut full-length, Feels Like, released earlier this year on Columbia Records.
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