cleopatrick have shared a new video for their latest single ‘FAMILY VAN’ today. ‘FAMILY VAN’ appears on the band’s forthcoming highly anticipated debut album ‘BUMMER’, due for release June 4th via their own label Nowhere Special Recordings (pre-order here).
The single-shot video for ‘FAMILY VAN’ is a tribute to the cleopatrick’s minivan Vannah Montana, and reflects the track’s dark, brooding and cathartic sonic palette.
Speaking about the video frontman Luke explains “Vannah Montana is Ian’s mini-van we’ve spent the last three years touring North America in. This video was conceptualized by us, and shot and directed by Boy Wonder. We filmed it in the parking lot of our rundown hometown mall in the middle of the night. We didn’t have a permit to film there, and almost didn’t finish the video because someone called the cops on us after seeing the strobe lights from the road – but in a classic small town twist of fate, the officer that rolled up to kick us out happened to have played hockey as a child with one of our friends in the video, so he let us finish filming. This was our last take.”
An exercise in anger and born out of frustration, ‘FAMILY VAN’ acknowledges cleopatrick’s humble beginnings and DIY mentality, utilising their penchant for hip-hop arrangements for their biggest statement to date. It’s a truly thrilling and cut-throat fuzz laden declaration that is a much-needed reawakening of guitar music, heading straight for the jugular.
The release of ‘FAMILY VAN’ last month came alongside its own video game, complete with an 8-bit soundtrack created by the band themselves. The video game sees cleopatrick wake up in their hometown of Coburg, Ontario, late for a headline show in Toronto, where the player then has to drive the duo’s trusty van Vannah Montanah to the gig on time, dodging various obstacles and challenges along the way including picking up the band and crew, major label contracts and over-zealous hangers-on.
At just 23 years old, cleopatrick have proved themselves to be a genuine underground global sensation. They were the only band picked for Amazon Music UK’s Ones To Watch 2021, and have amassed nearly 100 million streams alongside multiple sell-out tours across Europe which included an immediately sold-out underplay at London’s Electrowerkz and several shows (including London’s Alexandra Palace) supporting Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes in 2020. Along the way they’ve garnered high-profile fans across the board including The Guardian, Independent, MTV UK, Kerrang, Rock Sound, Dork and Upset, as well as BBC Radio 1 plays from Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Dan P Carter.
Comprised of best friends since the age of four Luke Gruntz (guitar/vocals) and Ian Fraser (drums), cleopatrick’s debut album ‘BUMMER’ sees the duo harness all the magic they’ve been brewing over their two-decade friendship and funnel it into a record that aims to reinvigorate the rock landscape from the ground up in every sense. Taking the ethos of their New Rock Mafia collective – a group of friends and fellow bands, united in making a more inclusive, equality-driven space in rock music – and imbuing it with the sonic ambition and ferocity of a record designed to be played hard and loud, ‘BUMMER’ is an album made to mean something.
cleopatrick will be heading out on a UK headline tour this November. Tickets here, and additional dates to be announced soon:
24th November – Tunbridge Wells Forum, Tunbridge Wells
25th November – Islington Assembly Hall, London
26th November – O2 Institute, Birmingham
27th November – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
