The Imbeciles live in Manchester

THE IMBECILES release a surreal animated video for: ‘One Hand Tommy’.

Taken from their acclaimed self-titled debut album, ‘One Hand Tommy’ is its latest single and proves no matter how strange our world seems right now, it could always be stranger…

In a blitz session of blood curdling vocals, disarticulated fretwork and wickelly deranged lyricism, ‘One Hand Tommy’ sees The Imbeciles tell us the tale of: Tommy; a child trapped in a dystopian landscape of nuclear annihilation with only a giant killer snake for company.

Collaborating with Shane Beam, their regular animation partner, this delectably unhinged meeting-of-minds conjures a two-minute sensory riot, in a video cloaked with enigmatic symbolism and allegory. While some may detect religious overtones to Tommy’s epic battle with the snake/serpent, other viewers may decipher a metaphor alluding to the systemic problems facing the world today (societal, technological, ecological, viral). The Imbeciles invite you to make your own mind up…

Shedding further light on Tommy, the song’s eponymous protagonist and star of the video; Butch Dante (the band’s rhythm guitarist), says: “Tommy is an almost mythical figure: An Everyman – or ‘Everychild.’ Vulnerable but brave, he represents innocence and hope in a desperate world.”

The video for ‘One Hand Tommy’ is also an homage to Le Ballon Rouge, the classic 1956 French short. In that film a bright red balloon is the only pop of colour in an otherwise grey, morose post-war Paris. Here, the colour is found in Tommy’s red onesie. The video’s nightmarish finale is illuminated by the transcendent light of nuclear holocaust – all part of a mise en scène that echoes everything from Picasso’s Guernica through to the great sci-fi movies of the fifties and sixties.

Having worked with the band on previous videos including ‘D.I.E’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘BAT’, Shane Beam was the band’s only choice to bring Tommy’s bizarre existence to life. “This is Shane’s finest work for us to date,” Dante praises. “Many of the individual frames rise to the level of art.”

‘One Hand Tommy’ is the latest exhilarating track to be released from The Imbeciles self-titled debut album – out now. Comprising 13 imploded songs which rarely last more than two minutes, the album was recorded on tape in eight deranged days on the Texan-Mexican border. Packed with stripped-down musical information and resonant with atmosphere, the album was hailed by CLASSIC ROCK as “Some kind of Apocalypse Now” (✭✭✭✭). The band also gained masses of support at radio from BBC 6 Music, Radio X, BBC Radio 1, amongst others. The delirious fun of ‘One Hand Tommy’ is just another reason to believe the hype…

Later in 2020, The Imbeciles will be returning to the UK for a string of live dates. With no choice but to postpone their planned Spring dates in light of the current pandemic, the band’s rescheduled tour will instead take place between 12-20 November. Details as follows.

THE IMBECILES UK TOUR – NOVEMBER 2020
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12 – London, Shacklewell Arms (tickets)
13 – Brighton, Green Door Store (tickets)
14 – Leeds, Royal Park Cellars (tickets)
15 – Birmingham, The Victoria (tickets)
17 – Glasgow, Hug & Pint (tickets)
18 – Tynemouth, Surf Cafe (tickets)
19 – Manchester, The Talleyrand (tickets)
20 – Bristol, The Lanes (tickets)