They say that life is too short to hold grudges. In fact, life is too short in general. If you really stop to think about how old this planet—not to mention our galaxy and the universe as a whole—is, your “long week” suddenly doesn’t seem like such a big deal. Ruminate long enough about the unfathomable expanse of time that preceded your blip of a blip’s blip on earth and you’ll be struck with the abject tininess and utter insignificance of your life in the grand scheme of things.
We’re born, we’ll die, and eventually we’ll all be forgotten as every trace of our tenure here is lost to the passage of time. Still, we get to exist and we have an opportunity to try and make the most of our brief time here. Instead of wasting any more seconds of your limited lifespan with this heady introduction, we’ll shift focus to HOSTS, a Milwaukee-based Americana outfit that just released a song and accompanying music video about life’s ability to be both “insignificant” and “remarkable” at the same time.
“I was inspired by watching an episode of Neil De Grasse Tyson’s Cosmos show, where they talked about the cosmic calendar and how small of a speck we all are relative to time,” HOSTS singer-guitarist Miles Patzer says. “On the other hand, the fact that we exist is pretty great, so we should leave a good mark on our record, so to speak. Accept everyone, take care of everyone, and take care of yourself.”
The band offsets the song’s lyrical depth with a music video that has a decidedly more straightforward concept. Directed by Bailey Fiste, the “Marginal Man” video finds HOSTS performing at the legendary West Allis bar/former fish fry staple Randy’s Neighbors Inn. While they play, some bar patrons (ably portrayed by the band members) get a little too rowdy, which leads to a full-on bar brawl complete with broken bottles and flipped tables. The fracas ends as fast as it began, with the quarreling customers returning to their bar stools to enjoy another round together because, well, life is too short.
“Marginal Man” will appear on HOSTS’ forthcoming album, Wade Low, which will be released on Friday, June 9. That same night, HOSTS will headline a release show at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn that also features Driveway Thriftdwellers and Derek Pritzl. Before the record release (and record release show), you can watch the video for “Marginal Man” now.