Yesterday we shared our favorite Milwaukee music of 2025; today it’s our favorite Milwaukee music videos of 2025. Settle in and enjoy some creative, funny, weird, and impressive clips.

414BigFrank – “There It Is”

The official video for 414BigFrank and Sunny Lou’s “There It Is” is a lake house party delight. But it was one person in particular—a person who appears only briefly in the official video—who used the song to create Milwaukee’s viral moment(s) of the year. That person would be the one and only Tommy Violet. Violet’s dance moves to “There It Is” were all over TikTok and Instagram in 2025. Hell, they even earned him a “mayor of Milwaukee” nickname. “Anytime I hear this….I’m definitely looking for Tommy,” goes the typical comment. Hey! There he is! [Matt Wild]

@s.u.n.n.y.lou 🤞🏽🤞🏽 @Big frank #414milwaukee #414bigfrank #tommyviolet #sunnylou #milwaukeedance ♬ There It Is – Sunny Lou & 414bigfrank & Run Along Forever

Bellends – “Pocket Knife”

Equally inescapable in 2025 was The Boat—a.k.a. the S.S. Minnow, the S.S. Milwaukee, or Deep Thought. (Well, inescapable until they towed it in May.) Dozens of Milwaukee bands, artists, and ballerinas used the boat as a video setting during its seven-month stay on our shores, but it was rough-and-tumble rock band Bellends that took things to another level. The Cole McCormack-directed clip for Bellends’ “Pocket Knife” not only features the Boat, but the Hoan Bridge, those darn electric scooters, and a hot dog costume. What more do you need? (Did Tommy ever do anything with the Boat?) [MW]

Collections Of Colonies Of Bees – “You Can Go Again”

CoCoBees released the stunning Celebrities and played a ton of shows in 2025, but what about videos? It’s been years since a new CoCoBees video dropped, right? But fear not! All that changed in November with the release of the Joe Shea- and Tom Grimm-directed clip for one of Celebrities‘ best songs, “You Can Go Again.” The clip features the band, dancer/choreographer Ezra Mercy, and an otherwise empty Vivarium. It’s fantastic. Dance like no one is watching, indeed. [MW]

El Sebas – “U”

Shot and produced by Rob Randolph, the video for El Sebas’ standout “U” finds people having the expected response to hearing the infectious single on the radio (dancing their butts off). The dance party moves from a living room to the grocery store—where El Sebas himself gets in on the action—before making its way to the Washington Park Bandshell. Milwaucumbia was among last year’s best local releases, and this video for the EP’s most memorable tracks is one of this year’s best videos. [Tyler Maas]

Fuzzysurf – “Don’t Go Overboard”

In October, Fuzzysurf released the video for “Don’t Go Overboard,” off the group’s Chameleons. Taking a somewhat literal approach with the song’s title, the video features the band’s members acting as the crew aboard a vessel that faces arduous weather conditions and dangerous sea creatures that threaten their very survival. Shot at Marquette University’s Helfaer Theatre by director and frequent Fuzzysurf collaborator Tommy Simms, the nautical-themed effort also gets a huge boost from Ann Vollrath, whose cardboard-constructed set pieces—combined with quirky choreography and the use of (mostly) practical effects—help give the feeling of a live theatrical production. It takes a lot for Fuzzysurf to outdo itself when it comes to music videos, but this honestly could be their best one yet. [TM]

Gold Steps – “Rent Free”

In the middle of summer, Gold Steps released a brand new song. There’s no question why they released “Rent Free” in July, as it’s a shimmering and sun-kissed throwback to early-aughts pop-punk that comes complete with vibrant instrumentation and super catchy lyrics about living your best life regardless of what people think. The certified summer anthem also got a beach-y video treatment. Milwaukee videographer Samer Ghani met the band on Bradford Beach, where he captured them gallivanting in the sand and recreating moments from Top Gun, Baywatch, and various other sandy pop culture touchstones. [TM]

The Hallelujah Ward – “Your Uncertain Shadow”

Mark Waldoch has been the city’s go-to singer/songwriter/guitar tech/bartender/natty dresser/man-about-town since the days of Atomic Records. And in the Ehson Rad-directed clip for The Hallelujah Ward’s “Your Uncertain Shadow,” Waldoch is really a man-about-town. Rad shot the video over the course of two days and one night in various Milwaukee locations, and says it’s “about a man leaving his home in search of his place in the world, eventually finding that he belongs in front of the microphone singing the song that started the journey.” We love you, Mark. [MW]

IfIHadAHiFi – “Everyone’s A Doctor”

Our country isn’t quite a post-apocalyptic Mad Max hellscape where cynical bullshit artists pump figurative (and literal) poison into the brains of brain-rotted dupes who have been trained to ignore facts in favor of “doing their own research,” but let’s be honest: it’s close. So what if we took that final, and what if the palindrome-happy members of IfIHadAHiFi (DrAwkward, MrAlarm, RevEver, YaleDelay) were traveling snake oil salesmen hawking their latest “miracle cure” out of the back of their van? That’s the premise of the video for “Everyone’s A Doctor,” directed by Ashley Altadonna of Tall Lady Productions. Step right up, suckers! [MW]

Ladybird – “Famous Band”

Directed by Sam Ghani, the video for “Famous Band” finds the Ladybird lads sitting in the back of a pickup truck that’s cruising around a Milwaukee County park. Between sips of beer, bandleader Pete McDermott delivers tongue in cheek lyrics about the “hard work being in a famous band” and name drops Chad Kroeger of Nickelback (whose “Rockstar” he later quotes in the song). Eventually the truck stops at Cactus Club, where the band takes the stage before being quickly overshadowed by some Ladybird lookalikes including Kat Wodtke of Long Mama, Ghani, and Maximiano. Ladybird might be joking about hitting it big and being a famous band, but if they keep on this trajectory, who knows?! [TM]

Nick Maas – “Around Again”

The Nick Maas (no relation!) single “Around Again” is a timeless indie-folk track about feeling a sense of connection in the vastness of existence when the day-to-day patterns leave you feeling lost and disconnected. True to the song’s concept, the song’s music video that’s directed, filmed, and edited by Nels Lindquist features Maas—in the role of a disinterested and unfulfilled astronomy professor—recapturing his love for the cosmos though the lens of a telescope he buys at a yard sale. Along the way, Maas jams under the stars in the Milwaukee Public Museum Planetarium, strolls around UW-Milwaukee and Holy Hill, cruises around Bay View, grabs a drink at Stella’s, and encounters his old pal Trapper Schoepp. [TM]

MATTHÚ – “Oxen”

While MATTHÚ—the side project of Kevin Bush from sibling synthwave duo Immortal Girlfriend—doesn’t release new music very often, the endeavor is currently batting a thousand with its limited catalog that spans just eight songs to this point. “Oxen,” the sole MATTHÚ single released in 2025, is a decidedly upbeat offering complete with vibrant guitars, smooth vocals, and a sound that seems to land somewhere between Bon Iver and INXS in the best way possible. The single’s Jennell Jenney-directed visual complement finds Bush heading to the country to let loose in the vicinity of a barn, some hay bales, and livestock to cultivate a lighthearted and fun farm-to-table music video. [TM]

The Quilz – “Wild Cat”

The Quilz is the long-running synth-wave project of scene veterans Becky Heck and Sage Schwarm. The duo’s delightful “Wild Cat” single arrived in 2024; the equally delightful “Wild Cat” video dropped in 2025. Heck—er, “Purrella De Ville”—is front and center here, and she’s joined by some slinky “cats” and their slinky choreography. Ava Kahut directed this Mad Planet-set clip, and created the choreography, too, along with Lina Garcia. [MW]

Trapper Schoepp – “Kentucky Derby”

Nodding to the song’s name, the Ehson Rad-shot and -directed video for “Kentucky Derby” features Trapper Schoepp in the company of horses at Snapdragon Farm & Stables in Dane County. Beyond the equine-forward footage, Rad also captures gorgeous shots of the singer cruising around the industrial backdrop of Jones Island and performing with his backing band at Muza Church in South Milwaukee. Come for the horses, stay for the delicate music and stunning imagery. [TM]

Trapper Schoepp – “Loaded”

Two Trapper Schoepp videos in the same list? Hey, he had a busy year! Schoepp’s 2025 Osborne record may be about addiction and striving toward sobriety, but isn’t all darkness. “I wanted this album to feel celebratory and not maudlin,” Trapper said prior to the record’s release. “Nothing about recovery has to be gloom and doom.” That attitude is apparent in the Nels Lindquist-directed video for the album’s first single, “Loaded.” Hell, it features Milwaukee legend Mark Borchardt as an overprescribing doctor! And it’s set in Milwaukee’s Bust-N-Stuff rage room! [MW]

Steve Da Stoner – “It’s A Blessing”

What needs to be said about this one? It’s pretty much just Steve Da Stoner doing a pop-up show in a Kohl’s department store and it’s awesome. [TM]

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