Even though the COVID-19 crisis has made things incredibly difficult and altogether horrible for musicians, bands have managed to come up with resourceful and downright incredible ways to write and record new material in a safe, contact-free manner while waiting for a return to normalcy. Locally speaking, Something To Do has been one of the bands that has seemed to adapt best to modern conditions.
Within the past 12 months, the veteran Milwaukee-Madison ska outfit put out a song urging people to stay inside (which helped raise money for X-Ray Arcade’s relief fund), wrote and recorded a new full-length album remotely, and took some “hangry” and doggone adorable measures to put out some new music videos that utilized stock footage. Despite encouraging vaccination-related developments, it will still be a bit longer before bands can safely gather…especially seven-piece ska bands. Thankfully, Something To Do has at least one more pandemic-proof trick up its sleeve.
The band’s new video for “Let’s Break Some Laws” uses “Deepfake” technology—a.k.a. that terrifying thing that somewhat believably replaces someone’s face on videos, which is sure to have adverse effects on a society whose perception of reality has already become dangerously warped—to insert Something To Do members into clips from classic cinema.
Singer and bassist Nate Tredinnick says the idea came about as a result of watching a bunch of movies over the past year, as well as “assaulting” his collaborators with Deepfakes in the band’s group text chain. Between the altered footage and the fake reviews (including one attributed to Milwaukee Record) accompanying over the rousing ska-punk number, Something To Do pulled off an Oscar-caliber credit sequence and a pretty hilarious music video concept. You can watch “Let’s Break Some Laws” below.