American indie-rock band The National, known for being mild-tempered and melancholy, deviated from their M.O. to deliver a music video full of horseplay for their newest single "Graceless" off their most recent album "Trouble Will Find Me."
The band told Rolling Stone in an Aug. 4 interview that alcohol played a major role in the filming of the video, which left many of the band members injured.
"[It] involved a great deal of binge drinking beer," singer Matt Berninger said. "We shot it at my mom and dad's house in Cincinnati and kind of destroyed the place and ourselves along the way."
Berninger injured his face riding a bike into a swimming pool, and guitarist Bryce Dessner injured his back.
The video features the band members dressed in suits, horsing around. The scene opens with them heading to swim in a backyard pool. They pull one another into the water, dunk one another, ride a bike into the pool, chug beer, smash cans on the ground, "slip 'n slide' down a hill, hit full beers with baseball bats, blast a potato gun, and end the night jumping in a bounce house.
They seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"It was the most brutal video we've ever done," he said. "It was really fun, but it cost us. No one died, though."
What did you think of the video? Did you enjoy seeing this playful side of the band?
