The more we get to know about the Austin-based Lauren Larson & company, AKA Ume, the more we realize just how fucking crazy they are, in exactly the way we love our crazy.
I remember running into Lauren and Eric at a dingy punk bar at SXSW this year around 1AM. Lauren was, like, eight months pregnant with their daughter Domino, and Lauren was smiling in the kind of way that no one who is eight months pregnant ever smiles, especially not at 1AM in a dive bar. Oh, yeah, they’ll “glow,” but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re content being vertical. She was out at a punk show.
I caught a show they played a show at Red7 that week, Lauren thrashing around with a whole entire other human between her and her guitar, and it didn’t slow her down. I saw them around town. I began to picture Lauren smiling like she does while ripping the heart out of an enemy with her bare hands. It’s a plausible scenario.
We recently caught up with the band, and from that came this exclusive premiere of their insane new video for Barricade, that we are thoroughly proud and delighted to share with you. Here’s what Lauren had to say about the concept:
This video was initially a short film by director Paul Raila (Paul did our first video ever for our song The Conductor). The question always remained through the short film, “What is in the box?” Paul had a vision of Ume being in the box. We loved this concept and the idea of blasting brains, so decided to let him turn the short into a music video. I guess the moral of the video’s story is: Don’t be a dick. Share music you love with your friends. And strive to rock so hard you shatter skulls.
The song comes from Ume’s newest digital EP, Too Big World, which is a collection of B-sides and tracks from the Monuments recording sessions. It includes a cover of Neil Young’s Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) and Archers Of Loaf’s Web In Front. You can get it from all kinds of places, as detailed here. More from Lauren:
Our daughter Domino was born at the end of April. So I’ve been learning to navigate between new Mom life and musician life – rehearsing at home, writing with a baby on a blanket beneath my guitar, appreciating the present in a new way and not taking anything for granted. It’s hard at times, but I’ve never been so happy.
Ume is gearing up for some more shows this fall, including ACL Fest in October. Their first show back will be a benefit for Girls Rock Camp Austin on Sept. 24th at Cheer Up Charlie’s in Austin.
