Exclusive: Atlanta Art-Pop Band Karaoke Share Gravity-Defying Video for “Bad Christian”

Atlanta art-pop band Karaoke are self-releasing their debut album Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain on Nov. 22. It will also be available on limited-run cassette via Pink House Tapes. The album includes their previously released singles “Baby” and “Lo Hi.” Today, the band have shared the video for their new single “Bad Christian,” exclusively via Paste. It’s part of a five-video series to coincide with the album.

“Bad Christian” juxtaposes Grace Bellury’s airy vocal grace with spidery guitars, wobbly synths and jolting tempo shifts. The mystifying instrumentals are creepy and tottering, like a rundown animatronic machine at an amusement park, with Bellury’s vocals luring you towards the haunted scene. The song’s video, on the other hand, finds bassist Chris Yonker simply trying to enjoy his breakfast, but gravity had other ideas.

Bellury said of the song:

I was trying to write a love song for my boyfriend at the time’s birthday, and ended up writing a song about the evils of religious dogma. Oops. Zach Pyles shot the video on an old tube camera at the Food Court (RIP) space. Chris had the idea to do a video where he hangs upside down and we flip the footage so he looks right side up and I wasn’t sure if we could pull it off, but he ended up nailing it on the first take. And thank god, because resetting the scene would have been a nightmare. We velcroed and super glued all the props to a giant wooden plank. I can’t believe the carton of milk held. Barbara held Chris’s legs down during the whole take so he wouldn’t fall and hit his head on the concrete floor. I’m pretty sure Chris was also sick and had passed a kidney stone that morning, which makes it even more impressive that he powered through and pulled it off.

Karaoke is an Atlanta indie supergroup of sorts, as it includes lead vocalist/guitarist Grace Bellury (formerly of Del Venicci), lead guitarist Tymb Gratz (formerly of Mood Rings), drummer Adrian Switon (Shepherds, formerly of Jock Gang), bassist Chris Yonker (Omni, formerly of Hello Ocho) and engineer/keyboardist Zach Pyles.

Watch the video for “Bad Christian” below. Scroll down for the album artwork and tracklist.

Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain Album Artwork:

Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain Tracklist:

01. Need
02. Ride Off Into The Doom
03. Bad Christian
04. How To Make You Boil
05. Heaven
06. Baby
07. Mantra
08. Lo Hi