Seen Your Video: Archers of Loaf's "Harnessed in Slums"

One of the very best things about where I did my graduate work (Raleigh and Chapel Hill, NC) was its music scene. The Triangle as it's called, has been so flush with amazing musical talent over the years, it's almost surreal. I got lucky to see Slobberbone in a local Chapel Hill establishment the size of a closet (Local 506), Whiskeytown in a Raleigh bar the size of a basement (The Brewery), and Tres Chicas, Patty Hurst Shifter, Mayflies USA in a converted garage...But the one band I would have killed to see but just missed when I arrived was Archers of Loaf.

"Harnessed in Slums" is one of my all time favorite songs from them. I would even go so far as to say "Slums" is a perfect specimen of an AoL song: Eric Bachmann's energetic and sneering delivery atop loud and brash playing, with the surprise of a mad-catchy hook where and when you least expect it.

The video for this song captures all that perfectly: AoL as the house band for a bingo game. Trouble ensues when a young whippersnapper wins, and the old folks start a riot. The old guy tipping over the table is so bad-ass!