Five Albums Red Fang Listened to Instead of Appearing in Their New Video

Even if you're not much of a hesher, if you've spent any amount of time dicking around on YouTube over the last few years, you've probably come acoss

Red Fang

. The Portland-based rock dudes' music videos are

over-the-top hilarious

,

impressively creative,

and

endearingly nerdy

—just like them. Their latest masterpiece for the song "Crows in Swine" deviates from their usual "hairy dudes doing funny things" formula, and instead reimagines the band as a quartet of ancient gods who float into battle with a horde of bloodthirsty barbarians. Each band member came up with his own secret weapon, and r

enowned animator

Adam Avilla

brought the story to life. The band was delighted with the result.

“I am blown away by the video Adam made for us,” says guitarist/vocalist Bryan Giles. “It's brutally cute. I wish I was as cool as the character I am in it in real life. Recliners, sausage, guitars and kittens!!”

They were probably a bit relieved to have been able to sit this one out, too. Instead of suiting up for a LARP battle, judging an air guitar contest, or destroying various material items, the Red Fang dudes sat back, cracked open a few cold ones, and listened to the following five records.

Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors.

This came out early in the year, but I am rediscovering it now. This is a semi-unclassifiable band with lots of interplay between the beautiful and sublime and the dark and heavy. Best paired with bands like Russian Circles. - Aaron Beam (bass / vocals)

Ty Segall - Sleeper.

My favorite Ty Segall record is actually Melted, but this mostly acoustic one has some very solid heartbreaking songs about his relationship with his mother. I haven't had a chance to really live with his new double album, but I plan on doing so on this upcoming tour in December! - Aaron Beam (bass / vocals)

Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will

I was BLASTING Iron Reagan's "The Tyranny of Will" in my headphones and in my car for weeks and couldn't be bothered to appear in any videos (except theirs). This album reminds me of when I was a kid and thought I could skate and rolled around listening to "Animosity" & "Surf Nicaragua" all day. Iron Reagan fucking rules. Hard to sit around being bummed when this is on. It's get up and fucking GO music! I'm outta here!! - John Sherman (drums)

Tweak Bird - Any Ol' Way

I was jammin' Tweak Bird's latest album, "Any Ol' Way", all summer long. All of their records blow me away, but this one has a mellowness to the heavy that really grabbed me. Very subtle and very catchy. - John Sherman (drums)

Sandrider - S/T

This band has a really dark sound with elements of many Northwest bands I love like Karp and Harkonen, but with a distinct new feeling. I came home from watching them for the first time and played both sides of this record… LOUD! - Bryan Giles (guitar / vocals)

Catch Red Fang on tour with Opeth and In Flames in December:

Dec 03 Chicago, IL Riviera Theater
Dec 04 Minneapolis, MN Mill City Nights
Dec 05 Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium
Dec 06 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Dec 08 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theater
Dec 09 Los Angeles, CA Hollywood Palladium
Dec 10 Tempe, AZ The Marquee
Dec 12 Houston, TX Warehouse Live Ballroom
Dec 13 Dallas, TX Gas Monkey Live
Dec 14 Memphis, TN Hi-Tone Cafe (Red Fang only)
Dec 15 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle
Dec 16 Raleigh, NC King’s Barcade (Red Fang only)
Dec 17 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
Dec 18 New York, NY Terminal 5
Dec 19 Worcester, MA The Palladium
Dec 20 Montreal, QC Metropolis
Dec 21 Toronto, ON Kool Haus
Jan 01 Leavenworth, WA Timbrrr! Winter Music Festival

Whales and Leeches is available now via Relapse Records. Kim Kelly is dreaming of attack kittens on Twitter.