Chosen by Monk

The Uber Rock Approved stampWell, it looks like the rays of light at the end of the dark tunnel that has been the past 13 months of isolation and generally being shit upon from great heights may be growing brighter day by day, with the vaccination programme being rolled out with increasing pace and BoJo’s much-vaunted roadmap seeming to actually present some form of direction and pathway back to at least a semblance of the normality we enjoyed before the pandemic wrecked chaos on our collective and individual lives.

But, despite all the doom and gloom which has prevailed upon us over the past year and year, one positive has remained constant – and that is the amount of terrific new music which has come our way, as artists the length and breadth of the Überverse rise to the challenge of entertaining us and raising our spirits higher than the International Space Station at the peak of its orbit… And there definitely is the promise of plenty more to come, if the inbox here at ÜRHQ is anything to go by…

In that context, as the rock ‘n’ roll year that is 2021 enters its second quarter, with its DMs firmly planted in the mire and muck of the chaos around it, there has been a healthy slew of new music pinging itself our way, and especially the continuing tsunami of submissions we receive for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ award… Yes, another constant throughout the vagaries of inconsistent and often hard to stomach lockdowns is the amazing level of adaptive creativity that bands and video directors have continued to show, often in the most adverse of circumstances.

After viewing all of the entries – and,yes, we did watch each and every one of the almost 200 submissions we received this past week alone – at the end of the day (or night, depending on where you are in the Überverse), there could be only one winner… And this week’s champion of champions comes from a band renowned for their quality videos – Deftones.  For the clip to accompany latest single ‘Ceremony’ sees the band team up with the Australian director Leigh Whannell, who helmed last year’s vivid re-imagining of the classic ‘The Invisible Man’, and actress Cleopatra Coleman. Deftones’ Chino Moreno explained how they came to collaborate with Whannell:

“When Leigh tweeted that he was a fan, we immediately thought it would be cool to collaborate with him given the chance. We’re fans of his as well, so it made sense that we should reach out. One moment we’re DMing each other on Twitter, and the next we’re on set making ‘Ceremony’. This has always been the best way for us to collaborate: organically, collaboratively and in this case, expeditiously. We hope everyone enjoys it as much as we had making it.”

Leigh Wannell added:

“I’ve been a huge Deftones fan for over twenty years and have always admired the devotion they have dedicated to every aspect of their art – from music videos to album covers to their cryptic and intriguing lyrics. To get a chance to be a part of that art was a dream come true.”

Well, there you go. That’s our latest ‘Video Of The Week’ winner in what continues to be another traumatic year for the music business. But, as ever, we at ÜRHQ will continue to do our best to shine a light into your darker corners by bringing the brightest new rock ‘n’ roll sounds to lighten your mood and uplift your soul. So, until next week, #StayAtHome, #KeepTheMusicAlive, #CrankItUp and #StayTheFuckSafe…

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