(CNN) — What will OK Go think of next?
The band’s creative videos have made use of treadmills, dominoes and optical illusions. In its latest, “I Won’t Let You Down,” the foursome takes to the road — and the sky — thanks to camera-toting drones and some Segway-like Honda vehicles called UNI-CUBs.
The video is nearing 3 million views on YouTube.
Part of the idea came from a visit to Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant, kind of a Medieval Times with robots. (“Girls in bikinis battle enormous Transformer-style robots, helped by Daft Punk-style storm troopers on Tron motorcycles,” went the description of a TripAdvisor reviewer.)
“It was the best hour of my life,” OK Go’s Tim Nordwind told Billboard.
The band worked with Japanese director Morihiro Harano to design the 5-minute-plus clip, which begins with the group on UNI-CUBs doing some leg moves and then rises high over a building lot while the band joined by several — and then dozens — of umbrella-toting Japanese schoolgirls. (A choreographer named Airman handled the moves; Honda supplied the UNI-CUBs and some backing.)
Eventually the proceedings moved to a warehouse for the conclusion, a colorful display — like a stadium flip-card maneuver — that includes pictures of the band members and a “ribbon” showing the title of the song.
The last part took more than 50 tries and was shot at half-speed and then speeded up, the band members told Billboard. By this point, the drone camera was a half-mile up.
It’s all part of a philosophy that tries to entertain as much as awe, OK Go’s Damian Kulash told CNN in 2010.
“We make cool stuff,” he said. “We just think they’re fun.”
Next up: a trip on Virgin Galactic?
The-CNN-Wire
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