Video: The Matches - "Yankee In A Chip Shop"

Shot in a White Stripes-y monochrome with red highlights sort of way and including excellent paper models and camera trickery, East Bay-area punks The Matches may not have created something entirely original or (to be honest) entirely memorable.  What works most for us on this is backstory.  The song was released way back in March alongside the group's third record A Band In Hope and the video above was put up and then quickly taken down.  Here's what guitar player/vocalist Shawn Harris had to say about the ordeal:

Serious bullshit is going down. I’ve been on the phone all morning ( I do mean morning-- try 5am) with our label and the London Metropolitain Police (our manager is out of town). I’m told that the “clip” Yankee in a Chip Shop contains footage of us “engaged in violating British law” and that our rights of dissemination are in question. Serious bullshit.

Public officers had taken our names during one incident on the shoot, which we kinda laughed off.. I seriously thought they were rent-a-cops. Apparently our files had been in processing, and had gotten investigated due to CCTV tapes of us running down the middle of the huge roundabout at Piccadilly Circus that was the video’s finale.

Funny thing is, Epitaph, who’s under pressure here, didn’t have anything to do with making the video at all. The only money spent on this video came out of my pocket-- I’d been saving up checks from art jobs just to shoot this second video for our new record-- one that there was no budget for in our recording contract, but that I was passionate about, and knew that people would be tickled to see. Epitaph didn’t even know we were making a video! When we brought back the footage, they were thrilled, and then totally got behind us-- helping us get great online coverage, and hopefully TV as well. Having them behind us gets our video and song much more potential coverage. Maybe instead I should have just slipped the thing online right when we finished it. Forgone the pomp and circumstance and just had the parade, tho be it smaller, before the red tape and roadblocks went up.

...The video is promotional and we’re not intending to make any money off of it. I just want people to see this video we shot." -Shawn Harris

But last week, all became sorted by Buzznet and we are now totally bringing you the legitimate video, no red tape attached.

(mp3)    The Matches - Wake The Sun

(mp3)    The Matches - Their City

Godspeed!