After breaking through the alternative reality of the Bonnaroo music festival last weekend, Twin Cities rockers Hippo Campus enter the wide new world of virtual-reality in a video released today for their song "Western Kids."
The already animated young quartet collaborated with former Pixar technical director Najeeb Tarazi ("Toy Story 3," "Monsters University") on the groundbreaking VR video, which shows them floating around a "Tron"-like realm inside a 3D computer animation program. It's a fitting idea for a song that's partly about today's youth not so literally being sucked into their phones.
"It seemed perfect for us to convey the blurred lines of reality," the band told the Creator Project, which premiered the video and has some cool photos that show how the video was filmed. "We met Najeeb through our label Transgressive and fell in love with his portfolio. His style of animation had this really raw vibe about it that felt really unique."
See the end results below -- not as wow-inducing to view on standard computers or phones, but you'll get the idea. Also below is a clip from the band's Bonnaroo performance filmed by Red Bull Select, which looks impressive, too, since you can see their crowd that day filled one of the big tents and was very into the set.
The guys will be back in Minnesota to play the virtually unbeatable Bayfront Festival Park Amphitheater in Duluth on July 8 with Polica and Low.
