Spotlight: Hell by Clown Core

Hell hath no fury like two clowns in a porta-potty. If you don’t believe me, watch for yourself. Clown Core is likely a side project for drummer Louis Cole (also in the band KNOWER) and saxophonist Sam Gendel, who has collaborated with KNOWER in the recent past. The live YouTube version of KNOWER’s track “Overtime” features a drummer and saxophonist that have eerily similar mannerisms to the mystery clowns, and an artistic style that suggests that the videos for “Overtime” and “Hell” were made by the same people. Until Cole and Gendel come forward, all we can know for sure is that the band is called Clown Core and their song “Hell” horrifyingly addictive.

I have to start out by giving credit where credit is due: comedian and twitter extraordinaire Zachary Fox said this beautiful monstrosity of a song was “the only cool music he’s seen” this year. That’s how I found the iconic video, and I’m sure glad I did. It starts out with the riveting image of two grown men in clown masks, a drum set, two midi controllers, several microphones, and a saxophone all crammed into a porta-potty. What kind of music could they possibly play, looking like this? Then the screeching synth lead starts the song off, and everything falls into place. These are not happy, birthday party clowns, these are dystopian clowns who like to scream. And while they scream, a little clown head bounces over words superimposed at the bottom of the screen; I guess this is a singalong. “All of my turds go straight to hell / A small gift for the darkness itself / All of my farts come straight from hell /  You’re already dead if you notice a smell” read the lyrics, which bear no resemblance whatsoever to the guttural noises coming from the musicians. At this point you may be saying to yourself “gee, the only thing that could make this song better is a Kenny G saxophone solo.” Well guess what, buckaroo? That’s exactly what they do. Smooth jazz, smack dab in the middle of demonic clown metal. It’s hideous, it’s juvenile, and I’ve watched it at least 10 times today.

This isn’t Clown Core’s first rodeo, either. Their youtube page was founded in 2008 and they have an eponymous album on Spotify from 2010. Their music related youtube videos abruptly stopped in 2011, and a series of cryptic videos (including one asking “what happened to Clown Core?“) began showing up intermittently, starting in 2014. The good news: they are back in action now. The video for “Hell” is likely to promote their album, Toilet, which was released on March 3rd. I have listened to all their music and compiled into a Spotify playlist, which you can access below. Enjoy!

 

(Note: I have included the screenshot of YouTube comments that led me to investigate the identities of the clowns as Louis Cole and Sam Gendel. Having read their comments, I looked into it, and I agree with them. I cannot take credit for coming up with the theory, though)