Premiere: Watch “VHS” from synth-pop group Founding Fathers

Catch them at Mohawk Place on May 20 and Bowery Electric May 23

Cincinnati synth-pop outfit, Founding Fathers, today debut their new video for “VHS,” a track from their latest album, Mating Rites. The retro feel of the video will immediately bring you back to the early days of MTV, when music videos were nascent and MTV actually played videos.

With a blend of synth-rock, funk, dance, and new wave, “VHS” is both an infectious composition and accompanying video. The band chose “VHS” for their video because of its upbeat and catchy nature, and gives a strong representation of their current sound, per Eric Johnson, guitarist of Founding Fathers.

The refrain “Pop me in like a VHS cassette, I wanna relive this moment again” has a Devo-esque quality to it and coupled with rustic blue screens for their effects, you’re getting a rough feel of what music videos had in store in the mid-80s. For 2018, this is a throwback video that hits all the right notes: a catchy tune, a poppy synth beat and four guys in purple who clearly loved making this video.

Founding Fathers vocalist and bassist, Mahoney (Matt Chmielewski) came up with the initial concept to capture the spirit of 80’s public access music videos.  “It became a really appealing idea because we were able to do something visually entertaining, yet have an element of self-awareness and weirdness. It exacerbates the motif of over-using low budget video effects in public access videos,” said Johnson.

“VHS’ was produced by Mark Borison (The Mark) and Holland Rains of Local Favorite Productions. Catch Founding Fathers this month in Buffalo on Saturday, May 20 at Mohawk Place and in Manhattan on Wednesday May 23 at Bowery Electric. Listen to recent release Mating Rites below.

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