Children of Atom Premiere “Bloodlust Boogie” Video
Spokane, Washington, garage-psych rockers Children of Atom released their aptly-titled EP four-songer Aug. 2021 on limited tape and (unlimited) digital. The clip you see premiering below for “Bloodlust Boogie” is actually the second for the track in question. It’s a lyric video, so I guess if you want to say it counts differently, fine, though I’m not sure why the ‘rule’ remains that a song can only have one video anyway in this brave new world in which anyone with a phone is also a cameraperson. But either way, clearly it’s a song they believe in, and listening, it’s not hard to hear why.
Alongside the rampant — rampant. — sleaze and exploitation vibes, “Bloodlust Boogie” offers a likewise rampant instrumental earworm set to a classic shimmy. It brings together psychedelia, early punk attitude and garage-style raw strum, electric organ and, topped off with twisting lead guitar, it makes its five-minute runtime feel about half that long and burns, baby, burns with readily apparent fervor. It’s sweaty, smoky, and likely too intoxicated to drive, yet “Bloodlust Boogie” steers through its course fluidly with its tale of a murderous she-devil serving as lyrical accompaniment.
Kids’ll be kids, right? I guess. I’m too exhausted to go on a rant or some shit about how even the story of a succubus, which seems to put a woman in a position of power — in this case, she does the killing, at least — still dehumanizes women, and I would for what? Who’s that gonna help, except my liberal guilt? It is what it is. What caught my ear here was the blend of retro and modern in the band’s style and production, that slight edge of almost rockabilly in the vocals and the interplay of the organ and guitar. More than a year after the EP’s release, I’m honestly not sure what the motivation behind making the new video is, but if it’s just to bring more attention to EP, then fair enough since it apparently got mine.
The full EP EP stream is down near the bottom of the post, and the (new) “Bloodlust Boogie” clip follows here.
Enjoy:
Children of Atom, “Bloodlust Boogie” video premiere
Michael Fenris on “Bloodlust Boogie”:
“Rock ‘n’ roll needs more good dance songs. That’s what Bloodlust Boogie is. A rock ‘n’ roll dance song about sex and murder. It’s inspired by classic ’70s revenge flicks; all those trashy cult films always have a theme song, and that’s what Bloodlust Boogie is, but for a movie that doesn’t exist.”
The Pacific Northwest-based Children of Atom is a “Psy-Fi Rock” machine who moved into the jam room for the duration of the pandemic and came out with a polished live performance and catalog of crushing new songs.
Drawing elements of blues, funk, and early metal, they seamlessly mix aggressive keys, greasy guitar hooks, and dark crooning vocals about space travel with driving rhythms and random, meandering psychedelic adventures.
Children of Atom is:
Michael Fenris – Vox, Guitar
Josh McClure – Drums
Myles Weaver – Bass, Vox, Gtr
Shane Birdsill – Keys
