Los Angeles indie-punks Jacob the Horse unveil their new song and music video “666 Chicks,” which is directed by band member Aviv Rubinstien himself. The song is from their upcoming album At Least It’s Almost Over. The album will be released on March 20.
Watch the video here:
The band members share their thoughts:
Aviv Rubinstien:
“The song is about a group of women who, because of their fight for equality, autonomy, justice, what have you, have been accused of being witches or possessed by demons. And now these 666 Chicks have embraced that accusation and are using the legend to continue their fight. They have no choice but to continue because, as it is in real life, if no one stands up to the fascists, soon there will be no one left to stand up to the fascists. The song itself sounds like screaming through a panic attack on a desert highway. Fun fact, the original draft of the lyrics were about a group of women driving up to Simi Valley to piss on Ronald Reagan’s grave.”
Mark Desrosiers:
“Musically and sonically, the inspiration was just to make a pure ‘loud, angry, fast, short’ punk song. Personally, I’d been listening to a lot of illuminati hotties and Mannequin Pussy at the time, and I think that inspired the musicality a bit (apologies to those two bands, who are a way better than us). This was a song where during the writing process it was an exercise in constantly paring back. ‘What if we just hung on this chord instead of changing it? What if we just ended the song here?’ It was more about distilling the song than building it. The answer to any question was just, ‘No—stupider.’ It sounds like an anthem for misogynists who fucked around and are currently finding out. The ‘HAIL SATAN!’ is my favorite lyric in the song.”
Rick Chapman:
“The guitar riff and drums sound very Foo Fighters to me. Josh and I are big fans, and this fits right in with ‘White Limo’ and ‘Weenie Beenie.’ This might be one of the first songs on the record we wrote other than ‘The River,’ which was an unused track from our ’45/33′ EP in 2017. I think the demos go back to 2021, so it’s hard to remember how it got started, but it just felt easy and natural for us to write. We all vibed on it together pretty quickly. My favorite lyric is, ‘My grandmother Hannah used to throw Molotov cocktails at Nazis. And I’m paying 10 bucks for coffee.’ This is more badass than anything any of us have ever done. The absurdity of modern politics compared to what people had to deal with in the past just makes what we’re doing feel like small potatoes by comparison, but also reaffirms why we need to fight against what’s going on in Washington.”
AR:
“My grandmother Hannah used to throw Molotov cocktails at Nazis. True story, my grandmother was in the Warsaw Ghetto underground and really did throw Molotov cocktails at Nazis.”
Josh Fleury:
“My favorite lyric is probably saying, ‘All the six chicks, all the sick sick sick chicks” over and over. What’s that? Those aren’t the correct lyrics? Man, I really gotta learn this song. There was a brief time between writing and recording the song where we’d occasionally joke about switching the final lyric “…and rage our finest rebellion” to “…the Black Eyed Peas guy is will.i.am,” and personally, I think that version works better and sends a more powerful message. This song is what I imagine Zoe Kravitz is listening to while riding a motorcycle to a ‘No Kings’ protest.”
AR:
“The video calls back to ’70s ‘exploitation’ films like ‘Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’ or ‘Cannibal Holocaust.’ A gleeful, torturous bloodbath. Our band is pretty DIY, which extends to our videos too. I directed it; Rick edited. My wife Lianne did all the gore makeup. To shoot the moments where our blood is rocketing out of our dying bodies, I had some fake blood in one of those plastic restaurant squirt bottles. When we were shooting the blood spatter for Mark’s death, we had Maddie (actor, musician and fellow Philly native Madision Bernstein) sort of crouch above me and bring the hammer down, and I accidentally squirted fake blood directly into their eyes. Maddie was a pro, and that moment is in the video.”
JF:
“It’s a portrayal of every band’s worst fear. Having younger, more attractive musicians come steal your instruments and play your songs much better than you.”
AR:
“Josh is exactly right. We’re sort of poking fun at our own irrelevance. We are too old and too male to even have an opinion on the subject. And the most visceral, gruesome way to depict that is to have these young, cool women kill us, eat us, and take our places. You could see it as us passing the torch or being shoved out of the fucking way.”
RC:
“I remember it was really hot. We shot in the middle of the summer on a mountain, and Aviv never got a shot of the valley below for scale. We could have filmed anywhere, but he chose to drive through a cactus patch on top of a mountain in the blazing heat. What a guy.”
MD:
“I believe the location had a ridiculously on-the-nose Western name, like Spider Canyon or something.”
AR:
“It was Spider Bite Gap.”
JF:
“I had a rehearsal right after we wrapped filming that evening for an upcoming show with my comedy team at the Upright Citizens Brigade and I showed up still in my blood soaked clothes. None of my teammates seemed to notice, or assumed that’s just how I look, which was a little concerning.”
Song credits:
Written & Performed by Jacob the Horse: Aviv Rubinstien, Rick Chapman, Mark Desrosiers and Josh Fleury
Aviv Rubinstien: Guitar, Lead Vocals
Rick Chapman: Drums, Vocals
Mark Desrosiers: Bass, Vocals
Josh Fleury: Lead Guitar, Vocals
Additional vocals by Tom Chapman
Produced by Jack Shirley
Recorded at The Atomic Garden, Oakland, CA
Additional Engineering by Josh Fleury
Jacob the Horse Live:
Dec.13: Los Angeles at The Roguelike Tavern w/ Jordan Maye, Aloud, Tallywacker
At Least It’s Almost Over was engineered and produced by Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden Recording Studio in Oakland.
At Least It’s Almost Over Track List:
01 At Least It’s Almost Over
02 Bad New Religion
03 Tympanis
04 The Black Hand
05 Keystone State
06 666 Chicks
07 This Place Sucks Ass
08 The River
09 Clever Cleaver
10 Totally Depressed
11 Red Rain Boots
12 Closer
Follow Jacob the Horse on Facebook.
Photo courtesy of Jacob the Horse
