"I wanted to get the audience to see the complex thoughts of the main character, Jon Tate," says director Matty Steinkamp, who also runs the band's label, Sundawg Records. "This song is my favorite songs on the new album, and I wanted to get a very creative non-pop formated video that reached into the mind of the main character using simple graphics. I want the audience to watch this video and lose all thoughts of the negative things happening in the world. I definitely want this to distract people from their everyday lives and allow them to sink into this story."
The video is a perfect precursor for the band's performance at Phoenix Comicon this May, an event ALOS has played in the past. Keenan describes the band's comic book as "a sci-fi robot apocalypse story about the man responsible for the end of the world," a concept the band devised. Besides supporting the story of the comic, Keenan adds, "I hope people can relate to the major underlying theme of the song, of putting your past life behind you to envision the future you want. It's about new beginnings. When we made this album, we hit the writing process and the studio as a new band lineup and as new people. This song is a toast to our new lives -- our 'vita nova'."
If you can't make it out to Comicon, you can still buy the book at any of their shows, including their Sunday, April 1 stint with Mindless Self Indulgence at Marquee Theatre in Tempe, where the band will be playing their "most high-octane" tracks. Check out lyrics for "A Crystal City Awaits," along with the video, below.
A Crystal City Awaits
Our town can sleep tonight
The dust is settling
And fear no longer ravishes our sordid stomachs
Hush hush hush
Past buried
Hush hush hush
Past buried
Our town can sleep tonight
A peace was cast upon us
Lillies bloom and line the roads
Our home is ours again
Hush hush hush
Past buried
Hush hush hush
Past buried
And life is bursting at the seems
For all the troubles thick and thin
The walls it seemed were caving in
And all the darkest corners gleam
A brighter shade, their memories seem
To fade away like fog from glass
We'll build again, our reign will last
For all my kin and future lads
I claim this land
The new life waits no more
And life is bursting at the seems
Upon the ruined landscape's fertile ground
A crystal city awaits
The towers shimmer lights aglow
The children laugh and play
For all the troubles thick and thin
The walls it seemed were caving in
And all the darkest corners gleam
A brighter shade, their memories seem
To fade away like fog from glass
We'll build again, our reign will last
For all my kin and future lads
I claim this land
The new life waits no more
I got a feeling the worst is over
Even if we're challenged again
We'll stare right in their faces
And tell them we were here first
Pinch yourself
You know this ain't no dream
We ride into the sunset again
We said we'd stop at nothing
This freedom tastes so good
Wake up
Tomorrow without fear
Tonight rejoice it all
The curtain closes on this escapade
Let's live for now
