Autostraddle is pleased to host the exclusive premiere the brand new video for “Juke Jack Jerk What!/Boi Yeah Boi No” from queer-as-eff Brooklyn duo PISS-OFF!
PISS-OFF! are an electronic collaboration between Brooklyn-based rapper/singer/producer/artist Anika Trujillo and keyboardist/producer/vocalist/DJ Gumball Eyeball. They formed in 2012, when as Gumball (Daniel) put it, “I was making music in Brooklyn as a glitchy electronic music nerd but wanted to do something much more visceral, visual, and fun. I put a post up on Craigslist titled ‘starting a punk rave band.. energetic crazy shit, all musicians wanted’ and Anika wrote back in the first hour with a video of her freestyling. My mouth fell open and I wrote back right away saying ‘yes, yes and yes.'” Anika had been in New York for roughly a year before that, searching for the right project — and when she saw Daniel’s post, it all fell into place.
The video takes place over the course of two of the band’s songs, and tells several different stories at once, seemingly based around a Tinder-esque dating platform and leading both bandmates on a quest for one elusive girl. As they explain, “With this new video we wanted to tell a story, but rather than tell it in one frame, we divided the video into multiple parallel characters with both reality and fantasy, like a choose-your-own-adventure novel. We are all about overstimulation, in this video we did that through plot and beautiful imagery rather than effects.”
As the bandmates seek out Carlie, the object of both of their fascination, we’re taken on a strange and beautiful journey across Brooklyn. The video was shot all in one day, with a huge crew and a ton of props, costumes, masks and makeup. The result is flashy, dynamic and undeniably queer, showcasing a wide range of sexualities and gender presentations. This choice was intentional. “First of all, binaries suck,” explains Anika. “Second, kinks are awesome and third we should all be more sex positive. The video is about our reality and our fantasy. Carlie doesn’t need us; we desire her. Only in our fantasy do we access her and even then we are her subs. My goal is to convey trans and GNC folx being celebrated, honored & thanked.”
Daniel agrees. “I’m happy that we could show as unique individuals people who are too often objectified. In contrast to my character who is obsessive and is rejected in the end, our star Carlie remains confident and powerful through the whole video.”
For more information on what happened to our fair heroes after the end of the video, check out www.pissoff.nyc/kinky-chat. Their debut album Perfect is for Amateurs is now available on Spotify and iTunes.
It’s an interesting song and video. That said I found it interesting that one of the people was wearing a Slayer shirt in the video. Slayer has some problematic fans(think KKK and general racism towards poc) and politics(glorifying the Angel of Death).
as a person who has enjoyed the sick riffs of slayer for many many years but never bothered to read the lyrics, i really wish i had not.
I myself an ex-fan, reading lyrics and googling more about the each member had me turned off. Plus, around a decade ago they had Killswitch Engage open up for them. Their singer at the time was Howard Jones(one from Ohio, cause apparently there is British singer with the same name), who is a POC. I was reading an interview with him about how tour was going. Pretty much said the fans(mostly in the south and mid-west) were throwing fruit at him and using slurs towards him.
yeah, metal is a tricky genre. pantera are another one – i loved them so much, and then there’s the whole confederate flag thing… and phil, oh phil.
I love the track, but I found the video a little bit creepy.
I’d love to hear from trans women whether they felt “celebrated, honored & thanked” by the video, or whether they found it fetishizing and objectifying. Maybe all of the above?
Personally I felt quite unsettled to imagine being stalked around Brooklyn by two strangers from a chat room.
Yeah, I too found this a bit unsettling. When I first began my transition, I definitely felt very vulnerable and stared at. Nowadays, I can ‘pass’ so people aren’t looking at me in that way anymore, but I still wouldn’t appreciate being followed around by strangers. The track itself is very good, the video does give me a slightly ‘icky’ feeling though. Are there any trans women on here who feel different?