Mute Math Reveal How They?ll Re-Create Backwards Video on Live TV: Extreme Focus and
 

Earlier this year, Mute Math caught the attention of more than a million people when their very untypical video for “Typical” made the rounds on YouTube. The clip — which was created in real time — featured the band performing the track completely backwards, a concept the Louisiana quartet conceived, rehearsed and executed in three weeks. Tonight they’ll try to re-create it all in a single take on Jimmy Kimmel Live in an attempt to up the ante.“If someone screws up, you’ve got to keep going,” says frontman/keyboardist Paul Meany. “It’s a balls-out approach today and we’re looking forward to it. I don’t care if I run into a light and my arm falls off and I’m bleeding profusely out of my shoulder, we must not stop.” In case of catastrophe, there will be paramedics on hand.
Though they may be reinterpreting the clip a bit, Mute Math will still play the song backwards. “The good thing, at least on band’s end, is that we’ve done this once before,” Meany says. “And my God, I’ve been hearing this song in my head and my sleep this whole year, the whole backwards Middle Eastern rant of what it sounds like in reverse.” And this time, Meany says, they’re in prime physical condition. “When we were filming the video, we broke it into two takes because after the first forty seconds we were sucking wind! So for this we’ve started jogging a little more, watching the diet, pulling a Rocky Balboa — running up stairs, downing yokes of eggs every morning … Before the show there will be extreme focus and meditation like we’ve never done before, I will have taken my dose of Ibuprofen, and there will be lots of Red Bull.”
And what of those other guys who re-created their famous YouTube music video on live TV? “We haven’t met OK Go, unfortunately,” Meany says. “I would love to — they made an incredible video. In the age of YouTube it’s been quite empowering to everyone, not just bands, because you feel like you have an immediate place to showcase your work.” So will Mute Math be showcasing their backwards trick on their current headlining tour? “Oh no, hell no,” Meany laughs. “Maybe in the scope of an arena tour when you’ve got all kinds of production things on your side, but not now.”
Tune in for what Meany predicts will be “an orchestrated symphony of a backwards festival” tonight on Jimmy Kimmel Live at 12:05 a.m. EST.


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