By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
With their latest release, “Rip My Hair” (premiering exclusively at RUE MORGUE), Cleveland-based dark electro/industrial rockers 2 Forks unleash their unabashed love of campy, 1980s-style horror in a clip that evokes the over-the-top mayhem of such classics as Evil Dead II and Return of the Living Dead. Featuring performance footage and more zombie/extraterrestrial carnage than you can shake a fistful of entrails at, the fourth video single from the band’s 2023 debut concept album, Quanticode, is an homage to horror’s decade of decadence – and that’s just how frontman Danny 2 Forks (aka Daniel C, the drummer of The Wake, who co-directed the video with Ohio filmmaker Adam Kurtz of Media-77) likes it.
“I always wanted to do a video inspired by Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller,’ mixed with Evil Dead II, sprinkled with Return of the Living Dead. Real campy, like over-the-top campy but earnest, so you are just not sure. A gorgeous gore throwback to the glory days of horror – at least my glory days,” Danny explains. However, the diehard horrorphile’s enthusiasm nearly derailed the shoot. “Several takes I had to redo because I was smiling too much in the shot, he adds. “I mean zombies and aliens together? This video was a tremendous amount of fun to make and embodies my love for the horror genre and the DIY attitude … I was so lucky to work with experienced, talented artists and actors, some of whom I worked with on other 2 Forks videos. It made the process more comfortable and productive.”
Released in October 2023, Quanticode tells the story of the hunt for a relentless serial killer, with each video reflecting the fluctuating state of the murderer’s crumbling mind. The four clips released so far, “Take It,” “I Feel Lost,” “Bad Fukker Un Sub” and “Rip My Hair” alternate between black-and-white and colour cinematography as the killer, in Danny 2 Forks’ words, “goes from elation to breakdown.”
“Rip My Hair” is Quanticode’s penultimate single before Danny 2 Forks and his principal collaborator, Gil Singer (Scrapdata), return to the studio to record new material. 2 Forks is currently booking U.S. tour dates for later in 2024 with Chicago bands Plasmata and [melter].
Follow 2 Forks on Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube and Facebook. For more about the band, visit 2forksmusic.com.
