‘Rip My Hair’: the campy new schlock horror video from Cleveland, Ohio’s 2 Forks

‘Rip My Hair’ by 2 Forks is the Cleveland, Ohio band’s campy new music video: a lovingly humorous tribute to 1980s schlock-horror B-movie cult classics like Evil Dead II and Return of the Living Dead.

2Forks is the dark-electro / industrial-rock project led by ‘Danny 2 Forks’ alias Daniel C (longtime drummer with US gothic rock icons The Wake); while ‘Rip My Hair’ is the fourth video-single lifted from the debut 2 Forks album, ‘Quanticode’. Premiering the video on Rue-Morgue.com on Monday (17 June), Danny explained:

“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. Several takes I had to re-do, because I was smiling too much in the shot. 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.”

‘Quanticode’ (October 2023) is a concept album, whose fictional narrative follows the hunt for a serial killer: each track comprising a different chapter in the larger story. The album’s four videos to date have been released in line with the chronological storyline of ‘Quanticode’, and in a sequence that alternates visually between black and white, and colour: the debut single ‘Take It’ (black and white), followed by ‘I Feel Lost’ (colour), and ‘Bad Fukker Un Sub’ (black and white), and now returning to full-colour for ‘Rip My Hair’. This visual oscillation represents the fluctuating mental state of the album’s central figure, “where the killer goes from elation to breakdown”, Danny explains.

“The return to full-colour represents the return to the serial killer’s mental breakdown. When in this agitated state, colours are vibrant and brilliant.”

A similar pattern can be heard musically in the four singles, which have vacillated back and forth between hard-hitting industrial rock, and more synth-driven dark electro. ‘Rip My Hair’ is the penultimate promotional single from October 2023’s ‘Quanticode’ album, before 2 Forks moves on to new material.

‘Rip My Hair’ is directed by Daniel C and Cleveland filmmaker Adam Kurtz of AK Media, with a returning cast and crew from earlier 2 Forks videos on set. Danny adds:

“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.”

Intercut with the zombie-alien crew on set, ‘Rip My Hair’ also showcases Danny 2 Forks in a live setting for the first time, with onstage footage from the debut 2 Forks live show at Cleveland’s Foundry Music Club in 2023. For those eager to see more of the project live, 2 Forks are currently booking US tourdates for later in 2024, together with Chicago bands Plasmata and [melter].

In the studio, Danny’s principal collaborator in 2 Forks is Gil Singer: a producer and beatmaker for local Cleveland bands at Compound Studio, including his own studio project Scrapdata. The duo is augmented by guitarist Mark Gamiere, a former live member of The Wake (1996-2000), whose later credits also include Urban Needle and ( SIC ).Friends since high school during the early 1980s, the members have collaborated in several projects over many years.

‘Quanticode’ by 2 Forks is available now on CD or for download from Bandcamp, and is streaming from all major digital music outlets.

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More on: 2forksmusic.com