“We’ve always shot a music video to accompany every single we’ve released over the last several years. “Hit Hollywood” was to be no exception. Director Sean Ryan and myself were to fly to Los Angeles at the beginning of February to shoot the video in and around Hollywood. Two days after booking the flights and accommodation, the devastating LA wildfires began burning out of control. After postponing our plans for several weeks, we finally decided that it was best to cancel them altogether. BUT all proceeds from sales of “Hit Hollywood” from https://thejamesclarkinstitute.bandcamp.com/ will go directly to wildfire relief via gofundme.com beginning on Friday March 7th”.
If there were still diners with cool three-for-a-quarter jukeboxes opposite your fries and gravy, The James Clark Institute would be the kind of band you would constantly be digging into your pocket for just one more quarter.
Jangly, three-minute pop songs, with lyrics and turns of phrases that make you pause and think “did they just say that”?
With producer Moe Berg (The Pursuit Of Happiness/Trans-Canada Highwaymen) behind the boards The JCI mix equal parts Raspberries, The Kinks and Badfinger with Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson with a little Lennon-McCartney thrown in for good measure.
Their latest album “Under The Lampshade” features five singles including the brand new nod to the west coast “Hit Hollywood”. James Clark has this to say about the new single:
“Are you like me? Have you ever wanted to clobber one of your ex-band members? Luckily for me, I own a 1963 Ludwig Hollywood gold sparkle drum kit which comes in handy during these sour times when I really need to bang out all of my frustrations. Hence the title of this song.”
Never ones to rest on their laurels, the band also released their first festive holiday song “Orange Christmas” last December.