The first thing Them Rude Boys has put out this year is a video for the song “R.I.P.Her,” an ode to a femme fatale that’s quite different stylistically from “Rude Boy Radio” (actually all the songs on their most recent EP sound very different, from the reggae-rock of “Only Thing That Matters” to the punky New Wave of “Skater Punk”).
“That was the only song on the EP that was more like a straightforward rock song,” he says of “R.I.P.Her.” “We decided to do that one because when we play live, people are always like ‘What’s that one song you play? Da-doo, da-doo, da-doo, da-doo, what is that song?”
The slow, insistent central riff is indeed memorable, as is the video—for South Bay residents at least, since all of the action is set in easily recognizable San Jose locales.
“That’s really what we wanted to do with that video,” says Castout. “I think a lot of bands try to portray themselves as something that they’re not. We’re just this little local band from San Jose. That’s what I wanted to show in that video: this is where we’re from, this is who we are. I really wanted to be as authentic as possible.”
Them Rude Boys perform Thursday at South First Billiards (9pm; free) and Sunday at Johnny V’s ‘Big Green Machine’ St. Patrick’s Day show (3:45pm; $5).
