In Contention

Tag: Modest Mouse

  • The Heath Ledger-directed music video for Modest Mouse’s ‘King Rat’

    King RatOne of the question marks left dangling after the untimely passing of Heath Ledger in January of 2008 was the music video for Modest Mouse’s “King Rat.”  Conceived by the late actor, the video seemed to be lost to the winds as the band, understandably, didn’t want to be seen as capitalizing on the star’s death.

    It was announced back in March, after some admirable persistence from the guys at The Playlist, and an eventual pick-up in the pages of Spin Magazine, that the piece would finally have its day in the sun.  And today, we finally get a look.

    Exclusively released on MySpace, the video serves as a piece of activism in its role-reversal depiction of whaling practices.  It’s pretty staggering, actually, and, of course, dovetails perfectly with the “Cove” conversation that’s kicked up on the site yesterday and today.

    Check out the video and the full press release after the jump.

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  • Ledger-directed music video set for release

    From the AP:

    A Modest Mouse music video directed by the late Heath Ledger is set for release this year.

    A spokeswoman for the band says Ledger directed an animated video for “King Rat,” a track off the band’s 2007 album, “We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.”

    Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brock collaborated with Ledger on the video’s concept, Lisa Markowitz says, adding that Brock “is supporting the completion of the video in honor of Heath’s last piece of work as a director.”

    The actor, who died last year at age 28, had previously directed a music video for one of Ben Harper’s songs.