"They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)" is a song by the
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
–based
punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band
The Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
, released as the first
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
from their 2003 debut album ''
The Bronx
The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...
''. It was their first single to chart, reaching No. 65 on the
UK Singles Chart.
While the album was released by
Ferret Music
Ferret Music was an American independent record label turned Warner Music Group subsidiary, founded in 1996. The label is owned by metalcore band NORA's vocalist, Carl Severson, and based in West Windsor, New Jersey. Ferret recently started an ...
and the band's own label White Drugs, the singles for all of their albums have been released exclusively in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, through
Wichita Recordings
Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees include Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Yea ...
. The single was released on both
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
and
7-inch vinyl
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standal ...
, the latter pressed on white vinyl and limited to 1,500 copies.
The
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
song is a live recording of "I Got Chills" from a performance at the Three Clubs in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood ...
.
The cover artwork was designed by guitarist Joby J. Ford.
The
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
for "They Will Kill Us All (Without Mercy)" was directed by Mike Piscitelli.
It depicts an
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
man in a heavy jacket walking through Los Angeles,
lip sync
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...
ing the song's lyrics while dancing and making exaggerated gestures to the music. The band members appear as
extra
Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* Extra (newspaper), ...
s whom the man bumps into or passes on the street. During the final
chorus
Chorus may refer to:
Music
* Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse
* Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound
* Chorus form, song in whic ...
the man is shot in the chest by an unseen gunman and bleeds to death on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
.
In a 2009 interview, singer
Matt Caughthran
Matt Caughthran (born February 13, 1979) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for Los Angeles–based punk band The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx. In addition to The Bronx, Caughthran is involved in a side project, The Drips. Caughthr ...
named it as his favorite of the band's videos and explained its nature:
The idea behind that video was that if the TV was turned all the way down and there was no sound, it would look like a hip-hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
video. The great thing about that was that it actually worked, 'cause I would get interviews, like we were in Sweden for ..the Hultsfred Festival
The Hultsfred Festival () was an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It took place at the lake Hulingen for three days in June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, its attendance increased from 7,5 ...
and I was doing press and I sit down with this lady and she just starts laughing. She goes "I think there's a mistake here. I think this is the wrong band." I'm like "What are you talking about?" She's like "I'm here to interview The Bronx", and I'm like "That's me. I sing for The Bronx." She's like "But you're not black." ..That was a good moment, 'cause that means the video worked.
Track listing
CD version
Vinyl version
Personnel
Band
*
Matt Caughthran
Matt Caughthran (born February 13, 1979) is an American singer, best known as the frontman for Los Angeles–based punk band The Bronx and Mariachi El Bronx. In addition to The Bronx, Caughthran is involved in a side project, The Drips. Caughthr ...
– lead
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
* Joby J. Ford –
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
, backing vocals, artwork and design
* James Tweedy –
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
, backing vocals
* Jorma Vik –
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
Production
*
Gilby Clarke
Gilbert J. Clarke (born August 17, 1962) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is known for having a three-year tenure as the rhythm guitarist of Guns N' Roses, replacing Izzy Stradlin in 1991 during the Use Your ...
–
producer, recording
* Howie Weinberg –
mastering
See also
*
The Bronx discography
References
{{The Bronx (band)
The Bronx (band) songs
2004 singles
2003 songs