Neon Trees gets surreal in the new video for “Sleeping With a Friend.” (Neon Trees/Contributed Image)
If Salvador Dali got caught in a Peter Gabriel video from the heyday of MTV in the 1980s, it might look a little bit like Neon Trees’ new clip for “Sleeping With a Friend.”
In fact, singer Tyler Glenn, who grew up in Murrieta, said the band was inspired by Gabriel’s groundbreaking “Sledgehammer” video and clips from the B-52’s videos.
“For us, the best stuff we’ve done has always been the colorful, energetic stuff, so on this record and everything about this album is colorful and celebratory in a way,” he said in a recent telephone interview.
Glenn and his mother Deb also made his costumes in the video, including his cupcake suit. The pair have made a number of the singer’s stage clothes over the years.
With the dreamlike scenarios in the video, Glenn warned that there’s not a linear narrative.
“I don’t think the video’s supposed to be too fluid and make too much sense,” he said.
In one of the humorous moments of the clip, guitarist Chris Allen, who, like Glenn, grew up in Murrieta, dances around while playing a ukulele. His dancing partner is an upright shark that is wearing a grass skirt.
“We definitely felt like Chris is usually out to lunch and on vacation, so we’re like ‘Let’s put him in a tropical setting dancing with a shark and make it true to life,’ so that’s what he’s doing,” Glenn said, laughing.
All of the action takes place in a brightly colored house that Glenn said personified his mind.
“It reminds me of ‘Pee-wee’s Playhouse’ in a way. There’s a kookiness to it,” he said.