Actually, Great Day Houston airs at 9 a.m. on Channel 11. Rocks Off just wanted to give you an hour or two to get ready.
The 71s remain a quiet but powerful force in Houston, and continue to tumble higher and higher into choice gigs. Their latest EP, Rock and Roll Reaction, was very much a force to be reckoned with in the realm of pure pop-rock paradise, and this morning they assault Channel 11's airwaves this morning at 9 a.m. as part of Great Day Houston's Christmas celebration.
The 71's have also released a new music video. They made headlines here earlier this year when they filmed a guerilla-style music video in a local Walmart before being ejected from the premises for rocking too damn hard. Admittedly, it doesn't take too much rocking to rock harder than your average Walmart, but Rocks Off admired the 71's' gusto.
Their new video, "All Tied Up," is a glimpse of the band's incredible ability in a live setting. It's truly uncanny how the down-to-earth quartet can inspire slavish devotion and primal excitement with just a few power chords and some rugged good looks.
And so... Rocks Off decided to call guitarist and vocalist Keeton Coffman and ask him about the vid.
Rocks Off: Hey K. Did I wake you up?
Keeton Coffman: I'm sick.
RO: That explains it. You're usually more Muppet-like in your greeting.
KC: I took the day off to get some rest for the Channel 11 gig tomorrow, and the one at Mainstage with Bright Light Social Hour in the evening.
RO: Well, I won't take too much time. Let's talk about this video. Where did you film it?
KC: At the CD release in October. It kind of happened by accident, really. A dozen friends guerrilla-cammed the whole thing. After the show, they all made sure we got the tape... or whatever the digital equivalent is.
I was so excited to basically have a whole concert filmed. We're releasing edited videos of it every couple of weeks as a way to tide over fans until the next record.
RO: The audio is pretty rough. Did that come out of the cameras?
KC: Yep, straight from. I like it, though. It gives it such a raw feel.
RO: You're very comfortable with guerrilla filmmaking.
KC: Actually, that's how we got the Channel 11 gig. They heard about us through the story you ran on us about the Walmart vid, and since then we keep getting invited back. We sent them the new record, and they really enjoyed "Fire Tonight," so that's what we're gonna play this morning.
RO: You nervous?
KC: Not really. I don't want to sound cocky, but we've been there before. We're looking forward to it!
The 71's will be on Channel 11's Great Day Houston this morning at 9 a.m., and play Mainstage with Bright Light Social Hour tonight.
Jef With One F is the author of The Bible Spelled Backwards Does Not Change the Fact That You Cannot Kill David Arquette and Other Things I Learned In the Black Math Experiment, available now.