Vince and Kip told me for months that I had to go see Valient Thorr live. “But I don’t really dig their albums!” I’d protest, and they’d reply, “No no no no no no no, you have to SEE them LIVE to ‘get it.’” So last month, Vince and I got really (really, really, really) drunk and went to go see them, and guess what? Vince and Kip weren’t lying. In concert, this band RULES. I would go see them live again literally anytime. Like, if my phone rings right now and it’s Kip and he’s all “Valient Thorr are playing in Staten Island in an hour,” well, the only correct response would be, “Which subway line do I take?” And there would be no more posts for the rest of the day, just like that.

So. The new Valient Thorr video, for the song “Double Crossed,” doesn’t quite convey the joy of seeing the band live… but it certainly is a heckuva lotta fun. It kind of reminds me of an old Twisted Sister video, at least in terms of its goofy tone.

My favorite part, though, is that Valient Himself has visible sweat stains right from the moment he gets up off the couch at the start of the video. Of course, it takes lots of big, hot lights to film these things, and we don’t know even know if it was filmed in chronological order, so it’s possible he had good reason to sweat. But I prefer to think that he’s just a slippery dude.

“Double Crossed” comes off of Valient Thorr’s latest, Stranger, which is out now on Volcom. You should buy a copy just so that this band keeps touring and comes to fuck up your town real soon.

-AR