Piebald - Haven't Tried It

MAY 18 2004 · 12:00

Piebald - Haven't Tried It (2004) Era: Mid-2000s Indie/Emo Transition Era (2004) - Peak period of post-hardcore bands moving toward polished indie rock on major indie labels, coinciding with Piebald's signing to SideOneDummy Records and release of All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time. As one of only two official music videos produced for All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time, this clip is a rare primary visual document of Piebald at the peak of their commercial reach. It captures a band straddling the line between underground credibility and mainstream indie visibility, and preserves the warm-toned, fast-cut, performance-forward aesthetic that characterized mid-budget indie music video production in 2004. Its archival significance is amplified by the band's subsequent dissolution in 2007 and the limited surviving visual record of this era of their career. Context: Released in 2004 as part of Piebald's fourth album All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time, their debut on SideOneDummy Records, 'Haven't Tried It' arrived during a pivotal moment when emo and post-hardcore bands originating from the late-1990s DIY underground were navigating the shift toward polished indie-rock production and wider distribution. Piebald, formed in 1994 in Andover, Massachusetts from the same scene as Converge and Cave In, had by 2004 evolved from a hardcore outfit into a melodic indie-rock band with piano-driven arrangements and vocal harmonies. The video's performance-based, naturalistic aesthetic reflects the band's refusal to adopt the slick, high-budget visual language of contemporaneous major-label emo acts, instead preserving the modest, community-oriented identity that had built their cult following through years of extensive touring. Director notes: The video was produced in 2004 to promote 'Haven't Tried It' from the album All Ears, All Eyes, All the Time (SideOneDummy Records, May 18, 2004). It is one of two official music videos produced for that album, the other being 'Part of Your Body is Made Out of Rock.' The video's quantitative profile, fast editing (61 scene changes over ~197s, avg shot 3.22s), moderate brightness (83.74/255), and warm color temperature (2.64), is consistent with a modest indie-label production budget typical of SideOneDummy-era releases. No production company, director name, or crew list has been located in any publicly available source.