Blood Like Cream

This was the first single from Red Fang's third album, Whales and Leeches. The group's singer/bassist Aaron Beam came up with the idea for the song and recorded a rough demo on his computer so he could take it to his bandmates. In our interview with Beam, he explained: "I had some ideas for the drums, but I didn't know exactly how to explain it to John (Sherman). Everybody in the band is so good at their instrument and so characteristic with their styles, it feels weird sometimes offering them suggestions for what to play, so it's easier just to record it on the computer in some form and then play the final version for them, and then they come up with whatever they want. But it can offer at least a glimpse into a different way of looking at how they might want to approach it on their instrument. So I made a computer demo of that song. That informed the basic structure and we recorded that. We still didn't know exactly how the instrumental sections were going to go, like what the guitar solos were going to be. And we had no idea what the vocals were going to be on that bridge section that comes out to the second chorus."

The video stars Fred Armisen, whose TV show Portlandia is set in the band's hometown of Portland, Oregon. The clip was directed by Whitey McConnaughy and begins with Armisen running into a bar and warning the patrons that zombies are on the loose - and drinking all the beer. Mayhem ensues as the band tries to protect their Pabst. It got over 200,000 views on YouTube and gave the band a big bump, including their first national TV appearance where they performed the song on The Late Show with David Letterman. More irreverent videos by the band followed, also directed by McConnaughy.

Completing this song was a painstaking process for the band. It took several forms before it was finished, starting as an addendum to their song "Behind the Light." When they played this version live, they began to work out the riffs and split the songs in two. "Blood Like Cream" went through more changes, getting simplified along the way. This is typical of the way Aaron Beam works - he has a degree in biology and approaches songwriting like science: with lots of experimentation.