Chris Stapleton has once again teamed up with legendary Tom Petty guitar player Mike Campbell.
Titled “F*ck That Guy,” the new Chris Stapleton co-write was released today by Mike’s band the Dirty Knobs. And while a title like that could be about anybody, Mike says it’s their way of putting a dark, and yet still humorous, take on this awful year we’re having.
“‘F*ck That Guy’ is a simple song that could really be about anyone you know. The video is a bizarre and darkly humorous take on 2020. It’s been a hard year. It helps to just laugh. We shot the video in September, just last month. Sometimes life ends up imitating art in almost unimaginable ways”
Although rather than a specific person, the new music video which stars actors Jeff Garlin and Danny Trejo, takes aim at Coronavirus as the target of our collective “f*ck that guy.” Video director Gilbert Trejo adds:
“For the ‘F*ck That Guy’ video, we leaned into some of the motifs from my favorite silent films, creating the ‘me against the world’ character that guys like Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin perfected, but we stripped away what made those characters so endearing and empathetic. There’s no need to empathize with the physical embodiment of COVID—seriously, fuck that guy. The Hazmat crew was our sort of 2020 version of the Keystone Cops, always on the hunt, trying to clear the world of this asshole who’s walking around thinking ‘he’s god’s gift to man.'”
The Dirty Knobs’ upcoming album, Wreckless Abandon, is due out on November 20th, the week after Chris’ upcoming album Starting Over.
And as you may know, Mike returned the favor.
On Chris’ upcoming album Starting Over, Mike co-wrote and played guitar on two track including “Watch You Burn” and the newly-released “Arkansas.”
“He’s probably my favorite guitar player of all time. To sit around with him and write some songs has been cool,” says Stapleton to Rolling Stone. “We did some last year too… I don’t want to make any promises, but there is probably some new music on the way.”
Starting Over is due out on November 13th.
