Southern hospitality pranksters The Nude Party have a new video out for the single “Water on Mars”, off their forthcoming debut LP. The beautifully shot video, directed by Kyle Messina, is an Alice in Wonderland type adventure, involving aliens, corn fields, and a lot of silver face paint. Check it out, and read our interview with the band below. The Nude Party, one of my favorite finds from this year, embark on their first US tour starting December 29th. Tour dates below. –Maya Eslami 

WHAT YOUTH: What was the inspiration behind the video? Any concept going into the shoot? 

THE NUDE PARTY: We had a pretty loose and stupid original idea that would probably be better suited as a survival show for the Discovery Channel. It was supposed to be based on a person being stranded in the woods and the only food supplies they could bring were weed edibles, so naturally as they got hungrier they would eventually just keep getting more stoned. That’s hard to show in the context of a music video though. It was a good start I guess.

It gives me an Alice in Wonderland meets the Wizard of Oz vibe. 

Yeah I guess we tried to make it have a surreal or other-worldly effect. We were supposed to be some species of alien. Connor ended up being an alien/ robot hybrid, with weapons and tools used as his appendages. And Shaun insisted on being a cowboy alien, mostly inspired by Alan Jackson.

This is the first single off your long awaited debut album. Why this song? 

I think it’s become one of our favorite songs to play live but also it’s probably the biggest departure from the songs we’ve written in the past. It’s pretty melodic and dynamic which is something we’re slowly learning how to infuse into the newer music.

Tell me more about the album. When does it come out? 

We’d like it to be a collage of what we consider to be the best of the new and old stuff. We tend to write and play a lot more than we record so this album is essentially a debut of everything we’ve done as a band for the last three years until now. We’re more focused on the actual production of this album and dialing in the sounds we really like in records because I think we’ve just been anxious to put out music previously and overlooked that detail. It’s release is still to be determined.

Are you guys self-releasing?

We’re looking for the right home right now with labels. It’s a tricky business but we’d really like to put out an actual physical record which is financially impossible for us to do right now by ourselves. Self-releasing things is awesome and we’ve done that with most of our music in the past but it can also be limiting.

What’s next for the band? 

We’re trying to move to upstate NY at the end of summer and re-establish our colony up there.  Maybe start planning for next year’s Nude Fest (a music festival we host every summer), as we depart NC. Heavy touring is definitely in the future in promotion of the new record. Our upcoming tour starts on Dec. 30thand it’s at 65 dates right now. We’re waiting to confirm a few last dates. We’d like to play in other countries too. Europe once we release our record. We’ve also been trying to plan a show in Cuba but their government hasn’t gotten back to us. Besides that, we’re gunning for maybe a Toyota or Sprite or Cookout commercial. Oh yeah, and we also changed our genre to RockaBilly Ocean.

The Nudes – 2016/2017 Tour Dates

Dec 30 – The Mothlight – Asheville, NC

Dec 31 – Boone Saloon (Nude Years Eve) – Boone, NC

Jan 1 – Kings Barcade – Raleigh, NC

Jan 3 – Strange Matter – Richmond, VA

Jan 4 – Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA

Jan 5 – The Saint – Asbury Park, NJ

Jan 6 – Berlin – NYC

Jan 7 – Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn, NYC

Jan 8 – Atwoods Tavern – Cambridge, MA

Jan 9 – Cafe Nine – New Haven, CT

Jan 10 – Beachland Ballroom Tavern – Cleveland, OH

Jan 11 – Lo & Behold Records – Detroit, MI

Jan 12 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL

Jan 13 – State Street Pub – Indianapolis, IN

Jan 14 – Motr Pub – Cincinnati, OH

Jan 15 – Sink Hole – St Louis, MO

Jan 16 – Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI

Jan 17 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA

Jan 18 – Riot Room – Kansas City, MO

Jan 19 – Springfield, MO – TBD

Jan 20 – Replay Lounge – Lawrence, KS

Jan 21 – Hi Dive – Ft Collins, CO

Jan 23 – Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT

Jan 24 – 1/24 – Radio Boise Tuesday @ Neurolux – Boise, ID

Jan 25 – Sunset Lounge – Seattle, WA

Jan 26 – The Fixin – Portland, OR