Video premiere: Brian Setzer's 'Let's Shake' video
Brian Setzer's video for Let's Shake, premiering at USA TODAY, begins with the singer and guitarist riding a motorcycle, a few bars of the old Santo & Johnny instrumental Sleep Walk playing beneath the image to set the mood.
As he walks into a bar called Lee's Cocktails Lounge, the mood changes. The video, directed by Kii Arens, becomes more colorful, filled with people and things that shake, including wet dogs, a Jell-O mold and a Magic 8 Ball. The people, representing a variety of ages, ethnicities and subcultures, all have a great sense of style, though they're not locked into anybody's vision of the rockabilly niche.
"We basically told Kii, 'Let's just get people shaking,' " Setzer says. "Or things, objects, everything. It shouldn't be just one kind of person or one kind of thing. Let's just get people from all walks of life rocking out to the song. It was a pretty simple theme, but we didn't want to narrow it down."
Setzer, 55, has approached music much the same way throughout his career. From his days with the Stray Cats to the present, Setzer has stayed true to the rockabilly tradition without straitjacketing himself into the era that created it.
"A lot of the songs on this album couldn't have been written in the rockabilly style of the '50s," he says. "That was basically a blues progression. I write songs, and they come out rockabilly. That's just what I am."
Let's Shake is the first single from Setzer's new album, Rockabilly Riot! All Original, due Aug. 12 on Surfdog Records.
The guitarist recorded Rockabilly Riot! at Nashville's historic RCA Studio A, where acts ranging from Eddy Arnold and Chet Atkins to Keith Urban and Hunter Hayes have cut hits. "Besides the obvious history of the place and all the great records that have come out of there, everyone seems to be based there now — my bass player, Mark Winchester; the piano player, Kevin McKendree; and my producer of choice for this record, Peter Collins," Setzer says. (Noah Levy rounds out the band on drums.) "Plus, they have such great gear. If you need anything, like a spare microphone or a guitar you like, it's right down the block. It's a convenient place to make a great record."
Setzer recently announced his 11th annual Christmas Rocks Tour, which will kick off Nov. 14 at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. "It has become a tradition," he says. "It's more than just a Christmas show. I just play what I want at this point. People want to see something, especially at that time of year. They want to hear something Christmas-y, but it doesn't have to be the entire show."