Butch Walker is not a household name, but he's written hits for artists as diverse as Avril Lavigne, Sevendust, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer. He's known for his hooky, feel-good music with his own band, Butch Walker and the Black Widows, who just debuted a new video for the song "Synthesizers," off their last album, The Spade.
Walker is a fan of Richard Linklater's 1993 modern classic, Dazed and Confused, which featured a friend of his, Matthew McConaughey, as the charismatic and quotable sleazeball David Wooderson. He convinced McConaughey to reprise the Wooderson character for the "Synthesizers" video, explaining:
"Hello all you wonderful people. do you remember the movie Dazed and Confused? me too. it was and still is one of my favorite movies. reflects my childhood so much, and also Ben Affleck is a TOTAL asshole in it. i gotta say though, when it comes to classic characters, Matthew McConaughey's "Wooderson" took the cake…and the high school girls with him…
So..to commemorate the 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the filming and inception of this amazing movie, we brought a little someone from the film back to be the life of the party for our new video for the song "Synthesizers". The song lyrics really relate to just about anyone who has a hard time moving on with the changes that life throws at you…so without further ado…Enjoy and you're welcome…"
The video features that iconic slo-mo entrance (this time into a nightclub), with a puffier and paunchier Wooderson wearing that same Ted Nugent & The Amboy Dukes t-shirt, as well as the cheesy 'stache. If you don't blink, you can spot a Ron Jeremy cameo. And that's Walker himself as the bartender. I'm not sure if it was intentional, but the tune is very reminiscent of "Come on Eileen." Nothing much happens, other than a stoned-looking Wooderson meandering through the club, playing trumpet, and lip-syncing along with the song, but this will have to do until Linklater can get that Dazed "spiritual sequel" off the ground.