Neon Sarcastic – Codename: Disaster (2012)

‘Codename: Disaster’ is a fitting title for this disastrous attempt at a music video, released in 2012, by alternative rock band Neon Sarcastic.    The song itself isn’t half bad- it’s nothing particularly groundbreaking, but it’s certainly listenable.    It’s a pleasant rock song that’s undeniably catchy.    The video, however, is where Neon Sarcastic fall short.

It shows the band performing in the middle of an office building.    The majority of the video is simply the band performing, which is nice but watching five guys in jeans and t-shirts playing isn’t fascinating.    There’s a plot hidden somewhere within the video, but it takes too long to build and isn’t interesting.    A box gets delivered, a letter gets ripped, a man types on a computer and the man opens a box- surprise it’s a clock!

Neon Sarcastic likely had a dramatic storyline planned out, but it amounts to nothing.    The video is obviously low-budget, making the cinematography and set nothing spectacular.    It’s not hard to see how after six years together, the band is still stuck on opening up for larger bands and releasing their new music for free.

However, they do play well.    They can shred on guitar.    They can play drums.    Frontman, John Willson, certainly can sing and does so while sounding like a mix of Brendon Urie and Alex Gaskarth.    ‘Codename: Disaster’ is catchy and fun, but the video is not.    Neon Sarcastic have all the skills needed to become a popular band, but they need to amp up the creativity when it comes to filming music videos.

By: Lisa Severini