You've seen them dance like graceful maniacs in their Chicago back yard to the tune of "A Million Ways." You've wondered at their remarkable facility with treadmills and how it applied to a song called "Here It Goes Again." But if things work out the way they're supposed to, the band known as OK Go will soon be infamous for more than quirky videos. They'll be the laser-shooting guitar heroes of the future!
OK Go has teamed with East German-born, London-based electronics whiz Moritz Waldemeyer for a project so far-fetched we're surprised people will even be able to get close to it. But get close to it they will, at this year's Design Miami/ fair. And they'll have five days to do so.
The big idea is this: Waldemeyer, the man responsible for OK Go's LED-laden Vegas-style jackets from a few years back, has now designed a set of guitars that not only shoot lasers from their necks, but also dispay images with every note played upon their super-duper fret boards. And if all of that color isn't enough, those guitars (which, by the way, are Gibsons) will be tricked out by none other than Fendi, the brand backing the whole enterprise.
"The guitars have lasers that shoot off of the head stock as if they were a continuation of the string," explains OK Go singer/guitarist Damian Kulash. "They actually represent what the strings are doing. So when we play, you essentially see the lasers play. We'll be doing a combination of a planned routine, where we paint things on the back wall, and just playing.
"What's incredible about these things is that it's technology that's never been made before," he continues. "So we'll be playing with it to see what we can make. That's kind of what our band is like. Our most shining moments tend to be when we give ourselves ludicrous but strict confines in which to play."
And though Kulash says they'll perform "mostly OK Go songs," anything goes. "I think the guitars will be telling us what will look cool, what will feel cool. I think being in this surreal bubble will present its own creative answers."
In other words, expect to hear some of the more guitar-heavy tracks from the past, such as "Do What You Want," "It's a Disaster," and "Invincible." It's a safe bet the set will also include the brand-new Prince-like single, "WTF," off the forthcoming Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. And expect them all to be souped up, stretched beyond the outer limits, and outfitted for a tomorrow even H. G. Wells would've considered long-gone crazy.
