27 November 2010
Newsdesk
The US rock band OK Go – whose Grammy Award winning treadmill video was watched by over 50 million people on YouTube and whose most recent video This Too Shall Pass has received 17 million hits on YouTube – used the latest GPS technology to take fans on a unique musical parade through the streets of LA.
Fans and musicians armed with recorders, drums, saxophones, trombones, maracas, a toy piano, horns and a fiddle joined OK Go to embark on an 8 mile journey of colour and joy inspired by New Orleans second line street parades.
Damian, Tim, Dan and Andy were outfitted in Costume National primary colour suits to lead revellers dressed from head to toe in neon. Together with the band, they sang and played tracks from OK Go’s latest album, ‘Of the blue colour of the sky’ and other classics.
As day turned to night, the parade came alight with LED as followers waved over 600 glow sticks and flashing lights. As the band walked and played around the city their movements spelt out the words “OK Go” in giant letters which dwarf the famous Hollywood sign.
Damian Kulash from OK Go said: “We tracked every step of our journey through GPS to create a unique piece of collaborative, living art. We have danced with our home town and want our fans to do the same.”
OK Go is asking everyone who wants to be part of something artistic, colourful and musical to create their own journeys by downloading a specially designed Evoque iPhone app http://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/range-rover-pulse-of-the-city/id398471586?mt =8.
The GPS iPhone app, called ‘Pulse of the City’, was launched by Range Rover last month to anticipate the launch of the smaller, greener Range Rover Evoque, which goes on sale in 2011. ‘Pulse of the City’ allows users to create stunning data visualisations of their movements across cities anywhere in the world, generated by GPS tracking. Users are sent a graphical representation of their journey, which can be displayed on their iPhone.
Each tracked journey will be added to the final artwork by OK Go, which will be made into a film and shown at www.helloevoque.com/okgo.
“Anyone anywhere can use the same app and create a drawing, or spell out a word in the streets of their city,” explained Damian Kulash.“ If we receive these by 24 December 2010, they may be included in the final artwork that we shape, to be revealed in January 2011.”
Along with GPS drawings created using the ‘Pulse of the City’ app, OK Go is asking their followers to upload photos and video content of their journeys to www.helloevoque.com/okgo. OK Go will combine their own content with images, footage and GPS drawings contributed by the global community online in one film to be revealed in January 2011 on OK Go’s social media channels.
How to take part
The ‘Pulse of the City’ iPhone application is available to download for free at http://itunes.apple.com/uk/app/range-rover-pulse-of-the-city/id398471586?mt =8.
OK Go provided 20 flip cameras to their fellow revellers to record the L.A. Street Parade. Footage will be available to view at www.helloevoque.com and OK Go’s social media channels.
