What if we told you there was a new video out there featuring members of Mastodon, Trivium, Anthrax, Sepultura, Mudvayne, GWAR, Lamb of God and more? You might think it was a quarantine jam, but you’d be wrong. In fact, all of these musicians appear in the clip for “ISO” from upstart California-based band Dig the Grave.
In a world where it’s often hard for new bands to get some recognition, the ingenious rockers managed to secure an all-star lineup for the tried and true reaction video trope to get their music some attention.
The clip opens on Sepultura’s Derrick Green and it includes Lamb of God’s Mark Morton, Mastodon’s Brann Dailor, GWAR’s Beefcake the Mighty, Trivium’s Matt Heafy, Mudvayne’s Chad Gray, Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna, Nonpoint’s Elias Soriano, Chimaira’s Mark Hunter, Shadows Fall’s Brian Fair, Alexisonfire’s George Pettit, NOFX’s Erik “Smelly” Sandin, Counterparts’ Brendan Murphy, Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker, Suicide Silence’s Dan Kenny, Monuments Andy Cizek and Wayne’s World actress Tia Carrere (who fronted metal band Crucial Taunt in the movie).
So how exactly did so many hard rock and metal faces end up in a video by this relatively unknown group? It looks as though a number of them appear via Cameo, the app where a number of celebrities agree to record fan request messages for a fee and in this case the musicians were asked to listen to the song and give their opinions.
“Since we couldn’t physically get together/are too broke to shoot a music video, we thought it would be cool to create a video for our latest single using honest reactions from our favorite musicians,” state the group, adding, “Massive thanks to all of these legends (especially the ones that gave some incredibly useful feedback). We wanted both good and bad reactions and were humbled by all the positive feedback. Everyone that responded was included (no cherry picking). Enjoy!”
So who are Dig the Grave? The four-piece calls Petaluma, California their home base. The band consists of Paul Nieblas on vocals, Gabe Ausiello on guitar, Erik Robertson on bass and Todd Sipes on drums. According to their Bandcamp bio, the band was conceived during the pandemic in 2020 as “a product of necessity … born out of the need to simply create heavy music with like-minded creatures.”
Some of the comments ranged from surprised (“Already better than I expected to be honest” said Lamb of God’s Mark Morton) to humorous (“It’s not Buck Owens or Motorhead,” added GWAR’s Beefcake the Mighty) to supportive (“It’s got some power to it,” added Anthrax’s Joey Belladonna while Mastodon’s Brann Dailor commented, “It’s lit, fam. Great song. Great job”).
If you like Dig the Grave’s “ISO,” it’s currently available via their Bandcamp page.