Chicago, IL · power pop · rock

OK Go

2 upcoming festivals

The treadmill-video geniuses — power pop with engineering-degree stagecraft, confetti physics included, and songs that hold up without the treadmills.

OK Go formed in Chicago in 1998 around singer and guitarist Damian Kulash, bassist Tim Nordwind and drummer Dan Konopka, with guitarist Andy Ross joining in the mid-2000s. The band is best known for its videos, beginning with the backyard dance clip for "A Million Ways" and the single-take treadmill routine for "Here It Goes Again," and continuing through elaborate one-shot pieces involving Rube Goldberg machines, optical illusions and a sequence filmed in reduced gravity aboard an aircraft. Underneath the visual work is straightforward guitar-driven power pop, with hooks, harmony vocals and a fondness for handclaps and studio detail. The band self-manages much of its output and has collaborated with engineers, dancers and animators on the videos.

power poprock