Q&A: OK Go’s Tim Nordwind talks going viral, founding Paracadute label

For the last 15 years, the world has struggled to define the band OK Go. Anyone who spent the summer of 2006 with the smash hit “Here It Goes Again” stuck in his or her head can attest to the band’s ability as musicians. On the other hand, OK Go’s penchant for making delightfully quirky videos has garnered hundreds of millions of YouTube views, cementing the band as one of the most watched groups on YouTube. They are musicians, choreographers, videographers, acrobats, dancers, parade planners and internet pioneers who have now taken on all the responsibilities of running their own record label. According to bassist Tim Nordwind, with so many roles to play, the advantage of the digital age is that they never felt they had to “pick just one.”

The Daily Bruin’s Nick LaRosa caught up with OK Go bassist and video frontman Nordwind before the group’s July 22 and 23 performances at the Troubadour and the Echo to talk about the rise of the viral video, breaking from Capitol Records/EMI and the perks of being multitalented in the 2000s.

Daily Bruin: Just to help my readers put a face to the quotes, let’s talk about who you are and your role in OK Go. It seems that there’s a fairly common misconception that you are the band’s lead singer. Where do you think this confusion comes from?

Tim Nordwind: I’m pretty sure people think I’m the lead singer because I’m usually the lead lip synchist in a lot of our videos, but I’m actually not. Damien (Kulash) is the lead singer of the band. I just play bass.

DB: How did you come to be the frontman for most of your music videos? Would you say you have the best dance moves?

TN: Yes I do. No, no, no, (laughs). The first time we put together any sort of choreographed routine was for a song that’s on our first album called “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips.” That’s actually the one and only OK Go song that I do sing, and we were asked to do a performance on a public access TV show in Chicago called “Chic-A-Go-Go.” Its public access though, so they don’t actually have the technology to have the band play live. We decided that instead of doing the normal pretend-you’re-playing thing we would swing for the fences and do a total boy band choreographed dance routine. I guess more than anything it’s just tradition now.

DB: The video for “A Million Ways,” the band’s first viral video success, was choreographed by lead singer Damien Kulash’s sister. Was “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips” also her doing?

TN: No, actually it wasn’t. “C-C-C-Cinnamon Lips” was just us, but when it came time to do the “A Million Ways” dance routine, we decided to call in the proverbial big guns. Damien’s sister (Trish Sie) used to be a professional ballroom dancer. I’ve known Damien and his sister since I was 11 and it just seemed very natural to bring Trish in to work on something like that with us. When that went sort of viral, we were like, “Wow, we should do one on purpose.” Then Trish had this really great idea to try something on treadmills.

DB: Is it true that the video for “A Million Ways” was actually never intended to be the official music video for the song?

TN: It was supposed to be, more or less, a rehearsal video. We had choreographed the routine and wanted to see what it looked like. We just thought it was pretty funny and charming, so we started sending it around just to our friends. YouTube didn’t actually exist at this point but then our friends started passing it around and all of a sudden Entertainment Weekly was including it as one of its “10 Things We Love This Week.” It was really organic.

DB: While you predate the site, you guys really came up alongside YouTube. Do you think that’s affected your decision to release at least one big music video with each album?

TN: I remember when “A Million Ways” came out, it got put on this sight called ISD and I remember it getting to 300,000 people, which was more people than we had ever sold records to in our lives. I think the exciting thing for us was that we realized you could completely cut out the middleman, make whatever you want, put it online and share it directly with your fans. We love making stuff, and what’s more, we like making stuff and not having to run it up a flagpole of people. When we made the “Here It Goes Again” video, we got contacted by this guy named Chad who had this new website he was launching called YouTube. The first day we put the video up we got a million views. For people who make things, having a space to share them with millions of people, that’s a dream come true.

DB: Speaking of cutting out the middleman, in 2010 you guys ditched former label Capitol Records/EMI to form your own label, Paracadute. What are the benefits of getting out on your own, and how do you think it will show on your latest album, “Hungry Ghosts,” set to drop in October?

TN: It’s great to have our own distribution arm for all of the ideas we come up with, whether it’s music or a video or art or technology. I don’t really have anything against the major label system; it works well for some and not as well for others. There just came a point in time when it seemed like we might be happier out on our own. We didn’t want to have to fight people when we wanted to try something creatively.

DB: At this point, do you consider the music videos to be on equal footing with the music itself?

TN: I love music. I also love making videos. I also love putting together parades and playing live. Damien had a good way of explaining it the other day, which was, “If we’re a restaurant and we make really amazing desserts and that’s what you came for, it doesn’t mean that our entrées aren’t just as good.” I love the music and the video-making experience, and I feel super lucky that I’ve been able to do both for the last 15 years.

Compiled by Nick LaRosa, A&E contributor.