Courtney Barnett – “Nobody Cares If You Don’t Go to the Party”

I only wish Courtney Barnett had been around to set me straight when I was living on the edge of insanity in my youth. I always wanted to believe that nobody would care if I went to the party or not, yet inevitably I would find myself standing with a cigarette and a shot in the middle of some kind of mosh pit as people whose names were maybe Steve or Cleve or who knew what cuz I couldn’t actually hear them, stepped on my toes and spilled stuff on me as I thought about how I’d so much rather be soaking in a bubble bath with a book. But I didn’t have the balls-out confidence to just stay home and do what I wanted. Courtney could have taught me many things, though I also suspect that if Courtney had shown up at the party I would have wanted to stay because she seems so much damn fun!

Case in point, this slammin’-awesome video for said song “Nobody Cares…” Filmed on the street during an unannounced pop-up jam outside London’s Camden Town tube station, Courtney rips into the tune with her band as she rocks a hell-yeah attitude and an “Adopt a Shelter Animal” t-shirt. What? Where to even begin with how thoroughly cool it is to have an artist who can write songs with wit, play them with edge and live her life out loud so we can all join in the fun. And speaking of putting it all out there, the little teaser that started this party (that no one cares if you go to or not) was a minute-long clip filmed by Gabriel Gomez of Courtney in bed being woken up by her own single. I’m not pretending that there weren’t just a few marketing types involved in coming up with the tease for this new single, which is off of her album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit, what with the giant billboards and murals that sprang up before the single’s official release, but the DIY-ness of her still feels good&raw.

Thank you, Courtney, for reminding me that fun happens more often than not outside the party! You can catch her and the band’s hostess qualities on tour (and also opening for Blur) as they criss-cross the world!