KEN mode music video features fight theme
“All it took was a watching a highlight of Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Filipovic and I was an MMA fanatic for life. Shortly thereafter I began training.”
The Winnipeg-based noise-rock band KEN mode has a sound that can hang with the metal crowd. The trio has released a music video for “These Tight Jeans”, track #2 on the album Success, and it has a strong fighting theme. And guest vocals from Jill Clapham.
“I would like to learn how to kill the nicest man in the world,” it begins.
Vice’s Noisey spoke with lead singer/guitarist Jesse Matthewson about how his obsession with MMA began.
“I think this answer probably comes in three stages, in terms of my own psychological development into becoming someone who actually practices martial arts,” began Matthewson. “The first stage was as a fan of pro wrestling as a very small child. My brother Shane and I used to pull toques over our faces and pretend to be the WWF tag team Demolition; mercilessly beating the tag team of My Pet Monster and the Cabbage Patch Kid within an inch of their lives. The second stage of said development, I truly believe was when I got into comic books around the age of 10. There was never any bizarre idol worship going on, but a general admiration of the characterization of these warriors and folklore.
“Around the time I was beginning high school the first few UFC events had taken place and like many, the whole ‘blood sport’ angle intrigued my friends and I, and I still remember watching the David vs. Goliath tournament that Don Frye won in a friend’s parents’ basement. The sport wouldn’t actually fully take its hold on me until years later though, after punk rock ruined my life, and university and office work had begun to dull my senses and make me hate my life. The initial Ultimate Fighter Reality show had come out and the UFC’s popularity was exploding, and my youngest brother Graeme had told me of an organization in Japan where the best heavyweights in the world were. All it took was a watching a highlight of Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Filipovic and I was an MMA fanatic for life. Shortly thereafter I began training Muay Thai at Canadian Kickboxing and Muay Thai Center (now Canadian Fighting Center – a Roufusport satellite gym) and my life changed forever. I’ve always kind of felt like MMA is a real, legit sport for comic book and wrestling nerds.
