There was a time 25 or 30 years ago when only big, hot bands had videos. In today’s world videos are part of the music industry’s life blood and no band can be without one. For smaller, independent bands this can prove costly and difficult. On the one hand, it’s easier to get your music out there if you have a visual aid – music lovers are like small children they love shiny, pretty things to look at – on the other hand, getting an original, standout video made can prove prohibitively expensive.

This week’s Band of the Week American Princes new video for “Never Grow Old” is innovative and ingenious yet looks like something you could make at home or school, while doodling in class. All you need is a ball point pen and a ruled notebook and a digital video camera.

Its maker, Matthew Bradley is a Visual Artist from New York and he says the idea behind the “Never Grow Old” video came from “a teenager… having an obsession with the band you listen to. Wanting to be in the band and not being able to. Sort of how to realize that dream, how to activate that energy in someway.”

And that is exactly the feel you get from this video. Matthew drew pictures of the band “First I did a drawing of a drum set with hands, and would play along to the song.” Matthew is also a musician and played in the band Everyone Asked About You with Collins Kilgore (American Princes co-frontman and guitar player). So why use just ruled note paper and a ball point pen? Matthew says it’s “a reference to being a teenager and using the resources that you have available to you while not paying attention in class or wherever.”

Matthew, over the course of just a few weeks – working evenings and weekends – drew out the whole band over and over again including hand and feet parts that he could move to play in time with the music. Frontman David Slade says “We asked him to do a video for us, and something like 2 weeks later this arrived in the mail. What's so impressive is that he managed to nail the parts. I don't think I could use those puppets nearly as well as he did.”