TOO LATE TOO SOON | King Youngblood

TOO LATE, TOO SOON

The Too Late Too Soon video was conceived in a blur of weed and ice cream during a torrential downpour in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood between King Youngblood’s lead singer/guitarist founder Cameron Lavi-Jones, AfroPunk powerhouse director Danny Denial and producer Lara Lavi – the dream team behind all of King Youngblood’s award winning videos.

“We went over a lot of concepts, but in light of a year of Covid uncertainty, it felt most exciting to create a ‘Cameronverse’ where Cam keeps leaving this biggest showcase of his career out of anxiety and ending up on dramatically different life paths – like winning the lottery and becoming a corporate tycoon or getting married and becoming a suburban dad in a Pleasantville-style nightmare. It's our own rock and roll spin on the parallel universe story, and I loved seeing Cam wear so many different hats - I mean, wigs! As a director, I was blown away by all the extremes that Cam emotional went to in each storyline. At times, we couldn't stop laughing on-set.” explains Danny Denial.

The project is perfected with the editing skills of Tyler Nelson who came up with a way to morph the visual to really give the feeling of Cameron stepping into different realms before returning to his true self. The project takes things to visual extremes against the back drop of a power alt rock song ready for the arena stage. “A lot of wigs were involved,” laughs producer Lara Lavi, “Stuffing Cameron’s signature afro into the Suburban Dad wig was one of the funniest moments of the entire production but it was worth it,” she adds.

The message of the video is clear even with the extreme mayhem each scene offers; standing at the cross roads in fear is something we all go through and we all can overcome to be our truest selves.

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“A call to action for the future. Declaring “this is step one of 10,000,” frontman Cameron Lavi-Jones pulls off what every punk band thinks they’re doing, but few actually are. It’s that rarest of beasts, actually sighted: art as activism. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the song itself is dope as all getout. With a serious intensity, the combustible hook bursts like a molotov cocktail out your speakers.”

Jon Corn, Co-writer & Best Friend of Cameron and the Band

"Writing “Too Late, Too Soon” with Cameron Lavi-Jones of King Youngblood was truly an unforgettable moment. Cam and I have been life-long friends and as we call it, godbrothers, for many, many years now. We have written multiple songs in-person together, but this experience was a first.

We wrote “Too Late, Too Soon” in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, all virtual through Zoom. I was in LA and he was in Seattle. But it didn’t really matter, because we have such chemistry that it felt like we were in the same room. We’re the same age and both have similar musical influences, whether it be Dave Grohl with the Foo Fighters and Nirvana, Chris Cornell with Soundgarden, or Tom Morello with Rage Against the Machine. And we both come from musical backgrounds. I have been a drummer for all my life and have been writing lyrics for half of it. I believe in Cameron and the band with all my heart and it is awesome to see this song out come to life."