Sacramento, California’s political punk/rock band American High have released a new video for their single “Cheye Calvo,” a song focused on an unfortunate event that took place 10 years ago in Maryland. The track itself has a ’90s punk vibe with slight hints of ska from the time (sans horns). The single’s video features old archive footage, including some surrounding the event itself. You can check it out below.
“This is very different from the kinds of music videos I usually do,” says frontman Doug Terry, “but after reading up on the Cheye Calvo incident, I felt it was an important project to be involved in.”
If you’d like some insight on the subject matter of the song and video, American High offered the following:
“In July 2008, a man named Cheye Calvo returned to his suburban home in Maryland after walking one of his dogs. Inside, he found a scene of absolute horror: over a dozen armed and violent intruders had broken into his house. His mother was bound, lying face down on the kitchen floor in tears. Then, Mr. Calvo heard the terrifying screams of his wife; she, too, had been bound and forced face down on the floor. The Calvo family watched in horror as their two beloved dogs were shot and killed; one was shot in the back as he ran away. The intruders spent the next four hours systematically destroying the home. They destroyed furniture, broke cabinets, and tracked the blood of his pets throughout the entire house. When the ordeal was over the assailants simply left. They didn’t even have the common decency to apologize.
The violent intruders were not street gang members. They were not foreign military invaders. They were not ‘illegal aliens’. The intruders were police officers.
‘No knock’ search warrants are immoral, the militarization of our local police forces is frightening and unnecessary and drug prohibition laws lead to violence, death, police corruption and, worst of all, they do not work.”
American High’s newest album, Bones in the Attic, Flowers in the Basement, is available now.