Just looking at the thumbnail for ‘Leaving While You Stay’, the latest release from Greg Hoy & The Boys, and you know what it’s going to be about. A clown, complete with wig and full make up, stands poised ready to strike a cowbell with a stick. It could be any clown, but the face is unmistakably that of Donald Trump’s, or at least, someone in a Trump mask.
There’s a few more cultural references in the video as well, with pop art style writing flashing across the screen, a la 1960s ‘Batman’, which therefore brings further comparison between the Trump-mask wearing clown and The Joker, played by the legendary Cesar Romero. The show was effectively a parody of the Batman comic figure, and it’s not too much of a stretch to suggest that Hoy and his Boys are hoping that people will take the view that Trump’s presidency is also a parody of those who have gone before.
It’s under 3 minutes long (the whole song clocks in at 2 minutes 31), but within that short time frame Greg Hoy And The Boys have created a raucous rock piece that sees them jamming out, posterised in silhouette, with brightly coloured Lichtenstein-style backgrounds. All the while, the constantly-tweeting clown keeps time with the tambourine and gives it more cowbell, trying his damnedest to be the centre of attention, shot in black and white, while his hair and lip colour are rendered garishly in the brightest of reds. Watch the video – and have a chuckle – for ‘Leaving While You Stay’ below, and check out Greg Hoy online on – where else – his Twitter account.
