On a recent afternoon off from tour, A Giant Dog front-people Andrew Cashen and Sabrina Ellis did what so many visitors to Southern California do – spent a leisurely day at Disneyland. Except they were tripping on acid.
“Finally lost your mind On this roller coaster ride Stuck up at the top An ugly stranger by your side”
So sings the duo on “Roller Coaster,” a single from their fourth album Toy. Meanwhile, Ellis and Cashen are seen frolicking amongst the towering flora in Pixie Hollow, gliding on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride, and braving the spooks of the Haunted Mansion. Their lysergic adventures were stealthily captured on video by Jeff Schneider and the resulting footage was wrangled into a strictly unofficial pirate video by director Ed Dougherty.
The results are nakedly human: joy, fear, wonderment, vulnerability. Taking a mind-altering drug in a crowded public space is an iffy proposition, but factor in being followed by a camera, encountering life-sized cartoon characters, dodging security guards, and riding roller coasters, and the endeavor becomes a self-imposed The Odyssey. Personally, if I’m tripping and see a sign that reads, “Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy,” I’m running in the other direction.
“We hadn’t been on a roller coaster in 10 years,” revealed Ellis, who donned a polka-dotted Minnie Mouse bow for the day. “And it was terrifying.”
Watch the video now before Disney inevitably catches wind of it and we get a cease and desist.
This article appears in October 6 • 2017.