The other day, one of our most enduring friends, Geoff Itz, sent me a video via Twitter. He had covered a song from our last album.

I showed it to a few of my band mates and, universally, the first question was: how did he figure out the words? I wanted to feign insult at the idea Geoff cribbing my Tool-like melody but I was too shocked. "Uh. Remember, the CD came with a book? A literal book...with all of the words...and a story?"

Needless to say, Geoff killed it on this one.

Here's Geoff's "El Cid" (and the original in video form, in case you missed it).

The great thing is that it was created without any input by me. The song isn't about alcoholism but the video proved to be a great example of how we all relate to songs differently, how we make them our own.

Rukshan and I discussed the idea of creating a director's cut, calling it the official video and posting it in HD. He was excited and rightly so, the result is just lovely.

Watch it on YouTube (below).

El Cid has already started to show up on some airwaves. There's a push by my Clip deputies to get it out to some unnamed, mysterious lands.

If you're the sheriff of one of those mysterious, unnamed lands, please step forward and claim a prize! From me. Seriously. Not sure what it is yet though.

A silver badge?

The second single is slated for airplay a month from now. I don't know the date exact yet. I recorded a backstage version of the song for Pop Culture Monster and it was posted on YouTube a few weeks ago. The CD version differs quite a bit. We'll have updates on Twitter when it's available. Both tracks should be up on MySpace at some point.

The Make Our Video Contest response was really great. Due to an issue with some ad timings, Clip extended the contest through Nov. 30th. If you're a speedy filmmaker, there's still time. 🙂