On Your Mark, Get Set…OK Go: Still Riding Treadmills to New Heights

OK Go. Founder Damian Kulash in front.

Remember the band with the cool video with treadmills? That was OK Go. And after a bit of a break, they’re back with a new album…and a tour stop at The Sound in Del Mar this coming Wednesday, May 14, 7pm.

OK Go won a Grammy award and established themselves as the “experimental” fringe of early-2000s power pop with the DIY video “Here It Goes Again.” The video used some common, household items, four old treadmills, which, when turned on, sent the band flying in all directions while they performed their choreographed band dance. “Here It Goes Again” established the band as risk takers, who could take simple ideas and create something spectacular.

OK Go formed in Chicago in 1998. Founding members Damian Kulash and Tim Nordwind first met as kids at camp. They maintained long-distance contact over the years, mailing each other tapes and other things that expressed their common interest in music and early pre-YouTube-era videos. Then, after college, the two reconnected.

“We recorded stuff with cameras and played them for friends on VCRs. We liked the absurd. Monty Python. WWF wrestling. Infomercials. British artist Damien Hirst. There was a Chicago TV show, Svengoolie, which started as a local TV show, featuring horror movies and skits. Anything that made us laugh or taught us something,” Nordwind said.

“The videos we do now are from things we did as kids.” They filmed short dance routines and skits. Later, as the digital age dawned, they sent out their videos electronically to a wider audience

Musically, Dan Konopka and Andy Duncan joined the band. Classic power-pop legends such as Chicago’s Cheap Trick and the Cars, served as early inspiration. As their tastes hardened, Kulash and Nordwind attended punk shows, adding bands such as Fugazi to their listening lineup. “We liked Fugazi’s DIY spirit and feeling,” said Nordwind. OK Go started gigging in the Chicago area, opening for national acts and appearing on local radio shows.

Within a year, they opened for Elliott Smith, the Promise Ring, the Olivia Tremor Control, Sloan, and They Might Be Giants and were named house band for radio host Ira Glass’ This American Life. They self-released two Eps; in 2001, OK Go signed with Capitol Records.

Between 2001 and 2005, the band released two albums…. OK Go and Ok No while touring rigorously, backing the likes of Death Cab For Cutie, Panic! at the Disco, Kaiser Chiefs, and Snow Patrol. “Here It Goes Again,” the treadmill video was released in 2006 and rose up the charts quickly, becoming a cult classic in the early days of YouTube videos and winning a Grammy in 2007. At this time, guitarist Andy Duncan left the band and was replaced by Andy Ross, locking in the lineup that continues to this day.

The band continued to tour through 2010. They also released more of their quirky, experimental, lo-fi, DIY videos. They made appearances with fellow Chicagoan Barak Obama while breaking into the mainstream, with appearances on The Today Show and Conan O’Brien. And they were very generous with their time and resources when it came to various charities and public projects.

The videos displayed OK Go’s evolving knowledge of filmmaking and relied heavily on props and mirrors and strange contraptions such as a Rube Goldberg machine. In the spirit of lo-fi, the band employed “practical FX,” which is opposite to modern computer-generated FX. These are special effects created the old-fashioned way, using physical objects and live performances. The videos were often filmed in one continuous take with small, interactive audiences in attendance.

Musically, their early power pop grew into a more adventurous, psychedelic soul-searching that stretched far outside of the four-minute catchy pop song. This evolving sound was made possible when Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann worked with the band starting with Of the Blue Colour of the Sky in 2010 until Hungry Ghosts in 2014. Dave Fridmann “Willywonkified everything,” Nordwind said.

During this time, they also broke from Capitol Records, forming Paracadute Records in their pursuit for DIY independence and punk authenticity. The Paracadute model often involves posting songs and videos straight to social media, avoiding the age-old “distro” networks.

Then, in 2014, following the release of Hungry Ghosts, their fourth studio album, OK Go disappeared for a while. Fifteen years together, the members grew up and had kids. Yet, their videos continued to gain viewers and name recognition, spread word-of-mouth as social media exploded. OK Go had become a “meme.” The band continued to release cover songs and occasional singles. Their songs appeared in other media such as video games.

In 2020, COVID threw the entire entertainment industry into a tailspin. Damian Kulash and his wife were severally sidelined by the virus. OK Go even released a song “All Together Now,” dedicated to healthcare workers and those who struggled through the pandemic.

But it wasn’t till this year, 2025, that the band would release a full album of new material. The result is And the Adjacent Possible, along with a supporting tour. “It’s like a mix tape from the’80s or ’90s,” said Nordwind. “It’s a mix of genres in a post-genre world. It was incredibly fun making this album and shows we’re comfortable in our own skin.” The album dropped both digitally and in vinyl. The vinyl version features a pop-up sculpture, sustaining OK Go’s penchant for props and physical, tactile, practical art. And the Adjacent Possible echoes this respect for the physical, natural world by way of a number of themes. The album’s name comes from a scientific term regarding the formation of systems and order out of randomness and chaos. “Miracles still exist,” said Nordwind. It’s this optimism and respect for the forces in the natural world that populate the themes of the album.

The band learned a lot about working in the studio from Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann. In the early days, OK Go’s music was described as power pop, while their videos were described as experimental. Now, the music has matured and reflects the pent-up energy bursting out after a 11-year hiatus; it’s dramatically more exploratory and representative of more than just power pop. The music now matches the video art.

And The Adjacent Possible has resulted in two videos so far. The first was A Stone Only Rolls Downhill, released in January before the album and Love, released later in the spring. Both videos showcase the band’s skill at using props and single-take, live performances. At the same time, both videos show that the band’s artistic vision has changed in a rapidly changing world. Much more hi-tech, the videos utilize smartphones, robotics, mirrors, and a whole lot of human choreography to create greater spectacle and Hollywoodesque pomp than the more minimalist early videos.

In support of the new album, OK Go has been touring the Midwest before swinging out to the West Coast in May, including a stop in San Diego. “We are hosts of our own party,” Norwind promises.

Be there or be square…
The Sound (Del Mar Racetrack)
Wednesday, May 14, 7pm

Raul Sandelin teaches English and writing at Grossmont College. He’s also a filmmaker, journalist, musician, and visual artist.