Ben Kweller - Commerce, TX

What this video is

Released in early 2002 alongside Ben Kweller's debut album 'Sha Sha' on ATO Records, 'Commerce, TX' captures a specific cultural moment: the post-9/11 indie-rock resurgence in which young, introspective singer-songwriters from America's heartland found mainstream visibility via college radio and MTV2. Commerce, TX — a small East Texas college town — functions as both geographic and psychological anchor, embodying…

Why it matters

A defining artifact of early-2000s indie pop-rock, 'Commerce, TX' demonstrates how the singer-songwriter tradition absorbed lo-fi aesthetics and slacker lyricism to produce commercially viable but aesthetically uncompromising work. The video, directed by Lance Bangs at the height of his indie…

The director

Lance Bangs (born September 4, 1972, Sacramento, CA) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He founded the Flicker Film Festival in Athens, Georgia in 1990 and built his career through close ties to the indie and alternative music underground. He…