Bassist Tim Nordwind talks new music, singing alongside the Muppets and filming in zero gravity.
When Los Angeles-based quartet OK Go visits Salt Lake City’s Red Butte Garden on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, it’ll be their first time playing in the state in nearly a decade. Bassist and founding member Tim Nordwind spoke with us from California a couple of weeks ago and said he’s excited to return to Utah.
And if the band’s name doesn’t ring any bells, chances are good you’ve seen their music videos. An early one was dropped in the first days of YouTube, featuring a few treadmills and a lot of precision. It cost $5 to create and has earned over 68 million views on the channel.
True or false: The dancing on treadmills video helped put OK Go on the map.
To a certain degree, that’s true. We started in ’98 in Chicago, and have had so many moments since then that have felt like, ‘Whoa. That’s the moment.’ Our first concert felt like the moment for us. But then getting signed was another moment. Going on an international tour felt like a third. When the video for “Here It Goes Again” with the treadmills came out, it was a big moment for us, and a big one for the internet. New creative spaces were opening up, and we happened to make something that fit perfectly in what was pitched to us as a user-generated content site (aka YouTube). We were already making our own videos, so it was a perfect fit.
As the public’s awareness of the videos we were creating grew, we got the opportunity to make a music video with The Muppets, who we all grew up with. To me, that felt really absurd.
It also feels like another ‘I’ve made it’ moment, right? I mean, it’s The Muppets.
For sure. I remember that week so clearly, because it was filled with bucket list moments. We made a video with The Muppets, flew to Chicago to play Lollapalooza, and then played at Barack Obama’s 50th birthday party. I was thinking, ‘What a crazy life we’ve developed for ourselves!’
One of the scariest things we’ve ever tried is making a video in zero gravity for “Upside Down & Inside Out.” [Editor’s note: That video has over 29 million views.] Others in the band were less scared than I was to do that. We flew on 21 airplane flights and did 15 parabolas each time, which meant flying 30,000 feet up and taking a free-fall dive for 20 seconds, dropping us 20,000 feet down. I’m still recovering from that.
Doesn’t doing that make you pass out at a certain point?
It can. Thankfully, I never did. Our singer, Damian (Kulash), passed out briefly while shooting, and it was caught on camera. That’s scary to watch. The first time I saw it, I didn’t think it was funny. It was more like, I didn’t like watching that happening to my friend.
Do you think there’s an expectation for people to see similar feats like you do in your videos when you play live? Does that ever become a regular part of your live show?
Our main goal for performing live is to connect. We have performed with video before, but if you put something on a screen, everyone watches the screen. It feels counterproductive. We look at our shows as throwing a party for everybody. And if I were throwing a party at home, I certainly would not then play a movie. We have a similar philosophy for our shows: we are here with you. We do have an awful lot of confetti that we shoot off; it feels like we’re creating an environment of joy that we can all be in for a couple of hours. That’s the hope.
You released your new album, And The Adjacent Possible, earlier this year. Where are you and the band musically now? What’s changed over the past 25+ years?
We’re a lot less self-conscious. We’ve been at this long enough now that we feel like we have planted a flag. We know who we are, but we want to keep ourselves challenged. In prior records, we’ve always tried to stay in one sound. But we decided to give that up and embrace the music nerd side of ourselves, genre blending and bending to make more of a mix tape.
I’ve stopped paying attention to current trends and that’s allowed me to make music from a new place. I don’t care what’s popular. I don’t care if the next song I write sounds anything like the last one. I want to write whatever comes out of me today. So we have a record that is fun to listen to, but it sounds like a Frank Sinatra song next to an early Bowie song next to a tune Nile Rodgers might have produced next to a song that sounds like Phil Spector. We travel a wide distance on this record in a way we haven’t before.
And that’s what music should be about anyway: exploration.
Scene breaking, yeah. We kind of love scene changes within records and even within songs. The production completely turns at the drop of a hat within one song. And, yes, it does feel like it should be about exploration and experimentation, constantly trying to reach for sounds that feel just outside of what we’re able to grab.
Tell me who was cooler for you to meet: Barack Obama or Kermit the Frog?
Oh, God. That’s hard. As far as who’s been in my life longer, it’s got to be Kermit the Frog. I feel like I’ve known Kermit since I was two years old. But meeting both was equally wonderful.
Want to see the show? Tickets are still available.
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