Our New A.I. Department

For such a bunch of old guys, The Flood has always had a rather rad technology division.

Back in 2008, for instance, the notion of podcasting was only a few years old when the band started its own online broadcasts. Today, nearly 750 episodes later, the podcast is still going strong, with a new installment each week.

That same year, when YouTube was but three years old, The Flood’s first digital video was posted, now having been viewed by nearly 10,000 folks around the world. Since then, with band manager Pamela Bowen operating the camera, the band has made and shared hundreds of videos.

Enter A.I.

So, it should be no surprise that the next tech the lads have tackled is artificial intelligence.

Attentive Flood Watch readers have remarked on how the newsletter has suddenly stepped up its game when it comes to illustrating its articles. Imaginative graphics abound:

That’s because starting last spring, the newsletter began regularly turning to ImageFX — a free online Google AI image generator tool — to create a variety of illustrations in a variety of styles for songs and for videos:

These Days “These Days”

To show it off, the platform was used this weekend to generate graphics to enrich Pamela’s latest video, the band’s rendering of Jackson Browne’s lovely “These Days” at a recent rehearsal.

Responding to prompts for “a moody painting of a man walking wet, deserted city streets,” ImageFx poured out a stream of poignant illustrations for the film. Click here to see the final results.

Backstory, Anyone?

By the way, if you like to know more about the song’s history and how Jackson Browne came to write “These Days,” click here for this earlier Flood Watch report from our Song Stories department.