Rose Haze has released a music video to accompany their cover of The Cocteau Twins’ “Heaven or Las Vegas”. The music video, as well as the cover, is a tribute to late guitarist, Ruben Gonzales. 

The video includes footage of the band, Ruben included, on VHS tape. Featuring psychedelic imagery and coloring as well as scenes of the band dancing on a boardwalk, the video is heartfelt DIY memorial. 

When Rose Haze members Kate Ramsey and Ruben Gonzales met in early 2019, the two immediately felt a musical kinship that they coined as an “eternal marriage in music.” The two often compared their sonic styles to that of a “Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser” of Cocteau Twins, which eventually led to them recording their cover of “Heaven or Las Vegas.”

Gonzales passed away unexpectedly on Jan 31, 2024 at the young age of 37 to complications of cancer, an illness no one knew he had, including himself. On the day he passed, Rose Haze received the mix back for their cover of “Heaven or Las Vegas.” What began as a tribute to The Cocteau Twins has emerged as a way to honor Gonzales.

Rose Haze chose to cover this track in particular because “Ramsey enjoyed trying to decipher the lyrics, loved the melody, and knew that Gonzales would crush the guitars”.

Ramsey, personally, feels that as an artist it’s a huge risk to cover a track, and at first wanted to make it really different from the original track. But later she decided not to deviate too far because Gonzales’ guitar tracks were “so spot on.”

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Rose Haze is in the midst of re-working album and tour plans with the passing of Ruben Gonzales.