Fans and media alike speculated that the tease might mean a tour announcement, but Tom himself put that to rest when releasing the video.

"As most of you guessed, it's a tour... a tour de force!," said Waits. "[Director] Matt Mahurin has created an apocalyptic war dream to accompany the song 'Hell Broke Luce.' Kathleen [Brennan] and I envisioned it as an enlightened drill sergeant yelling the hard truths of war to a brand new batch of recruits. The video grew from the gnawing image of a soldier pulling his home, through a battlefield, at the end of a rope."