I think I need to explain myself a little bit in relation to the pop music video for “Summer Song“ which I put up today.
1. This video and the one for “This English Life” were specifically designed so that we could get our songs online so people could hear them. You’ll have seen a lot of music videos on YouTube (usually by artists on big labels) where there either isn’t anything visual going on whatsoever or it’s just a simple frozen background of the single/album cover with the release date or a photograph of the band. We had some similar ones up for the album tracks from “Burn Your Town” and it kinda got on my nerves as to me it looked a bit lazy on our part and the whole point of YouTube I’d assume is to make some sort of effort visually or to try and make some sort of statement.
You’ll notice that in the video for “This English Life” nothing at all happens - I’m purposely stood like a statue holding a union flag (the wrong way up) with the camera looking up from a low vantage point as the wind blows the flag about for four minutes. I wanted it to be a play on all of the still photograph/placard YouTube videos that were cropping up everywhere - whilst also trying to make a statement about the song itself.
2. With the video for “Summer Song” (done on the same afternoon at Bishopton Castle in County Durham) I initially wanted a similar concept. Originally I just imagined the camera to see the colour of the plastic bag breathing in and out taking up the whole of the screen - it wouldn’t be clear as to what this colour related to - and then in the last bar of the song there’d be a slight reveal and I’d rip it off my face, thus you’d see what was going on all along. However, as it turned out to be a really nice day the sky created a rather nice backdrop so that plan changed. Style over substance you see, dear me.
You need a bit of a history lesson here to understand why I persist in doing these silly things : the whole plastic bag routine stems from a performance/video piece that I did at university that centred around an attempt to quit smoking. Basically all that happens in the video is that I sit in front of the camera at a desk having what I’m telling the viewer will be my last cigarette as I’m really desperate to quit the filthy habit and then as soon as I put the fag out I drag from out of shot a Salvation Army plastic bag that I proceed to put on my head as “The End” by the Doors plays in the background. I rip the bag apart after a few minutes (just as the song builds to its climax) and say to the camera “sorry, I can’t quit, I really want a cigarette” whilst frantically searching around for my Marlboros and that’s that. It’s quite a difficult watch and it’s pretty intense (as in that video, unlike the music one, you get to hear the crackle of the bag and the shortness of breath) but overall it’s still supposed to be darkly comic. It doesn’t sound it but it’s actually pretty funny.
With “Summer Song” I essentially had a go at recreating the video from university but unfortunately without the joke which is probably a bit naive on my part. I don’t want to go too much into what the song is about but there is a tie in with the monotony and hopelessness of the situation. However, even in saying that, the humour (and maybe take the word “humour” with a hefty pinch of salt here) in what eventually turned into after take after take of ripping plastic bags over my face (we did around 25 takes) is that I’m frankly so inept at doing it - I can’t tie the handles around my neck for instance, there’s holes in all of the bags and they all rip very easily. I wanted it to be intense and uncomfortable viewing but I also wanted the monotony of the scenario to feel like a bad joke that was being told time and time again so by the end of it you’re in a way slightly desensitised by the whole thing.
3. Ofcourse I do not wish to encourage anyone to copy any of this behaviour in any way at all. As well as being dangerous it is stupid and foolhardy and designed to look that way.
I’m sorry if anyone finds the video offensive and hope it doesn’t take away the appeal of the song (which is actually my favourite on the EP). The whole point was to just try and get the songs heard after all.
Kingsley
