November 2012 – 5000 Ways to Love You

The Weather “That’s the Main Thing”

I’d been looking for a Dribbling Darts song from around 1994 called “Do What U Like”. It turns out I should have been looking for a Weather song from 1997 called “That’s the Main Thing”. The Weather is kind of a rejig of the Dribbling Darts, a Matthew Bannister project. The song is all about personal liberty (how American!) but done in a very groovy, laidback way – so laid back it took three years and a new band to get around to making the video?

Director Peter McLennan gives some background into the video:

i directed the video for Dribbling Darts – Do what you like. They made it about two years after they got funding.

the band had the concept for the vid – them dressed in diff eras of pop, incl Matthew Bannister as Diana Ross w Supremes, beatles

The video goes through different styles of pop video, starting with a black and white 1960s folk trio, a heavily made-up 1980s synthpop group with hexagonal electronic drums and eyeliner, an elegant diva accompanied by a violinist and cellist, an energetic new age hippy trio, and an urban hip hop crew. The Red Hot Chili Peppers did a bigger budget version of this idea in 2006 with “Dani California”.

It’s all very fun. The trio enter every scenario with great enthusiasm and a lack of self-consciousness. Mr Bannister in particular carries out his lead singer role with great enthusiasm, no matter how much make-up he’s wearing or how glamorously he’s dressed.

And as much fun as the video is, it still ties in with the central theme of the song – “do just what you like, that’s the main thing”. Now I feel free to get in touch with my inner homegirl.

Best bit: the thought of a parallel universe where The Weather are a notorious hip hop crew.

Director: Peter McLennan
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… alternative fuel.

Dead Flowers “Watch Her Play”

Hey, you want some early ’90s digital video effects? Well, this video has them. There’s so much going on that it’s a little overwhelming in the beginning. Animation! Green screen! Pixillation! Solarisation! Things calm down a little once the verses get started, but it still feels like overkill.

Most of the video is based around the band performing in front of a green-screen backdrop. The background images involve swirly rainbow waves, giant flaming flames, and something I will describe as microwave pizza vomit. There’s a lot going on.

We see the crazy girl of the lyrics burning a Barbie doll in a fireplace. Actually, she’s not so much burning it as just holding it near the roaring fire. Maybe Barbie is cold and needs to be warmed. Maybe the girl is conscious of hazardous fumes that might come from burning plastic.

But, ok, it’s 1993. This was new technology and there was a kind of 1960s psychedelia revival happening, though it also feels like the extravagant visuals were trying to disguise a lacklustre song. But while “Watch Her Play” isn’t as strong as the Dead Flowers’ later work, it’s still not terrible – especially considering it was the first single from their second album. I think that while the video likes the song, it likes itself more.

Best bit: Bryan furiously flips through a 1994 wall calendar of scenic New Zealand.

Director: Jonathan Coates
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Urban Disturbance “Impressions”

It’s an Urban Disturbance video! The action kicks off outside the grand old Auckland railway station, back when it was still a grand old railway station and not leaky student housing.

We also see the dudes rapping as they walk down a street, and is notable that all the business awning signs are for independent businesses, with no sign of the chain store brands that dominate the high street today. It’s almost 20 years ago and it while it sometimes feels like a memory of a past time, there’s still some freshness to it.

The video is a fairly low-budget job. The budgetary limits are revealed with playback done via headphones. But that fits with the lyrics that declare, “I’m an extension of my headphones and kerbstones”, a nice way to deal with both aspects.

“Impressions” is a cool, cruisy exploration of Auckland. It captures that early ’90s urban Auckland scene and just has a really nice vibe to it.

Best bit: the National Bank ATM sign – is it too early to feel nostalgic?

Director: Craig Jackson
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Fuemana “Rocket Love”

Funded in 1992 but not released until 1994, “Rocket Love” was a cover of a Stevie Wonder track and the first NZOA-funded video for Fuemana. Phil and sister Christina supply smooth-as vocals, along with a contribution from Matty J.

The video is based around the 1994 short film Funny Little Guy, a kitschy, romantic tale of a woman’s love for an alien. But sometimes it’s an awkward mix, with the beautifully photographed scenes from the film sitting uncomfortably alongside the simpler shots of the group green screened over the top.

But other times the kistchy B-grade style of the film suits the low-budget awkwardness of the video. One thing that makes the cinematic connection work really work is the subtle James Bond motif in the song. That makes the video come across like the DIY opening titles of Bond flick, with, er, Matty J taking the place of the sexy Bond girl silhouette.

Maybe the video is a little overpowering. There’s so much cool stuff going on on screen that it seems to make the song recede. I feel like I’d rather watch the short film and listen to the song separately, each doing their own thing.

Best bit: stop-motion background animation, featuring Elvis stamps, satellites and robots.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… headphones and kerbstones.

Unitone Hifi “Sitting by the Phone”

“Sitting by the Phone” was Unitone Hifi getting very very pop. Peter at DubDotDash has the interesting tale behind the song – after Teremoana previously had a song rejected from Deepgrooves due to it being too political, Unitone Hifi teamed up with her and went in totally the other direction.

The video is even more pop, positively revelling in the song’s popfulness. In a bright cartoony world, Teremoana and two pals hang out by a swimming pool. Over behind a wire fence, we also see three dudes hanging out, playing cards – presumedly they are too busy shuffling to phone Teremoana.

Bobbylon busts in with a verse, offering the male perspective (he <3’s her too). MC Just One pops up for a rapped verse, but his argument is less convincing. “I’ll tell you one thing, G, I’ll call when I call,” he raps. Seriously, a guy calling a girl “G” is at least as awful as being called “bro” or “dude”. Instant deal-breaker.

Now, the important thing to remember is that back in 1992, the only people who had cellphones were businesspeople. So when Teremoana sings of sitting by the telephone, she’s talking about the landline in her house. But it is to the video’s credit that there is no phone in the video. Instead Teremoana’s hanging out in the sun, with her friends – not a lovesick shut-in. It’s a sunny, optimistic video – just right for seeing in the summer.

Best bit: the green screen pool, a good use of technology.

Director: Josh Frizzell
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… extraterrestrial.

The Verlaines “Mission of Love”

At the end of this video, there’s a clip with James Coleman interviewing Karyn Hay about the video. She explains that the Verlaines’ American record label weren’t happy with the video because it didn’t contain enough “pop-star lip-synching”.

And indeed it’s a very non-commercial video. Despite being a lively pop song, the video goes for quite an abstract treatment. The video starts off seeming like a standard pop road video, with footage of rural New Zealand. But it’s shot in grainy black and white, with bleak scenes of lifestyle blocks. Even a trip to the beach in a bang-up old Valiant is stark, not sunny.

Later there’s colour footage of the back backstage at a gig, but it’s blurry and dimly lit. Hey, let’s throw in some kaleidoscope effects to make it even less pop.

But it’s not all bleak. Suddenly and unexpectedly there’s a drive-by on a field full of cherry trees, bursting with their brilliant pink blossoms. This leads to a live performance at the Glue Pot, where the band play to an almost empty pub, with a lone dancer grooving under a strategically placed pink spotlight.

So if you look at it in pop terms, yeah, it’s not a great pop video. But it is a great pop song with a cool video that has plenty of humour lurking within.

Best bit: The seven seconds of actual lip-syncing.

Note: keep watching after the video for the chat with director Karyn Hay.

Director: Karyn Hay
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… call waiting.

Let’s Planet “Arm and a Leg”

Let’s Planet was the next project of former Chills drummer Caroline Easther. She played many instruments in the band and the Karyn Hay-directed video shows that, using rotating line-ups within the video. This was the only Let’s Planet song to have NZ On Air funding

Being a work of the early ’90s, the video makes liberal use of green-screen effects. Most of it involves Caroline or the full band against a wondrous backdrop, such as cows, flowers, a suburban street and ducks. The video also uses the grid digital effect, with lots of tiling, making the video look like the output of a Japanese photo sticker booth.

This video leaves me feeling a bit stuck. Nothing really happens in it, it’s just the band playing the song. Did the giant flowers have more impact in the ’90s when this sort of effect was new? Should the video have a bit of dirt amongst the flowers?

Maybe it’s ok for the video to be like this. Let’s Planet don’t seem to have an edgy rock side to them. They’re a sweet indie pop band who write thoughtful lyrics like “your indecision is costing everyone”. They almost seem to exist outside the realm of the regular world of music – a bunch of people who quite like making music, who recorded some songs and came up with an album. And they still appear to be doing stuff.

Director: Karyn Hay
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a lack of pop-star lip-sync.

The Katene Sisters “Keeping Up the Love Thing”

The Katene Sisters were a Shortland Street plot. It was revealed that nurse Jackie Manu (Nancy Brunning) had previously been part of an girl group called the Katene Sisters, rounded out by a couple of her cousins (who I assume were the Katene sisters). The trio reunited for a talent contest at Kennedy’s bar, ready to reprise their hit song “Keeping Up the Love Thing”.

One of the cousins was played by Annie Crummer, the other by an actress whose name is forgotten to the mists of time. But this sister wasn’t important, as the plot required her to get ill and drop out of the talent contest, with nurse Carrie Burton (Lisa Crittenden) stepping in as a last-minute Katene.

The result was a single that hit number three in the New Zealand charts and included this video which was uploaded to YouTube around the time of Shorty’s 20th anniversary celebrations in May 2012.

The video is simple but fun. Shot in black and white, it’s based around the trio singing the song in a recording studio. Pop star Annie dominates the song, overshadowing the two actors’ more restrained vocals, but the video gives plenty of time to the two soap stars.

We also get glimpses of the studio control room and I think that’s ex-Holidaymaker and Annie Crummer’s collaborator Barbara Griffin with a head full of luxuriant dreads, keeping an eye on things.

And that’s basically it. Occasionally there’ll be a dramatic close up of lips or an eye, but it’s mostly just the girls messing around, having fun.

The song wasn’t quite good enough for the fictional trio to win the talent contest. That went to Chris and Carmen’s disco number – Carmen was, after all, the Levin disco champion. And there have been other Shortland Street pop spin-offs – Dr Sarah’s sultry cover of the Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen In Love” made it to number 24 in the charts, but nothing has quite had the joy and energy of the Katene Sisters.

Best bit: Annie’s dramatic braid flick.

Director: Tristan Strange
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… giant flowers.

My Conviction “My Conviction”

My Conviction was an early project of Kurt Shanks, best known as the bass player in Stellar. I think Andrew Thorne of Splitter was also involved – the two of them are now back together as touring Kurt’s solo work.

But let’s go back to 1993, where a flaky old copy of the “My Conviction” video, taped off an episode of Pepsi RTR, reveals a band full of really good looking young dudes.

It’s a laidback, grunge-pop tune with an adventurous melody. The video starts off with the band in a stark white studio. This is them, and there’s nothing else to distract the viewer’s gaze. Lead singer Kurt delivers his swagger with ease.

Next we meet the band outside, in a wasteland outside an old building. Because it’s the early ’90s, there are flannel shirts, but also above-the-knee shorts. I’d almost forgotten about those shorts. I think that style came from Pearl Jam.

As far as I can tell, the song didn’t chart. It wasn’t following Inner Circle and Bell Biv Devoe to number 15 in the RTR charts. This might even have been the only screening on New Zealand television. Listen to how excited announcer Daniel Wrightson sounds when he announces the upcoming videos, including the alarming 1993 remix of the Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Running”. “My Conviction” is good song, but maybe it just wasn’t the right time for the My Conviction band. Shorter hair and slicker moves beckoned.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the losing entry of the 1993 Kennedy’s talent contest.

Al Hunter “I Don’t Wanna Go To Work Today”

Country music singer Al Hunter’s ode to slacking was a single from his 1993 album “The Singer”. He was might not have been as cool as the Warratahs, but his album was critically acclaimed and, they say, should have turned him into a big star. Instead he’s more a cult figure, the discussion subject of many web forums.

We meet a sepiatone Al having his morning shave, going through the motions while his heart is in on holiday in St-Tropez. It appears he works in a dairy factory, which could be problematic if you weren’t really into milk. Then, away from this fantasy world, in colour, Al is performing the song with his band in front of a small crowd. Women with chambray shirts smile and awkwardly sway from side to side. That’s his fanbase.

Other things that Al would rather do instead of working: go for a hoon along the Southern Motorway, fantasise about “some film star in a negligee” (Keanu Reeves?) and get pissed in Paris. Man, if he’s that unhappy, why doesn’t he just quit?

Well, he does. He calls up his boss, gives notice and racks off to the Civic to see a film. Nice one. And the video ends with Al in the cinema watching a film of his favourite thing – playing with his band in front of the enthusiastic crowd.

Best bit: when the milk bottling plant gets jammed, which also serves as a metaphor.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… put your grunge shorts on.