2013 – Page 20 – 5000 Ways to Love You

Kingsland Housing Project feat. Stephanie Tauevihi “Nobody But You”

Roger Perry’s Kingsland Housing Project had Stephanie Tauevihi on guest vocals, giving her a sassier role her more restrained Strawpeople collaborations. The video is just a sassy, based around a cute animated world where a live-action Stephanie goes chasing after the man of her dreams.

Sitting at her kitchen window, farmgirl Stephanie longs for a handsome man in uniform. She dreams of going to a dance with him, dispensing of a flock of adoring ladies by using her mind powers to make a cluster of mirror balls fall on them, then shooting away in a rocket with captain handsome.

Back on the farm, there’s some drama with burly milkmaids, cows with fembot-type laser teets, a swirling vortex and a mysterious light inside the fridge. Will Steph get her man? Um, I’m not actually sure.

The video makes good use of Stephanie’s talents as an actress (at the time she was also playing Donna on “Shortland Street”) and it makes for a really entertaining adventure. The animation is basic but clever, done in a kitschy style that works with the character of the song. I like it!

Best bit: Stephanie’s fierce bitchface when her dream guy is surrounded by adoring ladies.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… anyone for tennis?

Mary “Helpless”

So what happens? I lament the lack of dancing in videos and suddenly it’s everywhere. In the final of Mary’s NZ On Air funded videos they’re going out with some line dancing.

Mary are performing in a line-dancing venue, and are decked on in their finest cowgirl threads, all check shirts, boots and hats. With echoes of “The Blues Brothers” (and predating 3 The Hard Way’s “It’s On” video), there’s a short chicken wire fence in front of the stage, no doubt to protect Mary from any bottles thrown at their legs and feet by angry line dancers. It happens.

For a song about relationship misery, it’s a sweet, lighthearted video. The group even join in the fun, getting down for some boot scootin’ on the dancefloor – though one of the Marys seems to be going for a woman-in-black look, lurking in the shadows behind dark glasses.

Mary had nine music videos funded, which puts them on par with artists such as Supergroove, Annie Crummer and Goldenhorse, but they didn’t come anywhere close to enjoying the same sort of success as those artists. But that’s ok.

I once read an arguement from a guy who reckoned that NZ On Air should only fund songs that would go on to be timeless classics. (And just imagine if there was a person who could magicaly pick which songs would still be around decades later. I suspect they’d be off making millions doing A&R for a major label, rather than slogging away at a government agency.) But I think there’s still a place for songs and artists that belong to a specific time and a specific place. A one-hit wonder isn’t a sign of failure, and neither is a band who has a burst of life then fades away.

I’m sure that NZ On Air were taking a punt on Mary, thinking that this all-girl group with silky pop harmonies might go on to have some hits, but it just didn’t happen that way. Instead we have traces of a fiercely independent band who released some EPs, some singles, made some videos, played a lot of gigs then broke up.

Best bit: the “no bottles” sign – it’s badass.

Note: The video was on Amplifier, but it’s since been removed.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a farmgirl dreams.

Gramsci “Complicated”

Here’s an impressive piece of videomanship. “Complicated” was nominated for Best Video at the 2002 New Zealand Music Awards and it’s still a remarkable work. A collaboration between the man behind Gramsci Paul McLaney and director Ed Davis, the video has a deceptively simple premise: Paul stands and walks as the camera rotates around him.

The trick is what’s happening in the background. It’s an ever-changing tour of New Zealand. One moment he’s in the middle of the Queen Street-Victoria Street intersection, the next he’s on a deserted beach. A steamy Rotorua thermal wonderland leads to a spacies parlour.

What’s most impressive is the editing. A decade after Michael Jackson amazed audiences with the fancy new morphing technique at the end of his “Black or White” video, it was something that could be accomplished in a much lower budget video for a New Zealand indie artist. While the transitions between locations aren’t seamless, there were still plenty of moments that left me trying to figure out how it was done.

The video acts as a more honest New Zealand travelogue than you’d normally get. By selecting locations that have music video appeal, as well as sweeping coastal and vistas we also see less picturesque spots like an electricity substation and an industrial yard. It would be far more interesting to go a “Complicated” location tour of New Zealand than anything inspired by “Lord of the Rings”. Hey, that’s an idea…

Unexpected side effect: after watching this video a few times, I now feel quite seasick.

Directors: Ed Davis, Paul McLaney
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… boot scootin’ indie.

Goodshirt “Place to Be”

“Place to Be” is the third of Joe Lonie’s one-take wonder videos for Goodshirt. The concept has Goodshirt filmed walking around an old building while various amusing things happen to and around them. The video was filmed with the song sped up, so the slowed-down version gives the video a laidback feeling – much like the song. I believe the video was filmed at old St Helens Hospital on Pitt Street in Auckland, which was demolished later in the year.

So let’s take a look at the events of “Place to Be”. Murray enters, holding a bag of fresh fruit and a skateboard. Bro Rodney grabs a banana and eats it as he sings the song, which is really gross seeing his mouth full of half-chewed banana.

Rodney then wanders around the building where various interesting things happen around him. Champagne! Sledgehammers! Gumboots! Toilets! Aerobics! The aerobics ladies are a highlight of the video. Dressed in vintage ’80s Lycra, they conduct an energetic aerobics routine also of the era. Hey, this might also count as formation dancing. It’s important to note that back in 2001, ’80s retro had only just become a thing, so this scene was both hilarious and cool.

Watching the video now, I’m most intrigued by the building, especially the old fireplace in the lounge room. While the building has a cold, rickety feel to it, the presence of Goodshirt’s crazy world helps bring back some life to the old girl.

Best bit: the tray of half-time oranges, offered well before the halfway point of the video.

Director: Joe Lonie
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… it’s complicated.

Fur Patrol “Andrew”

Lyrically, “Andrew” is like the flipside of “Lydia”. Where the earlier song was a tortured cry to an ex-lover, “Andrew” is a cynical brush-off. And like the “Lydia” video, “Andrew” is also set in a nightclub (filmed at Calibre Bar in Karangahape Road), only this time the band has hit the dance floor.

The song starts off in a quiet mode, with the band slowly moving around a nightclub. All the other patrons are frozen in mid-groove, but everyone comes to life once the song gets bold and loud with the first chorus.

Julia saunters around the dancefloor, and it looks like there’s going to be a hoedown showdown between Fur Patrol and Andrew and the rest of the club. So far it’s all very cool, but things go up several levels when Fur Patrol break into some formation dancing, that pop staple.

I think the only other NZOA music video (so far) that’s dared to do formation dancing was Deep Obsession’s “You Got the Feeling”. Points to them for having a good, sincere go at it, but it felt more like a workout than dancing. But somehow Fur Patrol’s sarcastic, gothy dancing comes across much more slicker and accomplished. It might help that we don’t see much of them from the waist down.

The dancing woos the cool nightclub crowd, eventually turning the dancefloor from sneers into smiles. Such is the power of good choreography. More New Zealand music video should have dancing.

Best bit: Julia’s fake ponytail – long, sleek and plenty of power-swish.

Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

DLT feat Ryad “Liquid Skies”

The city is no place for a horse. I’d complained about the lack of DLT in his previous videos, so it’s just as well that he makes an appearance in “Liquid Skies”. Guest vocalist Ryad isn’t in the video, but DLT’s daughter is, as is a white horse.

DLT is hanging out with the horse in a city parking building. Back in the olden days Auckland used to have places where a horse could be parked. Stable Lane in Newton, for example, used to house actual stables. But now what’s a person to do if they find themselves with an urban pony that needs a whare? You put it in a car park?

Fortunately this isn’t the horse’s permanent home. We also see it on the beach, having a really good, luxurious roll around in the sand. This is the horse of freedom.

There’s also footage of DLT in downtown Auckland, as well as random urban scenes from Tokyo. We see his young daughter wearing a Tino Rangatiratanga t-shirt, squinting in the golden sunlight.

It’s a supremely chilled out video for an equally chilled out song. Contrasting the horse in an urban and a coastal setting is so much more powerful than just having the horse romping around alone. And it’s great to see DLT appear again in one of his videos. It’s just a little sad that this was his last NZ On Air funded video.

Best bit: the horse having a good shake to get all the sand off.

Director: BG Riphead
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… dance your cares away.

D-Super “16 Songs”

Wellington purveyors of surf punk D-Super move from the suburban minefield of “We Ride Tonight” into a strange world of plus signs and aggro.

The band are playing in a studio gridded out with plus signs, like a grid for added CGI animation over the top. It’s like a lofi version of the video for Tom Jones and the Cardigan’s 1999 cover of “Burning Down the House”. Only instead of having slick CGI figures dancing with the band, they give each other the bash.

As the song starts, the band seem to tense. It’s like a group whose spent 18 months on the road and everyone is thoroughly sick of everyone else, held together only by a contractually mandated appearance. Something’s got to give.

There’s shoving, evil stares and simmering tension before it suddenly erupts. The guitarist and bass player lay into each other. The drummer joins in the aggro, seeming both like he’s trying to break it up and join in. The keyboard player finally jumps on top of everyone. What a disaster.

But the show must go on. The band return to their instruments and continue the song, playing with bruised and bloody faces.

I was going to say I was sure the violence was all done for the video, but there were glorious stories about fisticuffs within Luke the keyboard player’s other band, Paselode. I’m sure there’s also a metaphor in here about the sacrifice needed to survive in the world of rock; you get bashed up but you keep on playing.

Best bit: the drummer’s dramatic final hit of the drums when he gives up and joins in the brawl.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the horse of freedom.

Che Fu “Fade Away”

Back in 2001, “Fade Away” was #2 in the charts, kept off the top spot by – get this – Hear’Say’s song “Pure and Simple”. But 12 years later, it’s Che Fu’s song and not the UK reality TV popstars’ one-hit wonder that’s an enduring pop favourite around these parts.

The first single off Che Fu’s second album is about being there for someone. The lyrics most obviously are about staying close to friends who bugger off overseas for their OE, but the video goes for a different sort of overseas experience, focusing on the camaraderie of soldiers during the Second World War.

Che Fu and his band the Krates are dressed as New Zealand soliders (Maori battalion, no less) and a few Allied soldiers. The video is set in the New Zealand Warbirds Association hangar out at Ardmore airport, complete with vintage aircraft casually chilling in the background. The dudes decide to have a jam, finding authentic WWII-era turntables and synths in crates. By throwing in some obvious 21st century technology, the video relieves itself of the burden of having to be historically accurate. The vibe and the energy are right and that’s all that matters.

By the way, there’s a line of te reo that is subtitled as “He thinks your a bit of a ‘Bing Crosby’.” Bloody hell. I used to make subtitles professionally and I would never ever have let a your/you’re slip through. That’s appalling.

The action isn’t confined to the hangar. We see Che out in the battlefield, marching over scenic landscape and hanging out with his battalion mates. He also has a moment where he reflects on his pounamu pendant, a reminder of home.

“Fade Away” is a really nice video. It serves as a good way of introducing Che Fu’s new band (it’s not just about him as a solo artist) and a fine way of referencing part of New Zealand’s history. For decades young New Zealanders have been going overseas, but it’s what brings them back that matters.

Best bit: Che casually writes in his notebook as stuff explodes behind him.

Directors: Matthew Metcalfe, Greg Riwai
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… come at me, bro.

Betchadupa “Man on my Left”

There’s a really simple concept behind this video. Betchadupa play their song at a cool gig while a bespectacled cynical dickhead in the audience slags them off to another guy. We follow the conversation with subtitles.

Many of Betchadupa’s previous songs have been short punk numbers, ripping through them with a burst of energy that might not even see the timecode click over to two minutes. “Man on my Left” is an epic 3:23, which prompts the dick to quip, “Wow, over two minutes. This must be one of their long songs.” Lol! But that length means they can’t just edit together a bunch of cool shots. That have to make a proper music video.

“Man on my Left” takes its inspiration from Radiohead’s “Just” video, which using subtitles to introduce another level of story into the video. The risk with this concept is that the viewer becomes so engrossed in reading the subtitles, they forget about the song. But “Man on my Left” gets around this by making the conversation about the band, with the band turning out to be the worst band ever, as far as the cynic is concerned. “How many cliche rock poses can that bass player pull,” he sneers. Eight, it turns out, as the video demonstrates.

There’s a lot of energy in the video. The audience are fully moshing, not the standard unnatural music video direction of “wave your hands in the air”. Like the band, the audience is young with energy to burn.

And then this all leads to the fun payoff at the end. “Even their music videos are lame,” moans the dickhead. “They always have punchline at the end.” The fellow he’s been talking to turns, removes his earplugs and says “I’m sorry, did you say something?” Ba-dum-chh!

Best bit: the steely close up as the dickbag sneers “predictable”.

Note: An episode of The Big Art Trip profiled video director Gerald Philips, including a rehearsal of the “Man on my Left” video. The item can be viewed in part three.

Director: Gerald Phillips
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… peace in wartime.

Andrew Fagan “Exciting”

“Isn’t it exciting,” Andrew Fagan asks, kicking off two and a half minutes of psychedelic glam pop. We find Fagan playing with his band Swirly World (a name that more famously also belongs to the small yacht he uses for his solo voyages). It’s revealed that bars separate the band from the camera, but who are the bars for? Is the band kept locked up because they’re just so exciting?

As well as this performance footage, we also get quick flashes of random things. The cover of Fagan’s current album “Blisters” pops up a few times, as do gig posters. There are also glimpses of the band on the road, various photos and objet d’art. There’s a even a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it naked lady boob. Series of words pop up, spelling sentences. “It’s… completely… subjective” announces one message. Hey cool! So’s this blog.

While Fagan has plenty of rock star swagger, his Swirly World band just looks like a fairly ordinary bunch of musos, getting down to business in jeans and t-shirts. Isn’t it exciting? Er, no, not really. But maybe that’s what the shots of the random interesting thing are. Throw in a nipple or three (Mr Fagan’s are also on display) to add some excitement.

Best bit: the background whiteboard with some sort of mathematical workings written on it.

Director: Karyn Hay
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… man, he hates this band.