2013 – Page 24 – 5000 Ways to Love You

Zed “Come On Down”

“Come on Down” doesn’t really do it for me as a song – it’s a fairly ordinary pop-rock ballad that sounds like one of those Christian pop songs that pretends to be about romance but is secretly about Jesus. But the video is much more interesting.

Much of it is tour footage, capturing Zed during their peak, touring New Zealand and playing to packed out venues full of adoring teen fans. However, the video starts with the band playing amongst snowy mountains, which turns out to be a painted backdrop in a hall.

We also see Zed mucking around on the road. There they running up Baldwin Street in Dunedin, signing autographs, visiting a radio station, and generally just having fun. But the serious tone of the song casts a shadow on all these antics, and it feels like something awful is about to happen.

Awful like artistic black and white footage of the band playing on a beach? The tone of the video is all over the place. It feels like two separate videos that have been edited together – serious Zed meets fun Zed. And each bit cancels out the other, so it ends up feeling really messy.

And then there’s the strange behind-the-scenes shot of the clapperboard with the bottom part blurred out. Did the director and DOP not want their names associated with the video? I still have a lot of affection for Zed, but it’s a strange moment when I’m finding myself with newfound respect for the Feelers’ life-on-tour “Pull the Strings” video.

Best bit: Andy twisting his whiteboy dreads.

Trip to the Moon “Pretty Cool”

“Pretty Cool” is pretty cool. It’s a chilled out jazzy number with dub echoes and the video goes with this vibe.

The biggest strength of the vid is that it focuses on the musicians. I rather dislike videos for instrumental songs that ignore the people behind the music. “Pretty Cool” layers shots of the group over various scenes, including downtown Auckland. There’s the drummer, the keyboard player, the guitarist and, of course, the trumpet player.

Brass instruments are very photogenic. They’re shiny and cut a fine silhouette. While the ubiquitous ’80s sax may be long gone, there’s still a lot of power in a good brass silhouette.

The video also takes in sweeping cityscapes of Auckland at night. There’s the Sky Tower, now firmly established as an icon of the city. The combination of the editing and the glorious night time footage turns a small city like Auckland into a bustling metropolis. It lets us briefly pretend that the Auckland Town Hall has a Manhattan ZIP code.

Director: Jed Town

Next… the life and times of teen idols.

Fur Patrol “Lydia”

Before Adele and “Someone Like You”, “Lydia” was the default white-girl-blues song for those evenings requiring white wine and bitter tears. It’s a great song (it hit number one in the charts) and has a perfect singalong chorus – “My babeeeeey! Don’t you want me anymore?”

Director Jonathan King sets the band performing in an intimate venue (filmed at Verona on K Road). It soon becomes clear they’re miming their instruments. It’s not just air guitar, but also air bass, air drums and air microphone. As sultry nightclub singer Julia Deans sings the song, the camera captures her dramatic eye rolls and sarcastic facial gestures. She’s singing across the room from a couple at a table – a crusty looking guy sitting with a blonde chick. Lydia.

When the chorus comes around, the sarcasm leaves Julia’s face. She gets right to the emotional core of the song, that feeling of awfulness.

As the video progresses we discover that Lydia is played by Julia Deans in a wig, complete with the same labret piercing. Julia walks over to the crusty guy and Lydia and climbs up on their table. But she seems to be as invisible to them as the band’s instruments are to us. But something happens. Julia turns to Lydia and cries, “My baby, don’t you love me anymore?” Lydia acknowledges her, her face dropping. And we realise – Julia was never singing to the crusty guy (good, because gross); she was singing to Lydia, a blonde version of herself.

Such a simple and such a devastatingly good video.

Best bit: the crusty guy’s wine tasting mime.

Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a pretty cool night in Auckland.

Eye TV “Soul Train”

There’s something a bit uncanny valley happening in the “Soul Train” video. The song is a bright, upbeat soul number with electronic undertones. The video uses elements of the classic soul look, but things get a little strange. The band members have each been shot separately and they’re lit with bright, washed-out lighting that gives the band members a strange android-like appearance.

The motion of video is also has an unusual twitchy feeling, again making the band members seem more like robots than humans. With the band members never seen together, instead shot against different colour backgrounds, it’s as if they’re being held in cells for their pop-soul crimes. Or maybe being pop-soul androids, they don’t actually need all that much space to live in.

I’m actually really disappointed by this video. I like it better when Eye TV look and act like humans. This video obviously had a lower budget to some of their more impressive earlier works (like “One Day Ahead” and “Wish It All Away”), but having a low budget doesn’t mean having to make a bad video.

Best bit: Luke the drummer’s Playboy bunny logo t-shirt.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… an awkward encounter with an ex.

Dub Asylum “R U Ready”

“R U Ready” is filmed Japan, shot by Mr Dub Asylum himself, Peter McLennan, on Super 8 film. This isn’t the first low budget video shot in Japan that we’ve seen. Indeed, previous NZOA-funded videos shot in the land of the rising sun have been “Milestone” by the Malchicks and “Kuru” by Cinema, but each of these videos does it differently.

“R U Ready” embraces the hustle and bustle of urban Japan. The camera observes the busy Tokyo streets from a distance, but also gets right among it. It’s as if some moments of orientation and reflection are needed before we can dive into the crowd.

From the streets, we go into the metro, through the busy train station and onto a train as it speeds through the urban landscape. The sun sets and it’s time to explore the city, all lit up with giant advertising signs. Even an ad for an appliance retailer feels sexy and exotic when it’s a flashing neon sign, seen at night in a beautiful and mysterious foreign city.

The song, with its deep beats and Bobbylon’s playful vocals, seems nicely matched to the ever changing cityscapes of Japan. By the end of the video, the footage starts to get layered and chopped up and it’s as if the city is taking over, forcing as much of itself into the video as it can manage.

Best bit: the little kid scrambling up the temple steps.

Director: Peter McLennan

Next… the androids return to their cells.

Zed “Renegade Fighter”

This is another song and video that I have a disproportionately high level of love for. Even the near daily use of the song in the sports store TV commercials haven’t killed it for me. So come with me into the world of Zed and the “Renegade Fighter” video.

The song starts off with a spooky music-box sound. It’s a dark and stormy night and we’re inside an empty house. Lightening flashes, the Venetian blinds flap and suddenly there’s guitarist Andy with that opening chord. Bassist Ben (who’s doing the vocals on the verses) appears and does an alarmingly sexual slide on his instrument. The chorus kicks in and there’s Nathan in the corridor giving a hearty lip-sync of the chorus. It’s like a curious mash-up of a classic boy band video and a cool but arty rock video.

Second verse has Ben sitting in a perfect boy band pose. The camera stays on him for a straight 25 seconds, even sticking around when the chorus starts with Ben just doing a teen idol stare at the camera.

The band rock out together for the next chorus (nice pacing), then we return to Ben in a room draped with fairy lights, cutting to Andy delivering a few licks on his guitar.

There’s some clever editing in this video, echoing the spooky strobe-like lightning effect. The video isn’t obsessed with making this a pretty pop video, and there are some delightfully weird touches. But then just in case we’d forgotten these were teen dudes, the video ends with Nathan giving Andy a playful punch.

“Renegade Fighter” was Zed’s highest charting single (reaching number four), and I like to think of it as Zed at their absolute peak as kings of teen pop-rock.

Best bit: the patterned wallpaper, looking a bit too authentically New Zealand to be a “Song 2” homage.

Bonus: here’s Zed performing “Renegade Fighter” live, with no shirts on, in front of an audience of adoring, screaming fans. It’s only 1:47 long, probably due to the camera having a fangirl freakout.

Director: Julian Boshier
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… stripped down acoustic styles.

The Datsuns “Super Gyration”

It wasn’t until 2002 when the Datsuns struck rock ‘n’ roll gold, but right from their early days, they were determined to be much more than just some band from Cambridge. “Super Gyration” was their first release, issued only on 7-inch vinyl. The accompanying video was directed by fellow Waikato pal Greg Page, who went with a grunty cars ‘n’ rock dudes theme.

The video kicks off with a tachometer that’s revving to the rhythm of the song. And then: “Come on! Rock ‘n’ roll!” Suddenly we meet the band, performing in a garage full of old hot rods courtesy of the Ooga Boys hot rod club – and there’s even an old Datsun in there. The band all have relatively short hair, having not reached the follicular splendour of later years.

Greg Page has always been good at capturing bands’ live energy and he does this well with the Datsuns. This doesn’t feel like a band who have been told to go crazy for the music video; it’s more like they’re just doing what they always do.

About halfway through the song quietens down a bit so the band go and have rest in the break room of the Onehunga panel beater where the video was shot. In there the camera slowly rotates around the room, and apart from a strategically placed record cover, it doesn’t look like much set dressing has gone on. It’s a really blokey room.

The “Super Gyration” video is a perfect introduction to the Datsuns, setting themselves up as a band of young dudes who just want to rock out and impress the ladies.

Best bit: shots of the individual band members posing next to the cars.

Director: Greg Page
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… gonna set ur soul on fire.

Tadpole “No Man”

It’s a nice day in the suburbs and a young man prepares to go for a jog. He cues up some tunes on his Sony CD Walkman, straightens up his Dickies hoodie and starts the stopwatch on his Casio G-Shock. That’s three brands in 25 seconds. I don’t think I’ve seen this much product placement in a New Zealand music video before.

But anyway, the dude starts off running (in slow motion) and – whoa! – he’s on fire. As he jogs, fiery flames dance on his back. Down at the Westmere shops, bystanders gaze at this remarkable sight, and indeed he is rather the centre of attention wherever he goes.

“No Man” seems like a quiet moment in the massive run of videos from Tadpole’s hugely successful “Buddhafinger” album. The song is serious and dramatic and the video reflects this with its subdued colour palette and slow movement.

The camera freezes on some of the bystanders (young men and – oddly enough – one old lady), digitally zooming into their faces. The footage pixelates a little (and I keep expecting a crime drama “video expert” to shout “Enhance! Enhance!”).

The flaming jogger continues his exercise as Tadpole sing their cautionary tale of getting your priorities straight. At the video’s end, we revisit the zoomed-in shots of the bystanders, zooming out to reveal – gasp! – they’re also on fire! Let’s hope these folks are also rewarded with a G-Shock and a Discman for their troubles.

Best bit: The sign advertising fresh boiled beef, on sale at the Westmere butcher.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… hanging around the workshop.

Smoothy “Stoners”

So where has this delightful video been all my life? Smoothy were an Auckland three-piece rock band and “Stoners” is a nice guitar-pop tune about, well, stoners. But the video takes things to a whole nother level.

It’s set at a Christmas party at a cool Auckland flat and things are humming along nicely. Fairy lights are aglow, couples are snogging and people are smoking pot. A young man sits next to the Christmas tree, alienated by all the pashing. He seeks comfort in a spliff and is soon visited by a fairy who notices he has his eye on a girl in a crimson jacket.

Buoyed by the power of beer, marijuana and a magical fairy, the dude has an energetic dance around the house, laughing at a guy in a Santa costume flirting with a girl in an elf costume.

He stumbles into a smoky room where some partygoers are watching Smoothy perform on TV. But the paranoia sets in and his melancholy returns as he stumbles around the backyard, seeing everyone but him enjoying funtimes and/or sex.

The fairy reappears and tells him to make his move on the girl in the crimson jacket, but his fresh dance moves don’t work on her. To his dismay, the girl in the crimson jacket instead pashes a Santa. Oh no!

Annoyed at the fairy, the dude takes his anger out on the Christmas tree, leading to him getting a tooth knocked out and running from the police. Worst party ever. Alone with his loose tooth, the fairy reappears and magics his tooth into a shiny new 50 cent coin (which is an old one, so it looks huge). Yay!

There’s a lot packed into this video, but it works. It looks like a low-budget labour of love shoot but it’s made with talent and skill.

Best bit: The “Topless Women Talk About Their Lives” poster.

Next… all fired up.

Lucid 3 “Curious”

Lucid 3 comes along as a break in the rock-dominated world of early 2000s music videos. A bit of jazz, some trip-hop, some pop and a bit of folk mean they stand out amongst the sneering dude-rock bands of the era.

“Curious” starts with the beater of a kick drum doing the very same giant-marshmallow trick we recently saw in a Dimmer video. And indeed, some serious beats and slinky bass introduces the very lovely trio of Victoria, Marcus and Derek.

The band are performing in an empty room. Victoria is in the middle, with the other two on either side. It’s quite an artistic setting, with no attempt at pretending the band is gigging. Victoria is good at delivering down-the-barrel pop visuals, and the different shots of the band are layered to give a moody, lazy feel.

It’s all going really smoothly, but suddenly the chorus kicks in with some electric guitar. That’s fine (and it sounds great) but the video doesn’t acknowledge this. It keeps on with the same style as the earlier smooth stuff. This and the stationary camera shots gives the impression that we’re watching different feeds of CCTV cameras, not a music video.

There’s an attempt to liven things up with a hearty headbang from Victoria (and she has the hair for it), as well as a few rock poses, but it feels a little awkward in the otherwise restrained setting of the video. It’s like, if the band aren’t really feeling the chorus, why should I?

Best bit: bass player Marcus’s biceps. He has bought us tickets to the gun show.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next: don’t bogart that elf.