Category: 1993

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

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.

Strawpeople “Love Explodes”

Thanks to NZ On Air, Strawpeople’s very first funded video is now online. On their second album, Strawpeople covered the Ted Brown song “Love Explodes”, with vocals by Stephanie Tauevihi – then a teenaged presenter of youth TV show InFocus.

The video has a simple treatment. Stephanie and Strawpeople Marke Tierney and Paul Casserly sit in a car. Stephanie is in the driver’s seat, while the producers laze in the back. A minute into the video, the Michael Ondaatje poem “Kim, at Half an Inch” is displayed on screen, a few words at a time.

It’s a very stylish video, already showing signs of the video-directing talent that both Tierney and Casserly would later demonstrate with other artists. There’s a slightly odd bit during the bridge with Mark and Paul do slow-motion jumps in front of a selection of green-screened curiosities. The trio also have moments of standing around looking cool.

The video concludes with the trouble leaping around the studio. After spending the past three minutes looking sultry, Stephanie finally gets a few moments to jump around like the teen she is.

Best bit: Mark’s yawn in the back of the car.

http://youtu.be/EZ9T3Tba49E

Director: G Smith
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Head Like a Hole “Faster Hooves”

The best description of this video comes from the YouTube uploader HEADLIKEAHOLENOISE, who accurately says it’s a “spaghetti southern on donkeys”. Being shaken by his ass, Sheriff Booga is after the black-clad villain played by drummer Hidee Beast, looking positively eeeevil.

This drama is cut with rapid footage of HLAH playing campfire instruments – an old tin for percussion, a washing board, as well as some guitars. There’s also a simmering pot of baked beans, as every good posse needs beans.

There’s a tense showdown between the sheriff and the villain. They circle each other, never daring to blink. It comes down to a tense fingerbang shootout, with the villain being faster on the draw.

With New Zealand not being in posession of an American wild west, the video has been shot at a suitably rocky and rugged beach. Some of the footage is in sepiatone, but no one’s pretending this is an accurate period drama. The footage has scribbly animations layered on top to drag it back into the ’90s.

“Faster Hooves” is a really good example of a NZ On Air video – taking a simple concept, a local location and an enthusiastic performance. Oh, and donkeys.

Best bit: Booga’s sweet ass.

Directors: Amanda Clarke, James Bell
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

The 3Ds “Hey Seuss”

“Hey Seuss” is a train ride into a mixed-up world of theological dilemmas and children’s book characters. Directed by Andrew Moore, the video is neatly works with the troubled world of the lyrics and the more lively tone of the music.

Most of the video involves the band surrounded by David Mitchell’s Seuss-inspired character cut-outs. They also take a train ride on an elegant wood-panelled vintage carriage, along with the cutouts and a man in a tiger suit. There’s even a wobbly model train standing in for exterior shots.

Sometimes the 3Ds could come across quite sedate live, and if you look at the video closely you can catch glimpses of it. These guys aren’t rock stars. They’re four fine musicians who make great music. But the video doesn’t try to disguise this. Yeah, most of the band do look a little stiff, but somehow it works having them surrounded by the crazy world of the video.

The song ends by sonically falling apart and the video takes this path too, with a delicious freak-out ending with the band mucking around, Denise giving David M a playful shove. 3Ds, where ya been?

Best bit: David Saunders’ artistic gliding across the screen.



Director: Andrew Moore
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Holy Toledos “Love’s Not Fair”

There’s something really adorable about the Holy Toledos. They look like music nerds, the sort of guys who study music theory and are quite serious about making quality guitar pop. “Love’s Not Fair” has a very Crowded House feel to it, especially with the close harmonies on the verses.

The video features the band in three locations: out and about in downtown Auckland, playing live, and enjoying an afternoon jam session in a sunny garden.

In the live footage, three of the band are wearing waistcoats. Is this an attempt at a cohesive visual image, or were waistcoats quite fashionable in the early ’90s? Or does this exist outside the realm of visual identity and fashion?

The band seems a little doomed. While they wrote brilliant songs, there was just something missing from them. No pin-up band member to set girls hearts on fire. No bad boy rock god to admire. They just seemed like a group of really nice guys who formed a band and wrote pleasant songs.

Best bit: the up and down ride in the glass lift.

Note: sadly, this video has since been made private so it’s no longer viewable.

Notes for visiting Holy Toledos fans:

  1. Hey, how’s it going?
  2. I am not a journalist. I’m just a person who writes stuff online. (I dropped out of journalism school in 1996.)
  3. This website is dedicated to reviewing all the videos that have received NZ On Air funding from 1991 to 2011. The About page has more info.
  4. So this page is a review of the Holy Toledos’ music video for “Love’s Not Fair”. I wrote it in 2012. And as it’s a review, it’s all based on my opinion.
  5. I thought what I’d written was quite positive, really.
  6. When I say things like, “They look like music nerds” or that the band had, “No bad boy rock god to admire”, I’m just talking about how the music video appears to me. And again, I don’t consider these negative attributes.
  7. I’ve never ever met the Holy Toledos, but they seem like nice guys. (But is that what you’re trying to tell me: that they’re actually not at all nice? Badass!)
  8. Don’t like my story? Tell your own. Why not set up a fan page on Facebook dedicated to the history of the Holy Toledos? Or expand the band’s Wikipedia page. There’s hardly anything about them online, but you have the power to fix that. (As of March 2016, this has not happened.)
  9. But most importantly: you guys actually know the Holy Toledos, right? Tell them to put all their music videos online. And keep pestering them until they do it. This is all I care about: getting more sweet New Zealand videos online, especially from the ’90s and the ’00s.
  10. Ok, thanks.