Oh, the Feelers. Along comes “Larger than Life”, the first single off their third album, Playground Battle, and yet another top-20 hit. These boys did not stop working.
The song is kind of a love song, but it came right in the middle of the 2003 Iraq War and all the anger and societal turmoil that came with that influenced the Feelers when writing their album. So the song has a lot of testosterone and aggression behind it, sounding less like a sweet love song and more like a caveman dragging off his equally savage cavewoman for some cavelove.
The video gets even more macho. The Feelers are performing outside at night, with an air force helicopter circling them. It’s obviously a cold night – the band’s breathe is visible. Maybe the air force are there to throw them thermal blankets and energy bars.
Then it starts raining and the band don’t look happy. They actually look really uncomfortable out there in the cold and rain, but are channelling that discomfort into dramatic rock faces.
The video looks fabulous. It’s shot in black and white with a golden-brown tint – like a non-nostalgic sepiatone. The choppers and the lights and the rain all look very rock and dramatic. I just hope that when the video shoot was over, there were some hot mugs of Milo waiting for the band.
Best bit: the close-up of a wad of duct tape wrapped around James’ guitar. 4 real.