5000 Ways to Love You – Page 88 – Exploring the world of NZ On Air music video funding

Greg Johnson “If I Swagger”

Remember the blizzard of ’96? A crapload of snow was dumped all over the eastern United States. Greg Johnson remembers it too, for it was during the snowfest that the video for “If I Swagger” was shot in New York City.

Directed by Strawpeople person Paul Casserly, the video is an elegant black and white work, filmed in the aforementioned blizzardville and grey old London. Using what looks like an old film camera, the video uses a collage of images, like memories from an old photo album.

There’s no doubt at all that the video was shot in New York and London. The two locations are boldly featured. Well, if you’re shooting a video on the other side of the world, you don’t want it to be mistaken for Wellington.

There are also glimpses of aeroplanes. This is the life of Greg Johnson, international musician of mystery. It wasn’t just for show – he’s currently based in Los Angeles, making a living from his music.

The NZOA logo gets some special treatment in this video. Rather than just sitting in the usual bottom-right corner, the logo is carefully positioned to fit with the composition of the video. That way, it doesn’t distract from the video, and nicely complements the visuals.

With so few of Greg Johnson’s many NZOA funded videos being available online, it’s nice to find a good quality version of a lovely video.

Best bit: a lone figure walks on railway tracks. It’s a music video, man.

Director: Paul Casserly
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Greg Fleming “California Fishing”

Moving indoors from the dark street life of “Codeine Road”, the “California Fishing” video sees Greg and his band holed up in a suburban house, which, according to the YouTube description, was Greg’s flat.

Directed by Jonathan King, most of the action takes place in the lounge, with the band in full flight. There’s a nice feel to the location, and it doesn’t seem like much set dressing has been done. Yeah, it’s just Greg’s flat.

Sometimes we see Greg by himself, sitting on a couch, strumming his guitar. And we also catch glimpses of a moody young woman, smoking cigarettes and ready trashy paperbacks. She’s obviously not fussed by the rock band going for it in the next room.

“California Fishing” is a rollicking rock song, that would more traditionally be given a big outdoors video, complete with open-top cars. But keeping all the action in a house, the tension between the lyrics and the reality is increased. Stuck in suburban Auckland, California dreaming of California fishing.

Best bit: the old homemade birthday card, with a photo of young Greg riding a toy Jeep.

Director: Jonathan King

Next… the intergalatic spaceshack.

The 3Ds “Dust”

The 3Ds released their third album, “Strange News from the Angels” in 1996, but something wasn’t quite right. It didn’t have the same spark that “Hellzapoppin” and “The Venus Trail” did. The opening track “Dust” sounded like the 3Ds were trying to replicate the energetic opening tracks of the previous two albums, but had forgotten how to do it.

The video has a bit of that same tiredness. Three-quarters of the 3Ds are absent, leaving David Saunders alone in front of a green screen with some goofy puppets.

There’s a lot of low budget fun, looking like like an explosion in a 1990s cool clip art factory. A toy dinosaur robots, motorbikes, aeroplanes, insects, false teeth and other novelties get some screen time along with David’s disembodies head.

This video frustrates me because while it’s not terrible, it’s nowhere near as good as what the 3D’s have previously done.

Best bit: the orange-haired puppet’s dive out the window of the band’s practice space. Noooo!

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the awkward serious phase.

Matty J Ruys “Cruisin'”

Some New Zealand music videos will cleverly make an ordinary bit of downtown Auckland look like Paris, London, New York or Apia. But sometimes clever camera angles aren’t just enough and a proper location shoot is needed. This time Matty J went to Miami.

Again directed by Mark Tierney, Matty J takes his cover of the smooth Smokey Robinson track to sunny Florida. Matty J hangs out in the back of a convertible, cruising with the top down. As he drives around the streets of Miami, we catch glimpses of the street life, lots of ordinary people going about their business, including girls in short shorts. This is, after all, a music video.

The video is high contast and has a strong orange filter, like a really bad Instagram filter. I assume this is meant to create a golden, sunny feeling, but it’s more like a strange post-apocalyptic sci-fi world. It would not be out of place for the tri-bosomed hooker from “Total Recall” to suddenly show up.

I remember at the time this video was released there were mutterings about the Miami location. But despite the exotic locale, it’s obvious that the video shoot itself was not expensive. It literally looks like they just drove around one afternoon and shot some stuff from the car. A video shoot in Miami? Why not.

Best bit: all the rollerbladers, cruising along.

Director: Mark Tierney
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Thorazine Shuffle “Harry”

I used to hear this song a lot in the mid-’90s. I was never quite sure what the lyrics were about, other than some fellow called Harry. Will the video shed more light on the mysterious Harry?

So, yep, there’s Harry, driving the band somewhere in his vintage car. Cool. Harry drops them off at a vintage shop, where a shop attendant files her nails. This is what bored shop attendants did in the days before Facebook.

Harry waits outside while the band do stuff in the shop. Has Harry employed the boys as his personal stylists, getting them to pick up some fresh threads? But oh dear – the band has been spotted, causing a flock of teen girls to surround the shop. Getting a shopfront worth of extras to appear in a music video is a great achievement. This must be what it’s like for One Direction every single day.

Is this about the music industry? An Aotearoan “Frankly Mr Shankly”? Harry is still a mystery. Perhaps it’s better that way.

Best bit: the lecherous guy outside the shop who rubs his nipple with excitement. What.

Director: Steve Morrison
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… one D and some puppets.

Matty J Ruys “Mine”

Catch-up time: this was missing from one of the NZOA databases that I used, but fortunately I found it in another.

Matty J is a determined man. “The girl will be mine,” he asserts. But which girl? This video has a United Nations of hotties for him to pick.

Directed by Mark Tierney, the video is simple but cool and urban. Wearing a shirt with an extremely pointy collar, Matty J is caught in a spotlight as he stands in front of a wall made from non-step steel, just in case he wanted to try out his Spider-Man movies.

Also standing by the non-slip wall is a number of women, each dancing to the song’s cool grooves, each giving the camera seductive looks. It’s almost like they’re auditioning to be “the girl”, except all the women have a bit of a don’t-give-a-dam look.

Just in case things were getting a little claustrophobic, Matty J ventures outside, hanging out in front of the old Central Post Office, where only the pigeons understand his angst. He also celebrates being outdoors by doing a seduction rap.

I like that this video has taken a low budget and made something quite styley out of it, including magically tranforming Queen Street into a much cooler urban area.

Best bit: Matty J’s dramatic grabs at the camera.

Director: Mark Tierney
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Superette “Kiss Someone”

Their adventure involves a hunt for a tiger (played by Dave Mulcahy in body paint), a betrayal, a bit of cannibalism and some wind-up black and white camera footage.

The song itself is about betrayal, a really bad breakup. That’s all in the video, but the viewer isn’t necessarily going to get that out of it if they’re not in the mood. The video is either about the bad breakup or it’s about an expedition gone hilariously wrong. Like the songs of Superette, there’s darkness under the cheerful surface.

The YouTube uploader N0ISYLAND has lots of interesting information about the video shoot, including details of old cameras, lighting, location and “Bad Tony”.

Best bit: Dave Mulcahy’s alarmed man-tiger.

Director: Stuart Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… what it’s like for One Direction.

Supergroove “Can’t Get Enough”

This is pretty much the ultimate Supergroove video. Like a lot of their vids, it feels like every single effect in the video editing software has been used. Why have all seven band members in shot when you can have a border of 20 Supergroove heads around the shot? And shall we throw in some flames for good measure? Yeah, why not!

And then there’s the issue of the harsh lighting on Che Fu making his nose cast a shadow like a Hitler moustache. And remember, kids, this was before hipsters made bad moustaches cool.

The video was directed by Supergroove bassist Joe Lonie (then going by the name Jo Fisher) and Matt Noonan and was impressively awarded Best Video at the 1995 New Zealand Music Awards.

But at the heart of the video is Supergroove, doing a tight, twitchy performance. Even the band members who aren’t always performing still keep the energy going.

And let’s not forget that the song is called “Can’t Get Enough”. That attitude has been also applied to the video, with every shot filled up with layer upon layer of effects. If there was ever a quiet moment, ever a feeling of stillness, the entire Supergroove universe would have collapse upon itself. The band (average age 19) were young, hugely successful and were teeming with energy and ideas. If the video had been more subtle or calmer in any way, it wouldn’t have been enough.

Best bit: the awkward kneeling dance steps near the end.

Director: Joe Lonie, Matt Noonan
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Strawpeople “Taller Than God”

Strange things are afoot at the Moturemu Motel, where Fiona McDonald plays a bored clerk at the kitschy motel. In real life it’s in Parakai, but it has a not-quite-New-Zealand feel to it.

Fiona mans the front desk, where a handsome young man checks in for the night. In other rooms we meet a elderly cellist, fellow Strawpeople person Paul Casserly conducting strange experiments, a yoga lady and a lonely seductress. This motel only attracts unusual solo travellers.

The song has a spooky quality to it, with a killer chorus. Fiona knows how to do melody. The video picks up on the spookiness, making the motel seem both comforting and uneasy.

Why has the handsome young man come to the motel? Why is he staring into a shard of broken glass? Will motel lady Fiona ever find happiness? The morning brings no answers. Everyone seems just as troubled as before. The handsome young man eats dry cereal out of a box, swigging down milk from a glass bottle.

Looking at the motel on Streetview, it appears to no longer be operating as a motel, now looking like an unremarkable block of flats. I don’t know how much of the video was set dressing, but I like to think that the Moturemu Motel used to be as crazy as what appeared in this video, complete with the troubled guests.

Best bit: continuing from the 50c coin in the “Trick with a Knife” video, this video features a big old 20c coin as part of a nervous fidget.

Director: Justin Pemberton
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a tiger hunt.

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