5000 Ways to Love You – Page 93 – Exploring the world of NZ On Air music video funding

Eye TV “Down with a D”

Another track from Eye TV’s acoustic album. This time the video star is a little girl whose costume seems to be inspired by Blind Melon’s Bee Girl. But instead of a bee, she’s a Ronald Regan with fairy wings. Watch out, Johhny Utah!

The band are also joined by an TV-watching elderly couple and a young woman who may represent Regan Girl as a grown-up.

The video seems like it’s trying to evoke the glum theme of the lyrics, but the world it’s set in isn’t all that depressing. You could watch some telly with the old couple, play games with Regan Girl or hang out with the older woman. They all seem like they’d have stories to tell.

Or maybe Eye TV are in such a permanent state of malaise that everything seems awful, all the time. Aw, cheer up, guys!

Best bit: the young woman subverting stereotypes by wearing a pig nose.

Director: Sharron Ward
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Mink “Mr Creepy”

Mink was a collaborative Dunedin group including vocallist Dermania Lloyd, who now performs as Cloudboy. The “Mr Creepy” video, directed by Robert Sarkies, is another fine example of Dunedin gothic.

Dermania plays a woman in the midst of a nervous shower, protected from the stream of water with her yellow raincoat, and watching as a lizard crawls around the very shiny stainless steel shower base.

Meanwhile, the titular Mr Creepy is seen creeping around, sneaking up some stairs, while the freaky inhabitants of the house’s rooms are revealed. There’s a Frankenstein creature ready for an operation, white-robed holy figures, a trio of messy ice cream eaters.

Finally Mr Creepy finds Dermania in a bedroom, looking wide-eyed and innocent. He does something unspeakable to her, leaving her huddled in the shower, where she finds her reptilian friend. Or perhaps the lizard is really Mr Creepy? Either way, he’s going in a jar.

The video uses a house full of cinematic creepiness tropes, but eventually it reveals the most creepiest thing of all is a woman huddled in a shower, singing to a lizard.

Best bit: powerful method acting from the lizard.

Director: Robert Sarkies
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Jordan Reyne “Wilt”

wiltThe jordanreyne YouTube account explains that this video involves “A rock band imitating Jordan and the instrumentalists that played on her album. This video is full of evil twins from a past everyone denies.” Whoa.

And indeed the song is played by a black-clad band, with a singer who looks like Jordan Reyne. Without this knowledge, though, the video would pass for a fairly standard music video for a female-fronted rock band. And indeed, the video uses filters to give the effects of video lines as well as jumpy editing. Very rock.

The only hint that something is up is the slightly folky tinge to the song. That makes it seem like the song is actually a traditional Celtic folk song that Jordan’s given a rock edge, but in doing so she has actually triggered an ancient curse that will turn her band into evil twins.

Or maybe the “evil twin” story explains why Jordan made such a conventional rock chick music video. It wasn’t her – it was her twin.

Best bit: Jordan’s rock trousers.

Johnny Sagala “Main Point”

The YouTube clip of this video is taken from an episode of Wreckcognize. Introducing the clip, DLT and Sir Vere note that the video was made by Mark Tierney and Johnny Sagala, and that “Otara – O Town – has never looked so good”. And that’s true. With Mark Tierney’s stylish urban eye, suburban Otara has been transformed into a golden South Seas village. Even buying a drink from the local dairy looks really really cool.

Johnny and his posse hang out, performing the song. This is cut with lovely picturesque shots around town, particularly involving a girl in a pink dress running around, and the highly symbolic mother hanging washing on the line.

It seems almost a rule that groups from South Auckland have videos that are shot on location in South Auckland and are very strongly visually identifiable as South Auckland. Whereas bands from other parts of Auckland seem more likely to set their video nowhere in particular, a generic part of Auckland, rather than, “Wahey, Kingsland!”

But it’s these South Auckland videos that last the distance. A reminder that, despite its occasional bad reputation, it’s not a bad place to be.

Best bit: the mum hanging washing on the line.

Greg Johnson “Don’t Wait Another Day”

Finally the video clouds have come, the online content rains have fallen, the Greg Johnson drought has broken! NZ On Screen have a sparkling copy of sweet “Don’t Wait Another Day”. Greg Johnson describes this video as the most beautiful clip he’s made, giving credit to director James Holt and it being shot on 35mm film.

Boh Runga returns on backing vocals – perhaps her crunchy, grungy vocals in Stellar were a direct attempt to not sound like Greg Johnson’s backing singer.

Greg, Boh and the other members of the Johnson musical whanau are scattered in a large room, bathed in a golden light. This is also the first appearance of Greg’s hairline-obscuring beret, a hep toupee.

Enacting the lyrical story, a young woman packs her bags, leaves her lover, and drives off in a vintage car. What awaits her at the end of her drive? She seems to crouch down in a ball, perhaps wondering if her lover will listen to to his Greg Johnson CD and come after her.

After waiting so long for a Greg Johnson video, it’s nice to finally have such a visually lush one.

Best bit: the artistic fruit bowl, on which a monarch butterfly lands.

Director:James Holt
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Grace “Cool World”

You know, Grace have a very pleasing oeuvre of videos. “Cool World” is directed by Mark Tierney (otherwise of the Strawpeople) and the video captures the media moodiness of his other band.

Bookended by snippets of a bald-headed person and alarming messages like “They are stealing the time”, the video launches into the group playing to their strengths – dramatic lighting, smouldering stares, cheekbones.

This is interspersed with a troubled young woman taking out her frustrations on a punching bag. However, she also takes the time to look fabulous in giant sunglasses.

I like that Grace kept their music videos consistently stylish, suggesting that someone with an overall vision cracked the whip no matter who directed their videos.

Best bit: the model posing with old white-painted TV sets.

Director: Mark Tierney
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Garageland “Come Back”

Early Garageland always felt like a bunch of kids from the suburbs who’d emerged from their bedrooms, formed a band and knew that they’d never be the cool kids, so they just wrote great pop songs instead.

Garageland are also responsible for the greatest NZ On Air-funded music video ever, but we will come to that later.

Now it’s time for “Come Back” the first track on the “Comeback Special” EP. The gang load themselves into a van, accompanied by fake flowers, a mannequin, a hairdryer and playing cards. It’s like a holiday version of the Headless Chickens “Cruise Control” car.

There’s also studio footage of the band playing the song, complete with Debbie’s red shiny Rickenbacher. By the way, Debbie had the best hair. Once I tried to make my hair look like hers, with disastrous results.

Doing a Mutton Birds, there’s a UK version of the video. It also features a van, but has had almost all the colour and fun removed.

And that’s what I like about this video – it has fun and colour. Garageland are just mucking around with crazy props, not trying to be cool guys. And because it’s done more in a camp style than comedy style, there’s no risk of musicians trying to be funny. It’s just a fun introduction to a band that was to enjoy much success in the ’90s.

Best bit: the casual discarding of a guitar out the van window.

Directors: Carla Rotondo, Peter Bell
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a cool world.

Dam Native “The Horrified One”

Suddenly Dam Native came along and insisted that the rules be rewritten, promising “none of that stuff that sounds American or the cliche of the typical Maori rock band.” Except there was a little bit of both, but not in a bad way.

The video for “The Horrified One” (or “Horified”, as it is sometimes punfully spelt) The video travels across Auckland, showing cityscapes, railway lines, a cruise down Queen Street at night, graffiti-covered walls, and cool inner city digs. There is a bit of cherry-picking going on – going to the parts of Auckland that look cool and urban – but it is undeniably Auckland.

Teremoana shows up to sing on the chorus, and her appearance in the video firmly dates it in the mid ’90s – dressed in tough-girl streetwear, with hair is styled in multiple Bjork mini buns. And that’s the influence of a 1993 music video on one from 1995. I now expect to see a video filmed on the back of a truck.

It’s a low-budget video, but one with a strong idea behind it. Dam Native give really good performances, looking like, yeah, they often rap in the car, by the railway lines, around the house.

Best bit: the F-word hiding in some background graffiti

Directors: Rongotai Lomas, Tracey Tawhiao
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a comeback special

Superette “Killer Clown”

clonDave Mulcahy left the JPS Experience and formed Superette. “Killer Clown” was their first single and the video invites us to a party – a very sticky party.

An ordinary suburban house is hosting a grown-up version of a children’s party. There are coloured lights, balloon, streamers, glitter, jelly, cake, sweeties fancy make-up and a general sense of unease.

At the centre is a table laden with all sorts of delicious treats, most of which are smeared in and around the mouths of the eager party guests. While all this are going on, the band play the song, with Dave’s light vocals on the heavy subject of serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

Inspired by Gacy’s multitasking as a children’s clown and a serial killer, the song and this video contrast the bright, cheerful world of clown entertainment with a darker side. But instead of murder, it’s adults acting like children, smearing themselves with jelly, pashing on the floor.

This video looks like it would have been so much fun to make, but the more practical side of me wonders if by the end of the shoot, everyone would have been hot, tired and covered in sticky. Much like a real children’s party.

Best bit: the party guest cutting jelly with scissors.

Director: Stuart Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… rumble in the jungle.

Stellar “Ride”

Stellar didn’t break into the charts until 1998, and yet here they are in a much earlier form. Boh Runga is yet to dye her hair red (because her younger sister isn’t famous yet, so she doesn’t feel a need to physically distinguish herself), her vocals are distorted, and the band has a much harder grungier sound. Yet the Garbage influence and grunge-pop sound is still in there, really to emerge fully formed a few years later.

“Ride” is from the soundtrack of New Zealand short film “Headlong”. It seems unusual to have a music video promoting a short film when the video is a quarter of the length of the film.

The video sees Boh and the early incarnation of her band performing the song in a warehouse. Everyone in the band has long hair, and Boh especially has so much hair in her face, it’s as if she was trying to protect her identity. The band parties like it’s 1993.

It’s a confident, energetic video, and it seems to capture an energy that didn’t come through in the later more sophisticated Stellar videos.

Best bit: the mysterious green hula hoop.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… sticky jelly party fun times.