Adam Jones – Page 3 – 5000 Ways to Love You

Pluto “Long White Cross”

Guys, let me tell you a story. When I was at primary school, every year there was Calf Day, which was like a mini A&P show for kids. As well as kids bringing their pet calves and lambs to school (did I mention it was a country school?), there were also prizes for things like baking and floral arrangements.

One of the floral categories involved getting an old coffee jar, sticking a wad of Blu-Tack in the bottom, then inserting an arrangement of flowers into it. The jar was filled with water, the lid screwed on and you’d end up with a floral arrangement in a jar filled with water.

Anyway, one year a whole lot of kids started adding food colouring to the water. A light tint might look good, but there ended up being all these jars of darkly dyed water. I didn’t put any food colouring in my jar, and my arrangement ended up winning. The lesson learned: sometimes less is more.

Which brings us back to the “Long White Cross” video. A lot of Pluto’s previous videos have had way too much going on. They’re packed with dense visuals and/or wacky high jinks that end up fighting for domination with the song. Too much food colouring.

But finally “Long White Cross” has found the right mix. It’s a simple performance video, but it’s shot really stylishly. There are no crazy costumes, no gimmicks. It’s just Pluto performing the song (and it’s a good song). Not surprisingly, it was nominated for Best Music Video at the 2006 New Zealand Music Awards. Nice one.

Best bit: the inconspicuous fairy lights.

Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… splash.

Steriogram “On and On”

I like that Steriogram always have a bit of fun with their videos without totally playing for laughs. “On and On” is another of those.

We find the band playing on the roof of a parking building, with singer Tyson entering the stage by jumping from above. A flamboyant rock entrance, or is there more to it?

There’s more to it, of course. In the middle of the song Tyson leaves the stage and goes running down through the parking building. There’s something about car parks in music videos that never quite works. The difficulty of big empty grey spaces?

But things soon get interesting when Tyson discovers the band and pals waiting on some mini choppers (“and yes they are our bikes!”, says the band’s YouTube description). This leads to the highlight of the video – a 30-second shot of the band riding the bikes, with perfect vehicular choreography.

Tyson gets separated from the group, is pursued by a bat-wielding maniac. In desperation, Tyson jumps off the edge of the car park, landing in the middle of his band performing. Oh, it’s the exact same scene from the beginning of the video. And on and on it goes. Clever.

Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… empty cans of, wait, what?

Pluto “Radio Crimes”

There’s the song and there’s the visuals and there’s not much connection between the two. The “Radio Crimes” song is a big, bold indie rock number, tempered with Pluto’s trademark delicate falsetto harmonies. But the video pushes Pluto right back. It puts Baby in the corner.

The video is based around a bank of television sets, which broadcast parts of members of Pluto. That immediately puts distance between Pluto and the viewer. But then Pluto themselves are all hiding behind sunglasses and scarves and the other accoutrements of rock they’re so fond of. The end result is a band who seem like they’re too cool to star in their own video.

There’s no rule that says a band must appear in their own music video. New Order even used a youthful stand-in group in the “Crystal” video. Instead we get Pluto coming across as concentrating so hard on emoting into the microphone that they lose all connection with the viewer.

Some of Pluto’s earlier videos were pretty goofy. I get the feeling that in later years Pluto wanted to be portrayed as an edgy rock band. They managed that with the super “Dance Stamina” video, but “Radio Crimes” goes too far, making them seem to inhabit their own world, totally removed from their audience.

Best bit: when the TVs show a whole lot of cartoons.

Director: Adam Jones

Next… chickens in spaaaace.

Opshop “Levitate”

In Auckland, it is possible to walk from Queen Street to Federal street through buildings, using a series of private escalators (and one lift) to avoid the treacherous incline of Wellesley Street West.

The “Levitate” video is set on one of these escalators, the super narrow ones in the lobby of the old ASB building between Albert and Federal Streets, which conveniently enough looks like something out of a 1960s sci-fi film. This provides the location for Opshop’s theatrical rock number.

In the world of “Levitate”, people are trying to escape via the escalators, but two heavies wearing gas masks usually pull any runners back. Jason makes a few goes at it, but there’s always something that brings him back down – a mysterious woman, a man with a briefcase full of money and general tiredness.

Finally, pursued by the masked men, he makes it to the top. The ending of the video is ambiguous. Has he made it to freedom (across the road to the casino!) or has he somehow disappeared, because this is a mysterious sci-fi world?

Best bit: Jason angrily hurls a suitcase full of money into a water feature. He has no need for your space dollars!

Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… radios and televisions.

Goldenhorse “Out of the Moon”

Goldenhorse’s early videos were deliciously weird – the proto Twilight romantic vampire angst of “Golden Dawn” and the surreal sci-fi caravan of “Baby’s Been Bad”. Then the band went through a period of making very straight pop videos. But with “Out of the Moon”, the band have returned to their weird roots. Or have they?

Singer Kirsten is sitting inside a house, the epitome of quirky glamour in a corset top and fur stole. Outside, the suited men of Goldenhorse are working hard on a DIY project, which turns out to be a wooden moon which they hoist up into the sky.

It’s weird, but not weird enough. It’s like the band wanted to return to the surreal fun of their earlier videos, but also didn’t want to scare of their winery tour audiences by making something too strange.

Nah, it’s one or the other. Either go for a spooky romantic video like Evermore’s “It’s Too Late” or go for something really weird. But when it’s somewhere in between, it just ends up being dull.

Best bit: the DIY montage, stylish yet productive.

Director: Adam Jones

Next… take it to the bridge.

Steriogram “Go”

“Go” was the second of Steriogram’s two song to chart, reaching number 28. The song is an attempt to convince a friend to leave their small-town home and move to the exciting city. The video catches Steriogram in transit, with the band packed into a car heading through the countryside.

Dual singers Tyson and Brad are in the front of the car, along with their haircuts. Yes, by this stage Steriogram had become a haircut band. A quality haircut band.

But this isn’t a quiet Sunday drive. Soon enough the old car starts falling apart, with panels flying off and various band members being pulled out by the backdraft. This is the best part of the video, with some really fun shots of Steriogram flailing about in front of the green-screen rural scenery.

Having a music video based around goofy pop antics doesn’t always work, but Steriogram and director Adam Jones manage capture plenty of energy and spirit. Yeah, the video doesn’t have much to do with the song lyrics, but who cares when there’s a flying Tyson to admire? “Go” was voted 96 in the Film Archive’s top 100 New Zealand music videos.

Best bit: as most of the comments on YouTube note, a SpongeBob appears at 1:55.

Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… kampai!

Opshop “Being”

“Being” is set at an old cinema, which I immediately recognised as the Crystal Palace in Mount Eden, the star of Dead End Beat’s porny “All My Riches” video. But things are a lot more G-rated with Opshop.

While Opshop are performing on stage in the present, we get flashbacks of the theatre in previous decades, bits of the 1940s and 1950s. You can tell it’s the 1940s because a solider and a lady with hair rolls are doing swing dancing in the foyer, which is what people did in the ’40s.

But historical inaccuracies aside, the thing that bothers me the most is the really unflattering t-shirt that Jason Kerrison is wearing. It’s a solid red t-shirt that just hangs off him and makes his head look tiny. With all the extras in the video wearing quality historical costumes, it’s a shame that the same styling wasn’t applied to the present day.

The video ends with the ghost of a magician’s assistant leaving a bouquet of flowers on stage, no doubt to say thank you to Opshop for lyrics such as “And we don’t wanna go to war again!”

While the song and the video are both pretty boring, it still feels like another step towards the mighty Opshop of the late ’00s and their two number one albums.

Best bit: the tableau of an American-style 1950s, straight outta Mount Eden.

Director: Adam Jones

Next… a dark and stormy night.

Eight “Fall Apart”

“Fall Apart” is a one-take video, filmed a block back from Karangahape Road, on Poynton Terrace. It’s a bit more ambitious than your typical one-take video, on account of it being shot using a crane, with the camera doing an impressive amount of moving.

The action starts on the back of St Kevin’s Arcade (including the back steps where we previously saw Jan Hellriegel in “Geraldine”), before crossing the road to visit the Espano Flats.

And that’s where the rest of the video is centred, the 1926 building being put to good use, with both the exterior and interiors seen. The camera flies over a courtyard then swoops up the side of the building, showing the occupants engaged in all sorts of everyday activities. I actually wish there was a bit more going on – the sight of two people carrying a mattress along a hallway is pretty dull. Can’t they put it down and jump on it?

As a love letter to inner city Auckland architecture of the 1920s, the video is a pleasure to watch. But as a music video, it’s rather boring. It doesn’t help that it’s all shot in slow-motion, meaning that when we finally see the band playing the song in a street-front room, it comes as an anticlimax. Eight, you’re not as interesting as an old building.

Best bit: the neat garden out the front of the Espano, a change from the weedy tangle on Google Street View.

Director: Adam Jones
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… revenge of a nerd.

Stylus “Incredible”

Stylus continue with their angry young rap-rock. Unlike the devilwoman rant of previous single “Backstabbers Incorporated”, this time it’s a feeling of general malaise that’s causing trouble.

Though there is no rap in this particular song, it is very much of the nu metal genre. In fact, both the song and the video have a strong Blindspott vibe. It’s encouraging that a young New Zealand band would take inspiration from another local group. Yay.

The heart of the “Incredible” video is Stylus playing the song in an empty room with forest green walls. That’s all pretty ordinary. Lead singer Matt has wrapped the microphone cord around his hand as he sings, which is a nice way of paying tribute to the Red Hot Chili Peppers while keeping your shirt on.

We also see Matt sulking in a living room where a young couple had just been arguing, moping on a single bed and feeling alone at a crowded party. Ok, so he’s not happy. There’s also a great slow-motion shot of a young woman hurling a vase full of flowers, which I’m sure symbolises inner turmoil or something.

The absolute highlight of the video comes at the end where Matt smashes up his bedroom. He rips the stupid posters off the wall, tips over his lame single bed, and smashes his guitar through his dumb computer monitor. And who’s going to clean that up, eh?

Best bit: the lava lamp on the bedside table.

Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a rooftop in Wellington.

Goldenhorse “Run Run Run”

Goldenhorse return with the first single of their second album, Riverhead. The song is a bit rockier than the band’s previous singles, but it still has the melody and the sweet lyrics the band became known for. But the star of the song is the layers of guitars, chiming and overlapping and threatening to dominate Kirsten Morrell’s vocals, but still managing to perfectly fit together.

The video puts the emphasis on the musicianship by shooting the band using lots of close-ups. It’s a similar technique to the Kitsch video for “Eleven:Eleven”, but while the punk dudes seemed like they were hiding from the camera, “Run Run Run” draws us into the world of Goldenhorse.

The camera provides wider shots as the video progresses, showing the band bathed in red light and Kirsten in a red dress. The band are pretty sedate in their performing, providing contrast to Kirsten’s tense movement. I like this. So many bands do an over-exaggerated kind of rocking out in music videos, but sometimes it can be more effective just to play your instruments like you would when you’re actually, er, playing your instruments.

Previous Goldenhorse videos have tended to be either enjoyable weird or very commercial. This one goes in a different direction with the way it very strongly works with the sound of the song itself. The song didn’t chart, but who cares when the video is a good one.

Best bit: Geoff Maddocks’ fierce strumming.

Director: Adam Jones
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next…