Windswept beachiness, urban Balkan, Christchurch in the before time, racial unity, straight down, a ’90s fashion parade, tattoos, Auckland cool, velvet painting, getting seductive, and a bad lip sync.
Continue reading Found videos from the 1990s
Tag: Annie Crummer
Found videos from the 2000s
Tropical crime fighting, police brutality, high street thugs, an interrogation and love (not war).
Continue reading Found videos from the 2000s
Found videos from 1996
Loads of found videos from 1996, featuring cameo appearances from three bright young actors, Stella as a grunge band, double Annie Crummer and Strawpeople, and some political pop.
Missing videos from 1997
February 1997
AKA Brown “Tonight Is Yours”
AKA Brown was Sam Feo of the Semi MCs teamed with the mighty Chong-Nee.
Annie Crummer “I Come Alive”
Annie Crummer has “I Come Alive”, another single off her Seventh Wave album. It’s a sweet, uplifting track.
Future Stupid “Rock Star”
My theory is any band who writes a song called “Rock Star” is deeply conflicted by their role in the entertainment industry. Future Stupid evidently have this concern. Here’s a live video.
Moana and the Moahunters “You Haven’t Done Nothing”
The Kiwi Hit Disc reckoned that Moana and the Moahunters cover of Stevie Wonder’s funky protest song — originally titled “U Haven’t Done Nuthin” — would appear on their second album, Rua, but it didn’t make it. It did, however, later show up as the opening track on the compilation album Southside Funk ‘N’ Soul (1985-1996), a collection of previously unreleased tracks.
Russell Harrison “The Best”
There’s no sign of the video from long-time Lotto presenter Russell Harrison, but there’s a non-NZOA-funded clip of this smooth R&B jam “Why You Wanna”. Russell plays three guys auditioning for a role by doing an improv seduction scene in a bar. The video starts at 0:20, but it’s worth watching the introduction, where he seems a bit annoyed by the video.
Thorazine Shuffle “Secret You Hide”
Thorazine Shuffle is listed as having received funding for their song “Secret You Hide”, but as far as I can tell this wasn’t released as a single and didn’t have a video made. Here’s a video of a 2018 live performance.
April 1997
Buckle “Swoon”
Buckle appears to have been a “jazzy, trip-hop” group. “Swoon” was their one and only funded video.
Cicada “Backstab”
“Backstab” was Cicada’s fourth and final funded video, but it doesn’t look like a video was made. But there are plenty of other Cicada videos online. Frequent Cicada video director Marc Swadel made a demo reel of five music videos for the five tracks off Cicada’s Oscillator EP: “Alpha Jerk”, “Sway”, “Good”, “Spine” and “Winter” (which had a proper funded video made).
Eye TV “Snakes & Ladders”
“Snakes & Ladders” was the opening track from Eye TV’s third album, “Birdy-O”. The Nga Taonga has this intriguing description: “Band members run, push man in shopping trolley, and ride bicycles. They perform as a rival band with Christian placards on Auckland waterfront.”
Director: Joe Lonie
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Lava Lava “Feel The Heat”
Dance band Lava Lava had “Feel The Heat” and a video which included “fire dancing on the top of Mt Eden, live footage from the TRU SCHOOL 97 tour and a Cadillac with licence plate SPADE!” If anything puts this video firmly in 1997 it’s “spade”.
Southside of Bombay “Running”
Southside of Bombay had the single “Running”.
June 1997
Ardijah “Love So Right”
Ardijah give a South Pacific update to the Bee Gees song “Love So Right”.
Coelacanth “Choke”
Coelacanth were a four-piece alternative rock band. A bio of the band notes that they produced “four completed music videos, three of which never made it to air.” Is “Choke” one of those unaired videos?
Dead Flowers “I Wanna Know”
The Dead Flowers get really really pop with “I Wanna Know”. They must have been promoting the crap out of it because there are two live performances from TV shows – a delightfully degraded VHS copy of an appearance on Ground Zero, and this one from Ice TV. Nga Taonga describe the video as “The band play in a passenger waiting room.”
Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Peaches “Down In Splendour”
Another track from Debbie Harwood’s Peaches project, matching her favourite female singers with classic New Zealand songs. This time vocalist Leza Corban covers the Straitjacket Fits tune “Down In Splendour”.
Propeller “Repeat The Question”
Propeller have “Repeat The Question”, another track from their final album and their penultimate NZOA funded video. Here’s a live-ish recording.
Southern Tribe “Closer”
Southern Tribe was a solo project by Hamilton musician Andrew Newth (formerly of Love and Violence). Described by the Htown Wiki as an ‘elaborate looping’ video, the laid-back, instrumental “Closer” was directed by Greg Page. Nga Taonga describes the video as, “Man lying prone on ground rises and follows a figure (who looks him) into building and observes other versions of himself. He throws himself from balcony, then rises .”
Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
August 1997
Mary “I’ll Be Seeing You”
Mary have their second video “I’ll Be Seeing You”. Nga Taonga describe the video as, “The band perform against a white backdrop interspersed with brief shots of them in outdoor setting (city street, beach).”
Director: Sigi Spath
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Muckhole “Kooza”
“The past three years have left me bruised and broken,” Muckhole wail. Sadly the “Kooza” video isn’t online, depriving us of the visual depiction of this emotion.
Propeller “Refrain”
“Refrain” is the final video from Propeller. Farewell, Propeller.
October 1997
5 Go Mad “Too Bad”
5 Go Mad had two videos funded. “Too Bad” was the first track. According to Stephen from the band, the video was shot “in the back of an old monastery on Richmond Road”, and featured Jan Hellriegel.
Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Bike “Anybody Know”
Just as I start liking the music of Bike, the videos start disappearing. “Anybody Know” is a an upbeat guitar pop track with gloriously noisy guitars.
Dead Flowers “Free”
Dead Flowers have the song “Free”, produced by Eddie Rayner. There are few traces of it online.
New Loungehead “Johnny 14”
New Loungehead were purveyors of very cool jazz. “Johnny 14” was the opening track off their album “Came a Weird Way”. Peter at DubDotDash takes a look back.
Director: Marc Swadel
December 1997
5 Go Mad “Above My Head”
5 Go Mad were a pop trio who won funding from the Recording Artist Development Scheme (RADS) run by RIANZ and Creative New Zealand “to promote emerging artists”. Rumour has it that the video for “Above My Head” was all but complete, but never made it off the edit suite (save for one VHS preview copy) due to reasons.
Director: Marc Swadel
B “So Long”
I talk about songs and bands that are hard to google, but this has to be the ultimate example: the band is called B and the song is called “So Long”. Do you know how many artists have a song called “So Long”? There are 12 songs with that name at Amplifier. But I finally managed to discover that B was Brendan Gregg of the Holy Toledos, and B also won RADS funding.
Director: David Reid
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Charlotte Yates “Console”
Charlotte Yates, probably best known for her work with When The Cat’s Been Spayed”, has the song “Console”. The Leeanne Culy-directed video was previously on Charlotte’s website, but in ye olde Real Video format. Nga Taonga describes the video as, “Singer playing guitar under wharf by sea and in other locations.”
Director: Leeanne Culy
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Dave Dobbyn “Waiting”
Dave Dobbyn has the upbeat pop track “Waiting”, with a hearty meandering melody. Here’s a live version.
Freaker “Mutilator”
Freaker were signed to Deepgrooves and “Mutilator” was an edgy instrumental track.
Lole “Comfort Me”
Samoan songstress Lole has “Comfort Me”. Instead here’s her song “Tu I Luga” which was used a David Tua’s entrance song in his big fight with Shane Cameron in 2007.
Pause “Only”
Pause was an early project by future Elemeno P guitarist Justyn Pilbrow, along with vocalists Jo Currie and Anna Copley. “Only” was their debut single, which Kiwi Hits described as having “eclectic rhythms and acoustic melody”. Deepgrooves describes the video as having been shot in black and white around Auckland, including breaking into the recently closed Auckland train station.
Director: Marc Swadel
Instead…
Now let’s take a look at a video that didn’t have NZ On Air funding but that managed to make a huge impact despite its $250 budget. It’s “Jesus I Was Evil”, an ode to badassness by the late, great Darcy Clay.
Directed by David Gunson who filmed it with an assortment of cheap cameras, it sees Darcy performing at the Summer Series in Albert Park and being generally evil around town, which includes hoovering up a fat line of cocaine, played expertly by custard powder. The video ends with Darcy’s email address, back when email was still new. Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision also hosts the video, with some good behind-the-scenes stories from the director.
Director: David Gunson
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Annie Crummer “Let it Shine”
It’s a Christmas single! Interesting that the funding was given in the same month as the song was released. The video must have been made with lightning pace, right?
“Let it Shine” is a delicate Christmas song, with the same sentimental theme that Annie’s other singles had (for the children, y’all).
The video is black and white, alternating between Annie singing the song, and shots of children. The kids are either outside playing, or in the studio, sitting on a lazy susan, rotating for the camera. This makes me imagine some production hand whose job it was to lie on the ground, out of camera shot, rotating the kids, trying not to get hit by their legs.
New Zealand has never had a strong tradition of Christmas songs, especially not the upbeat style that ravages the UK charts. It seems that if a Christmas song in New Zealand is going to do anything (like each number 11 on the charts), it’s going to be a serious song like this one.
Best bit: the slightly surreal array of rotating kids.
Update: It looks like Annie Crummer’s videos are no longer available on the New Zealand MTV website. Until someone uploads them somewhere else, there’s currently nothing to watch.
Next… David’s big night out.
Missing videos from 1993
There are 17 videos missing from 1993, including two Hamilton bogan rock classics, early work from guys who’d go on to more success in Stellar and Splitter, and the return of Kiwi rock legend Larry Morris.
Continue reading Missing videos from 1993
Annie Crummer “See Forever”
This video has everything I thought the “See What Love Can Do” video should have had – children, a pregnant lady, Annie at a church pulpit, and a great big gospel choir.
I’d like to go to a staid Anglican church only to discover the vicar had been replaced by Annie Crummer. She’s wearing a black business suit, but in outdoor scenes she has her “Blossom” flower hat on again. It would have been quite cool if the “Blossom” theme had been developed further and Michael Stoyanov had made a guest appearance.
All the church scenes are fairly over the top, but near the end there’s an extravagant burst of chorus and Annie almost collapses on the pulpit, such is the emotion of the song.
Annie Crummer has since moved on to musical theatre, and it’s so surprise. She throws herself into the performance, physically expressing every emotion covered in the very emotional song.
Update: It looks like Annie Crummer’s videos are no longer available on the New Zealand MTV website. Until someone uploads them somewhere else, there’s currently nothing to watch. Stink.
Next… a crinkled silver backdrop.
Annie Crummer “See What Love Can Do”
Before Annie Crummer was vamping it up as the Killer Queen in the Australian production of “We Will Rock You”, she presented a softer, gentler side with “See What Love Can Do”, the first single from her debut solo album.
Just to prove how ’90s it is, not only is she wearing a peasant blouse, she’s also shown with a “Blossom”-style hat with a giant flower on it.
The video is shot in high contrast black and white, not unlike Paula Abdul’s “Straight Up” video, only without the fierce dancing. Annie is joined by the fullas from Herbs to add some grunt on the verses and a choral sound on the chorus. Hey, these are the guys who dah-dah-dah-boom-boom’d “Slice of Heaven” into a hit for ol’ Dave Dobbyn.
Somehow I thought the song would demand a warmer, more communal video than what was produced, but perhaps it was decided to emphasise Annie and her backing singers, no one else.
Best bit: the enthusiastic ooo-ing from Charlie Herbs.
Director: Fred Renata
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… kissy-kiss fun times.