NZ On Screen – Page 17 – 5000 Ways to Love You

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.

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

DLT feat Che Fu “Chains”

It was 1996. Supergroove had regrouped as a serious rock band, squeezing out Che Fu. DLT had left Upper Hutt Posse and was branching out as a solo DJ and producer, and everyone hated the French because they had resumed testing nuclear weapons in the South Pacific. These three factors combined to create “Chains”, one of the greatest New Zealand songs.

The song alternates between Che Fu’s angry verses spitting at France for dropping bombs, and the clearer chorus with the memorable line “Living in the city ain’t so bad”.

The Kerry Brown-directed video captures both sides of this, with edgy urban scenes mixed with apocalyptic imagry. Scenes of Pacific-flavoured graffiti mix with skulls, gas masks and a cross made out of money. Interestingly, the Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision notes there were two videos made, with the other one directed by Gideon Keith and Grant Fell. There’s no sign of it online.

But back to the best known version and there’s a naked lady boob, which I had not previously noticed. But there it is, being all arty. It’s interesting which videos get away with nudity. I guess if you’re not being terribly sexist, no one minds.

But the star of the video is Che Fu. Wearing his ever present backpack, he is full of attitude. Sometimes seen with equally cool DLT, it’s like Che has taken everything he’s learned from his years with Supergroove and put it into the song and the video. He works the camera with such menace that it almost feels like this song could single-handedly put a stop to French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

Best bit: the rotating hand grenade, like a macabre gameshow prize.

Director: Kerry Brown
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… stretch limo party!!!!

Garageland “Beelines to Heaven”

I like to think of 1996 as the golden age of Garageland. Every one of their videos from this era is a mix of cool and naivety, like they knew what they wanted to be, but weren’t quite sure how to get there.

“Beelines to Heaven”, which is ever so slightly reminiscent of Buddy Holly’s “Every Day“, is given a classic 1960s television pop treatment. Taking its cue from legendary New Zealand pop show “C’mon“, Garageland play their song surrounded by go-go girls in silver boots and cool beatnik youth.

But looking back at an old episode of “C’mon”, one thing is clear – the go-go dancers were there for the up-tempo numbers. A song as slow as “Beelines to Heaven” doesn’t quite work with the go-go girls shakin’ it in slow motion. What would “C’mon” do? Well, one slow song had the singer reclining in a chair, taking off his shoes. Er…

Ok, it’s the ’90s, not the ’60s. Garageland aren’t gunning for historical accuracy. The video is simple and visually interesting. It lets the sweetness of the song stand out, and thankfully doesn’t involve literal use of honey.

Best bit: the la-la-la beatnik at 1:52. He’s well in character.

Bonus: A second video for “Beelines to Heaven” was made in 1997 as part of the group’s big UK push. Using a tszuj’d up version of the song, it was directed by Gina Birch and uses a similar split-screen technique that she later used for her second Garageland video “Feel Alright”.

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

Next… the worst fizzy drink brand name ever.

Bic Runga “Bursting Through”

Bic is back with her second single, “Bursting Through”. The video is much more sophisticated than the previous “Drive” video. A line has been drawn and Bic is now very much on the grown-up, sexy side of it.

The video seems to be all about introducing Bic Runga to the world (or at least New Zealand). The video is all about her, as she elegantly poses in a couple of glamorous white outfits. She’s exposing about as much flesh as Britney Spears did in her later videos, but somehow Bic seems quite modest.

The video works as a 1996 introduction to Bic Runga, but how does it hold up now that Bic is a New Zealand music icon? Well, it feels a little empty. There’s Bic on a couch, with a dove, in a corner, underwater, but there’s more to this song than Bic Runga’s youthful elegant face.

Looking at this video in 2012, it feels more like the sort of thing a record company would stick up on YouTube in advance of the proper video being release. It’s perfectly all right, but just seems a bit lacking by today’s standards.

Best bit: the white dove that wouldn’t fly away, but that’s cool.

Directors: Melanie Bridge, Mark Lever
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… they’ve got a Steadicam and they’re not afraid to use it.

Garageland “Fingerpops”

The “Fingerpops” video is an ode to drinking, specifically to that kind of drinking people do in their early 20s. It’s when you’ve moved on from such adolescent delights as peach schnapps and Sprite, and are now entering the adult world of sophisticated drinks. Why, in this video Garageland are hanging out in a Tarantinoesque bar, enjoying a whisky-like beverage in cut-glass tumblers, and drinking some sort of milky concoction shaken up and poured into shot glasses, and there are cocktail umbrellas. Take that, Don Draper.

“Fingerpops” is a love song, about being carried away with the whirlwind of emotion that comes with love, about how the cracking of knuckles can set your heart ablaze just cos it’s your special sweetie who’s doing it.

As well as the drinking, the video captures both the moody, emotional side of the love (the dark bar) and the joyful fun side (a bright lounge decorated with op shop furniture). It’s that perfect naivety of being a young adult – caught between the bright shiny world of childhood but forcing yourself into the dark world of adulthood.

Maybe this is how I want to remember the ’90s. I look to Jeremy Eade, wearing the sort of shirt you only see these days on cool uncles. “I haven’t been to bed for days,” brags Jeremy. “I live in a twilight haze.” When you’re old, this is a terrible situation. When you’re young, it’s brilliant.

Best bit: As the rest of the band rocks out, Debbie Silvey plays her guitar while lying on the couch.

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

Next… a boy, a girl, a ladder.

Bike “Save My Life”

Ok, first a disclosure: I really don’t like this song, I generally don’t like the music of Bike, and I was not a fan of Andrew Brough’s songwriting in the Straitjacket Fits. But I know many people who love his songs, including “Save My Life”, so I’m willing to put my personal feelings aside. This is very generous of me.

Directed by Mark Tierney, the video is based around the band playing the song in a simple studio. They’re all dressed in black, all wearing dark glasses, and the black-and-white footage is tinted orange. The video is slowed down, which gives it a dreamy feeling and works with the tone of the song.

The band’s sunglasses are a little reminiscent of the diabolical Boss Godfrey in “Cool Hand Luke”, and we frequently see fiery flames reflected in Andrew’s glasses. So when he sings “I’m already dead”, we can assume this means he’s in hell. Oh crap.

Occasionally we catch a glimpse of the outside world – a wave crashes on a beach, a photograph flutters in the wind in a city street. These images are shot in untinted black and white. Is this heaven?

As the video progresses, the orange-filtered footage of the band alternates with straight black and white. Even though they are “already dead”, perhaps it is still possible for their souls to be saved. Whoa.

Best bit: the flames, the fiery flames of hell.

Director: Mark Tierney
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… open up the bar.

OMC “Right On”

Modern life is tough for Pauly Fuemana. As he plays chess with his glamorous friends in a cool urban cafe, he starts to think back to his carefree childhood in the mystical Island Bay. But it’s not the windy Wellington suburb. Pauly’s Island Bay is a warm sunny seaside spot that filled with the joy of the Pacific Islands.

Following in the steps of their massive worldwide hit “How Bizarre”, “Right On” doesn’t stray very far from the winning sound of “How Bizarre”. It has the Pacific guitar, ladies singing the chorus, mariachi horns and a handy catchphrase. It’s a fine pop song in its own right, but tends to pale in comparison to “How Bizarre”.

In an attempt to capture the spirit of his childhood, Pauly boards a colourful Elvis-driven bus and gathers up some friends, destination Island Bay. Despite the carefree world of both the lyrics and the video, Pauly looks very serious, as if perhaps there are deep troubles weighing on him. And when he does smile, it looks like he’s trying to hide it, as if looking happy would damage his reputation.

But the video gets a happy ending, with the urbanites reaching Island Bay and enjoying a twilight singalong. And that’s not a bad thing to experience.

Best bit: the important businessman taking an important phone call on his chunky ’90s cellphone.

Director: Rob Mclaughlin
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… some very dark moods.