Dead Flowers “I Don’t See Anyone At All”

1997-dead-flowers-i-dont-see-anyoneSo far, most music videos have been filmed in New Zealand, but occasionally a video will manage to have an exotic international location. Hong Kong! New York! Miami! And now the Dead Flowers have their music video OE moment in London, filmed when they were on tour with Greg Johnson, the Exponents and Mental as Anything.

But rather than the slick look of other videos in overseas locations, this one looks like it’s been shot on a home video camera. The screen is split into three, usually with the left and right panels mirroring each other.

We meet the band being proper tourists on the top of an open-top double-decker bus. The bus tours around London, passing by familiar attractions – Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Abbey Road Studios, Oxford Circus and the Underground. It’s an odd fit with the lyrics. The song is about being a poetic drunkard, so it’s hard to link that to a group of young New Zealanders enjoying a guided tour of London.

The really disappointing thing is that this is a really good pop song. The poor quality video (both technically and artistically) really detracts from what could have been a brilliant single. It didn’t need to be shot in London.

The band’s third album had a slicker, more poppy sound, and seemed to have some serious backing by their record company. But yet that support didn’t stretch to the production values of the music video.

Best bit: the video’s double use as a quickie tour guide to London.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… going for a drive up the hill.

3 thoughts on “Dead Flowers “I Don’t See Anyone At All””

  1. I’m adding thanks to Robyn and 5000ways, for I’ve been searching for this song so long on internet and couldn’t find it. i heard this song on radio years ago, but i didn’t manage to get down the name of the song and artist. But it has always been in my head for years, and amazingly i never did forget it. Only a few days ago in a sunny breezy noon, i started singing this song again, with half wrong lyrics, and i finally searched the song with keywords. It’s like finding something i always loved, though it’s been like…fifteen years since the album was published?! i’m so grateful for those who let me find this song, though i wish i found it earlier. Perhaps working more on the keyword search and make artist get known through media would really work. now i’m spending most time in asia, and return to Auckland for sometimes, in comparison to the abundance of medias here, where we can get and give so many informations online and anywhere/everywhere..humm..it’s really helpful. Though watching the video now, it’s definitly not a fancy MV, but still i love just how it’s not so commercial and playact, but so natural and unrestrained,..so New Zealand.

    1. I’m really glad to hear that! You should check out the Dead Flowers album that includes this song – also called Dead Flowers. Sadly the band broke up years ago, so I don’t think there’s anyone making the effort to promote their back catalogue, but I’m glad you’ve at last found this song.

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