Pine “Beaten Again”

2002-pine-beaten-againSo here’s the concept of the “Beaten Again” video: Stephen from Pine gets soaked with a torrent of water. Just to flesh it out, he’s standing in front of a nondescript block of flats and is wearing a blue raincoat. But that raincoat doesn’t provide much protection. The water just keeps on coming, but he is occasionally allowed a little reprieve when another band member kindly towels off his hair.

“Torture the band” music videos seemed to be a thing in the early 2000s, but the video for this cute indie pop number does it a bit differently. For a start, the lyrics talk about overcoming adversity. He’ll never be beaten again, even though he’s getting sprayed with water. And indeed he seems to be enjoying it, often looking like a little boy laughing his way through the fun experience.

But there’s a slightly darker side to the video. When it starts, he’s already wet – so the soaking has obviously been in progress for some time. And when the video finishes, after being towelled off by his two laughing bandmates, he is sprayed again. This suggests a never-ending cycle of wetness, like he’s ended up in an inner ring of indie-pop hell. Lulled into a false sense of security by his towel-wielding diabolical bandmates, he is never allowed to dry off.

And yet there Stephen is, usually smiling. The occasional dark look flashes across his face, but mostly he seems to enjoy this water torture, rather then be annoyed by it. Yeah, he won’t be beaten again, etc.

Best bit: Stephen’s look of relief at being towelled, like a puppy.

Next… we’re taking this bloody car to Te Aro.

3 thoughts on “Pine “Beaten Again””

  1. Wow. I’ve just discovered this post. I’m stephen. This was filmed at Christchurch fire station and the last scene we told the fire guy to go as hard as you can and try to knock us off our feet … he just shot it full boar at Hannah’s face and we thought she was blinded… mayhem . Me and Hannah are still talking .

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