Up until this point, Deja Voodoo had been the jokily rubbish house band of the chaotic televisual experience that was Back of the Y. But the lads got a bit more serious and hit the road with something resembling a proper band. Members Chris Stapp and Matt Heath had previously directed music videos for other artists (for example, Tim Finn), but Deja Voodoo was their first time in front of the camera. Their first two videos were glorious self-funded efforts – “We are Deja Voodoo” and “Beers” – before moving to a slightly higher budget for “Today, Tomorrow, Timaru”.
The song was a tribute to the music of Jordan Luck and the Exponents, a tale of thwarted love and rooted solidly in Timaru. And there’s something to be said for that. Most New Zealand songs ignore the geography, with everything happening in a no man’s land of emotion. Previously we’ve seen the Mutton Birds’ “Dominion Road” and the Peter Stuyvesant Hitlist’s “Ode to K Road”, but this is the first time that South Canterbury has been name checked. (Unless you count Jan Hellriegel’s “Geraldine”.)
The video is shot in and around Timaru, carefully illustrating all the places mentioned in the song. They’re even rocking out in front of the bird aviary, which – the internet tells me – has since been moved 200 metres from that site. There was also a planking controversy there in 2011.
The climax of the song is the shouted roll call of various small towns between Timaru and Christchurch. It manages to make places like Washdyke, Rolleston and Rakaia (“Rakaaaaaaia!”) seem really mythical, even when accompanies by a very ordinary clip of some local shops.
Much of the humour of the video comes from the site of a cool dude band dressed in black, striking many quality rock poses around Timaru. But despite all the lolz, Timaru comes across very well in the video. It’s shot on a cloudless day, with the band bathed in golden light from the setting sun. Awwww. It makes me wish more bands would get out of Auckland and Wellington when shooting their music videos.
Best bit: Deja Voodoo’s obnoxious van.
Next… tour pics.
One thing that’s always puzzled me about this song is why they save “Rakaia!” for the end of their roll-call of place names, since the others all advance steadily northward towards Christchurch, in the order they would be encountered (but Rakaia is south of Rolleston and Templeton). Is it to avoid saying Christchurch?
Would it be geeky to confess that I actually plotted all the locations on a Google map? Perhaps the order signifies that their northern road trip turned around and headed back to Rakaia before reaching the big smoke. After all, when Timaru is the centre of the universe, who needs Christchurch?
Not geeky at all 🙂 There are a variety of road trip rituals associated with Rakaia as well – holding one’s breath crossing the river (the bridge the longest in NZ as I would proudly tell my exchange students while driving them over it), the jog around the car stalled outside the giant fish.
If I cast my memory back, I think I minded the reordering to end with Rakaia most because after Dunsandel- Rolleston- Templeton- Hornby comes Sockburn and they didnae sing it!