October 2006: Cut Off Your Hands, Cyphanetik, Deja Voodoo, Die! Die! Die!, Don McGlashan

The balloon room, hooning around the harbour bridge, an unhaunted house, and spooky lighting.

Cut Off Your Hands “Expectations”

The “Expectations” video puts the post-punk band in a room filled with yellow balloons. The balloons start off totally filling the room, but eventually pop down to just a layer of limp latex on the floor. But here’s the thing – the balloons are always the main subject of the video. Even when the band has plenty of room to move amid the rubber orbs, the camera is still more interested in the balloons. This doesn’t seem like a shy band that’s crying to avoid the camera. Those balloons are there because they need to be.

Director: Luke McPake

Cyphanetik “Rollin’ With Punches”

https://youtu.be/kwO–ut69bs

Cyphanetik mooches around the rooms of an old, dimply lit, graffiti-covered house. And that’s pretty much it. The trouble is, while an empty old house is fun to explore in person, visually it’s pretty dull. Consider all the tricks used to spice up Zed’s old house in the “Renegade Fighter” video. Or the Die! Die! Die! video below sees the band fill up empty room with their energy. This house needs to be haunted.

Director: Tom Dreaver

Deja Voodoo “Frat Nation” – missing

“Frat Nation” was a hard rock ode/parody of student life, a cross between American fraternity culture and the Otago culture of couch burning. The song includes the legendary lyric, “I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture to be carried out.” The video was animated.

Director: Chris Stapp

Die! Die! Die! “155”

The noisy noisesters perform “155” in a small concrete room, with lead singer Andrew using a builder’s lamp as a microphone. The band are also seen in their natural habitat of the live gig. The video is largely shot in black and white, but there’s at least one random colour shot which feels like it could either be a statement or a mistake. Or both.

Director: Thom Burton

Don McGlashan “Harbour Bridge”

“Harbour Bridge” uses the Auckland landmark has a metaphor for a troubled relationship. The video avoids a literal depiction of the bridge itself, and instead creates a CGI spiegeltent, with a Don and his band performing in the little display boxes around the tent. The animation gets a little repetitive, and as pretty as the tent is, I found myself wanting more reality and less CGI.

Director: Blain Hosford

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