1994 – Page 3 – 5000 Ways to Love You

Inchworm “Come Out Come Out Wherever You Are”

Despite Hamilton having a reputation for hard-rockin’ bogan metal bands, there was actually a really good indie scene in the early-mid ’90s. Inchworm were one of the bands who regularly played around town and this song was their first funded video.

The band shared singing duties and drummer Rob is at the mic on this track. But here’s the thing – director Greg Page never made a Karen Carpenter-like demand that he come out from the drumkit. Whenever we see him sing, he’s surrounded by his rapidly flying drumsticks, concentration face in full effect.

The video looks great, set in an old hospital and lit for maximum spookiness. There’s rain, dramatic shadows and the camera takes an uneasy journey along a corridor. But there’s never any hint that something sinister might happen. At its heart, it’s just a band performing their song in a cool old location.

Despite this promising start, it wasn’t until 1997 that Inchworm received their next music video funding.

Best bit: drummer Rob’s rapidly flying drumsticks.

Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Tufnels “Husky Vooms”

Another video newly online for NZ Music Month. The Tufnels are one of my favourite New Zealand groups. They were a later incarnation of the Bird Nest Roys and self-released one album, “Lurid”, which is full of brilliant indie pop.

“Husky Vooms” was the first of their three NZOA-funded music videos. Starting with some plinky-plunky piano, the song explodes into a repeated question: “Wouldn’t you like to see me?” The video takes its cue from this line, making the star of the video a blind man, using a cane to navigate around central Auckland. Impressively and/or suspiciously, the blind man confidently walks down the steep steps at the top of Myers Park.

The sepiatone adventures of this guy then make way for some grainy black and white footage of the band performing. But these two worlds don’t remain seperate. A guitar (sometimes seen with its human) is let loose in the blind man’s world, captured by a camera strapped to the guitar head.

Finally, the previously monochrome world of the video erupts into a colourful animation, as the blind man finds himself in a crazy lurid world of excitement.

I like that this video doesn’t focus on any rock star antics from the band. The lowkey adventures of the blind man lets the song stand out. It’s not a big sexy hard-sell music video, but it works just fine.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Head Like a Hole “Chalkface”

“Chalkface” is a bad-attitude punk metal song and the video is based around a live performance. It looks like it was shot on someone’s home video camera. The footage is really grainy, though weirdly enough what would have looked low budget back in ’94 now has a cool retro tone to it.

The dodgy footage is, er, enhanced with dozens of digital effects, including cheesy filters and superimposed animations. Just to add to the slight feeling of discombobulation, there are shots of a saxophonist on stage, yet no sax can be heard in the clean album version of the song.

But despite all the low budget quirks of the video, it’s actually a pretty good live video. The band are full of extravagant energy and the audience is moshing their arses off. It’s a good document of HLAH’s early years.

Best bit: the giant bouncy ball, painted like a bloodshot eyeball, being throw around the audience.

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

Purest Form “It’s Christmas”

Purest Form know how to deliver, and this time they’re delivering a delicious cheese platter for Christmas.

The four are found in three different locations. They can be seen out on the ice at Paradise Ice Skating. This might seem like a romantic Christmassy thing to do, but the four seem to the only people at the rink, making it feel more like a bunch of 12-year-olds having a birthday party treat.

Their second location is a white studio, where they are dressed in almost identical white suits, distinguised only by colour ribbons. So they look like they’re wearing the flags of England (red), Finland (blue), the Maltan city Zejtun (green), and the People’s Democratic Republic of Purist Form, which I have just invented (purple).

The third location is somewhat disturbing. The group are standing next to the unassembled Farmers santa. The santa seems to be getting a fresh paint job, and I think this was the precise paint job that made him look really weird and creepy and started the “Eeew! He looks like a paedophile!” meme. The santa is then shown being trucked to his ’90s home – outside the mall at Manukau. (Kinda cool that South Auckland got the santa for a while.)

This may not be an amazing song, but I’m so glad the video exists. Years later, it brings a special kind of Christmas joy.

Best bit: the acting set-up, complete with a phone box.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

And with this cheerful video – which remarkably happened to coincide with the festive season posts – I’m going to take a break for a couple of weeks and will be back on 9 January kicking off the new year with another new year – 1995.

5000 Ways To Love You has been going for almost six months now. I’ve reviewed over 150 music videos so far and have learned more about music videos in the ’90s than I ever though possible. But the best part of this project is getting all the information from people with tales to tell, and slowly see previously missing videos appear online. Thank you to everyone who’s contributed, but also cheers to those who just enjoy reading the site.

Here’s to more adventures in music videos in 2012!

– Robyn

Throw “Nowhere Near”

throAnother video uploaded by Failsafe Records, who comments, “I’m not really sure what this video is supposed to be about … but the colours are pretty.”

Well, I’ll try to explain it. There’s a couple who’ve recently split up. We see their previous relationship times in black and white footage. The man is trying to get back with the woman, but she’s not interested.

She goes to a bar and gets all a bit flirty with other dudes, finally leaving the bar (where a camera crew is filming outside). The man follows her, which is pretty creepy, but she jumps in a car with someone else and disappears into the night. He thought he had a chance with her. He just wanted to give their relationship the chance it deserved.

In the middle of this, there’s lots of footage of Auckland at night – the bright lights of the city. And we briefly get a shot of a clapper board. That and the film crew seen later suggest that maybe this whole video exists only in a filmic sense. In reality, there is no man stalking a woman in downtown Auckland.

Well, I think that’s it. It’s very much a video of its era. It doesn’t do much to sell the band – but as the Failsafe Records YouTube comments note – the band didn’t play live, so I’m sure they had even less interest in appearing in their videos.

Best bit: a reminder of the olden times, before cellphones were in common use, when people made urgent phone calls from phone boxes in the city.

Director: David Reid
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… before they were famous.

Springloader “One More Thing”

I’m conflicted by this. The song is ok. The video concept is ok. But put together they just don’t work.

It’s an average ’90s indie guitar pop song with slightly miserabilistic undertones, but most oddly, the video uses standard rock visuals of red, gold and blue lighting and lots of smoke. So the song makes the video seem like overkill, while the video makes the song seem dull.

The camera seems really reluctant to get close to the band, instead whizzing past in an attempt to create urgency and excitement in a song that lacks it. And then the smoke effects seem to get out of control, obscuring the band like a thick Hamilton fog. If it were me, I’d go for something moody and black and white, put a mysterious dark-haired girl in it, and get the lead singer to give the camera some sex face.

After all the missing videos from earlier funding rounds, now things are starting to pick up. But it means that as well as videos from the amazing popular bands, all these little bands are coming through too and their work is of mixed quality.

Well, good on Springloader for getting a song recorded and a video made. It’s a pity they faded away.

Best bit: the old station wagon inexplicably parked on stage behind the band.

Director: David Reid
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… how (not) to win back your girl.

Shihad “You Again”

This video reminds me of how much of a skinny-arse Jon Toogood used to be. The Fix street press had a cartoon about Jon disappearing when he took behind his microphone. But he had big hair which more than compensated.

“You Again” is a really fat, grunty metal pie. The video is shot in black and white, but with subtle washes of colour. That’s notable – it’s not the sepia rainbow that was in vogue only months earlier.

It’s such a strong, masculine video that’s it’s almost possible to forget this is still part of the world of showbiz. It’s a world where whiteboy dreads look really cool, especially when they’re tossed about in slow motion.

Shihad videos seem better when they’re focusing on the band playing the song, and less on video tricks. Here the four are just playing the song, showing how they work together – even when it’s kind of pretend for the music video.

Best bit: drummer Tom’s staunch-as sunglasses.

Director: Darryl Ward
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next: the forecast is for fog.

Malchicks “Milestone”

cksFailsafe Records are a YouTube goldmine. In their comments for this video, they note that as the band’s bass player (and vocalist on this song) had moved to Japan, the video was partly made up of videos of her hanging out around Japan.

It’s sweet tourist videos – long train rides with Japanese suburbs passing by, visiting temples, train stations, busy city streets at night. All new and different. Meanwhile back in New Zealand, there’s local footage of the Aotearoan countryside rushing past from a car, sheep blocking a country road, a golden sunset.

It’s showing the two countries at their best. The New Zealand traveller in Japan holds on to her memories of the peaceful Aotearoa rural scenes; when she returns to New Zealand, she remembers the lovely old shrines. The boring stuff, that doesn’t get remembered.

Best bit: the “REDUCE SPEED NOW” sign seen in the New Zealand countryside.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… skinny-arse hair rock.

Hello Sailor “Never Fade Away”

More nostalgia from Hello Sailor. The lyrics examine the sacrifices and the achievements made.

The video is centred on Hello Sailor playing on the street down the road from their old stomping ground of the Gluepot bar in Ponsonby. This is cut together with archival footage of memorable moments in New Zealand history – Olympic athletics wins, the Howard Morrison Quartet, World War II newsreel footage, the Beatles tour and Hillary on Everest.

The video seems like quite a strong effort to create something that is a very emotional experience for New Zealanders, but it’s hard to equate dying on a battlefield with winning a medal for the long jump.

The song is about remembering past glories and not letting them fade from our collective memory. But as I’ve discovered already with this project, it’s very easy for things to fade from memory.

Best bit: the sinking realisation that I can’t recognise all the notable Kiwis.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… holiday videos from Japan.