5000 Ways to Love You – Page 80 – Exploring the world of NZ On Air music video funding

Headless Chickens “Smoking Big Ted”

The Chickens are totally absent from the video, which is not surprising, given how detached they looked in previous videos. Instead the video is focused on bodybuilders, with bronzed bodies and posing in tiny garments.

When I was 12, the mother of one of my classmates came along to talk to the school about her life as a bodybuilder. She’d picked it as a woman’s mag said it was the fasted route to weightloss, but she had become hooked on bodybuilding competitions. She ended her talk by stripping off her tracksuit and doing some poses in her posing bikini. It was simultaneously terrifying and awe-inspiring.

And like my classmate’s mum, there’s something very ordinary about these guys. They seem like people who’d otherwise be accountants, teachers, dentists and housewives, who one day decided that bodybuilding looked like good fun. Even the star of the video, wearing a cowboy hat, moustache, posing pouch and a giant cobra tattoo, seems mild-mannered.

I’ve previously felt that other singles from “Greedy” were let down by the videos. Well, this is kind of the opposite. The video is fun, funny and rather striking to watch, yet the song feels a little unfinished, like a hastily composed keyboard riff with “c’mere” growled over the top.

With “Greedy” being their final album, I wish they’d gone out with a bang rather than this gradual fade to grey.

Best bit: the brief interlude at a gym, keeping it real behind the scenes.

Note: This video has previously been available on YouTube, MySpace, MTV Australia and even for sale on iTunes, but now no one has it. This is the kind of thing that happens.

Directors: Jeff Holdaway
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a fishy tale.

283 ways to love you

Marcus Lush makes a dramatic cameo in a Greg Johnson vid

Ngaire rests her head on a blown-up cask-wine bladder

Jordan Luck illustrates the ethos of 5000 Ways

It’s the first anniversary of 5000 Ways to Love You! It all started in early 2011 with an idea with sprang from an idle thought about 20 years of NZ On Air music video funding.

I wondered if anyone else had some sort of website about NZOA-funded music videos, I googled, didn’t anything, so figured it was up to me. And hey, I like music, I like video, I like writing about music videos. It would probably be quite fun.

And it has been! As well as revisiting the fave vids of my youth, I’ve also discovered long forgotten videos, weird blips in New Zealand’s pop history, and bands that tried really hard but just didn’t make it.

It’s also made me aware of the trends that come and go in music-video making, like the time when dudes in bands started appearing with no shirts on. I think at the time, the dudes in question wouldn’t have thought they were following a popular trend, but hindsight gives a different perspective.

I’ve also been surprised at what videos are available online. Videos from artists that were a really big deal back in the day are now strangely absent, and videos from obscure indie bands are available on YouTube in good quality versions – and all it takes it one person to do that.

I’m also grateful for the team at NZ On Screen who have happily taken my suggestions and managed to source some classic videos that deserve a new digital home. And NZ On Air have also been helpful with lots of information and history, and for getting some old videos up online.

And the site wouldn’t be what it is without all the comments and feedback I get, from directors, people in bands, various people involved in the music industry and other fans. It’s been a very cool experience!

In the first year of the site I’ve covered seven years of music videos, from 1991 to 1997. Just over half of the funded music videos are available online – that’s 283 videos, with another 253 not available online… yet. I’m happy that since I started the project, more old videos have become available online – and I want more!

And hopefully more is what I’ll find when I make it into 1998, 1999 and into the bold new millennium!

– Robyn

Fred Dagg & Friends “Don’t Know How Lucky We Are”

Fred Dagg aka John Clarke teamed up with an all-star cast and revisited his classic ditty for the children’s charity Books In Homes.

The video is based around Fred addressing the United Nations, letting the whole world know just how fortunate indeed New Zealand is. While he speaks, all around the country people are tuned in to watch his monumental broadcast. That’s people massive ’90s celebrities such as Petra, Jon and Nathan from Ice TV (in their lounge), Zinzan Brooke (at an airport), Richard Prebble (outside the Beehive), Bill Ralston (on Pondonby Road) and Opposition Leader Helen Clark (in her kitchen; don’t worry Helen, in two years’ time you’ll be Prime Minister).

There are also a few people I don’t recognise. They look like they should be famoush-ish, but time has not been kind to their legacy. There’s also some anonymous talent lurking in the song. Kiwihits notes that Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner, Dave Dobbyn and Graeme Hill played on the song, and it’s clear someone’s having fun with the guitar solo.

As far as being an informal national anthem goes, the song has a timeless quality. The comfort of knowing that when sometimes things seem a bit shit ’round here, it’s still not really all that bad.

But the video serves as a time capsule of the late ’90s, when Pam Corkey and Richard Prebble were popular politicians in popular political parties, when Sports Cafe was hilarious television, when Sean Fitzpatrick and Richard Hadlee were ubiquitous sporting legends, and when Kiwiana teatowels had not yet achieved retro cool.

Best bit: Helen’s awkward auntie dance. Get out of the kitchen and get into the Beehive, Hel.

Next… oil-up and strike a pose.

Mink “Ride”

I was going to describe this video as looking a bit studenty, but it seems that Mink emerged out of Otago University so there’s no reason why it shouldn’t look studenty. In fact, the “Ride” video reminds me of the sort of studenty work you’d see in the 48HOURS film competition, genre – road trip.

The video starts with a key in the ignition and a big red classic car starts its journey. The car is driven by a glamorous woman wearing a black feather boa. Feather boa are low-budget video shorthand for ‘glamorous lady’. The car soon fills up with a random assortment of hitch-hikers, with vocalist Dermania Lloyd in the passenger seat. There’s something going on with her and the driver.

The car full of freaky friends isn’t quite played for laughs, but there is a knowing absurdity to the situation. The glamorous driver looks deeply annoying at her crazy passengers (but really, what was she expecting when she picked them up?)

Suddenly it’s night and the disembodied head of Dermania floats in front of the car, reminiscent of Marion Crane’s guilt-laden road trip in “Psycho”.

The day comes and the car reaches it’s destination: a car wash. We then catch a glimpse of a book which shows moving images of a studenty party, complete with people wearing feather boas. (Actually, never do this in real life – those $2 shop feather boas will shed all over the place and a month later you’ll still find pink feathers in your cornflakes.)

“Ride” is a sweet electronica song. Part of me wants the video to be better, but for a low-budget studenty video, it’s not bad.

Best bit: the purposeful dashboard button pushing.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… how to make an entrance.

Maree Sheehan “Strength To Love”

“Too many people come and they go”, sings Maree, and the video sets about showing this exact situation. “Strength To Love” is set in a motel, where we meet an variety of diverse guests.

In fact, the motel is doing pretty well, with 16 guests. There’s an attractive but very timid young couple, a very still Asian couple, loved-up newlyweds, a older married couple, a miserable tennis player, a crossdressing codger, a party girl and her friends, a aloha shirt wearing man and his glamorous ladyfriend, a businessman, a naked lady, a bad girl, a shaved/dreadlocked woman with a dog, a trio of leather-clad lesbians, three children, an elegant old lady, a revved-up gay couple, and three cleaning ladies. That’s 4.8 litres of milk – trim or regular.

But despite staying at this bustling motel, no one seems particularly happy. It doesn’t look like a particularly nice motel. It’s just a bit run down and under decorated. And who would spend their honeymoon at such a place? (Answer: a couple who is too busy rooting to notice the decor.)

The Strawpeople’s “Taller Than God” video used a similar concept, but it worked better. I’m guessing the Strawpeople had a bigger budget, and that video had some context for the motel and kept the number of guests much smaller. There was a sense that all the characters had a story.

Whereas with the Strength To Love Motor Inn, it’s just a big collection of people who seem to be deeply troubled by relationship problems. As a result it doesn’t serve the song well, overpowering Maree’s subdued vocals but never quite being interesting enough to work on its own. I’m guessing there’s a low budget here

Best bit: the brisk effeciency of the cleaners.

Director: Peter Bannan
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… going for a drive.

D-Faction “Redemption Song”

D-Faction have covered a lot of songs so being a New Zealand group it was only a matter of time before they did some Bob Marley. The Wailers’ jaunty reggae beats are gone and in their place are some housey beats, along with some Pacific drumming. Yes, it’s a song that will move you and inspire you and you can dance to it.

Lead vocals are provided by Dave Talea, but he seems very reluctant to be in the video. His lipsyncing is restrained, as if he’s acutely embarassed to be standing on a walkway in front of some shipping containers, singing a Bob Marley song. He looks like he’s mumbling rather than singing the song.

Emancipating himself from music video slavery, he pays a visit to the Otara Markets (I think – or a similar Auckland food market), a nice reference to D-Faction’s “Babe I’m Not Original” from five years earlier.

There are scenes from the bustling streets, colourful locals, cute kids, a bit of spontaneous dancing, and some fresh corn on the cob. Sounds like a good day to me.

Finally Dave joins the rest of D-Faction, who are relaxing in a suburban lounge. It’s like they’d enjoyed a lie-in and sent him off to the markets to make the music video.

Best bit: the spontaneous street dancing.

Director: Jonathan King
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… you can check out any time you like.

Bailter Space “Velo”

Having produced a string of really good looking, really well made videos from Bailter Space, it’s surprising to come across this rather low budget effort. It looks like it’s been shot on a home video camera, and includes lots of amateur footage of Manthattan and rural America. When we see the band, they’re huddled around the camera, looking not unlike some dudes making a YouTube video in their bedroom.

While this might have come across as embarassingly low budget back when it was released, time is kind to videos like this. The grainy home video now takes on a cool aesthetic. Wobbly handheld camera, pixelly video and inadequate lighting are now all part of the charm. It helps that “Velo” is a really good song, with good searing guitar and chanted lyrics that bounce along.

Bailter Space always seemed like a very mysterious sort of band and were never the focus of their music videos. But here we see them, squished together in a clear shot, looking like three guys in a band making their own music video.

Best bit: the brief shot of the “Gordon Insurance Agency” sign. I see what they did there.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… a return to the markets.

The Feelers “Pressure Man”

The Feelers have had 25 music videos funded by NZ On Air, second only to Shihad who have 28. Even though they had funding for “The Leaving” in 1995, it all starts with “Pressure Man”.

As far as debut singles go, this is a good one. The first time I saw the video, I was really impressed that this great pop-rock song had come out of New Zealand. But I’m not sure what happened, but no other Feelers song has connected with me.

I happened to see them perform at Homegrown earlier this year. They performed to a large audience of fans. People love them, sing their songs and feel really happy. So while I’m not especially into the Feelers, I appreciate that they have a role to play in mainstream New Zealand music.

The “Pressure Man” video is directed by Joe Lonie, but it doesn’t quite feel like a typical Joe Lonie video. This might be on account of it having a bigger budget than what he’d had with other bands. I figure Warner Music wanted to launch the Feelers properly.

The video is based around four locations. We discover a guy dressed in jeans, no shirt and with dyed yellow hair, like it’s 1990 and he wants to be Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s running from something, pounding along an empty country road.

Then we meet the Feelers in three locations. They’re running along a pipe. James Feelers is wearing silver trousers and a matching jacket. You know, round about this time, I really wanted some silver jeans. I was going to wear them with a black top and look really cool.

The band can also be found playing in some sort of boiler room. There are pipes, gaskets and flames. It’s like a cool music video checklist. This look never goes out of fashion – even Britney Spears did it last year.

And finally the Feelers also perform outside at an old factory. With a wide outdoors location, they have plenty room to stretch out with rock poses.

That’s pretty much it. The video just cuts between these four locations, showing the Feelers or the wannabe Flea. The video makes the band look cool, but it doesn’t necessarily work with the song. But then, if the purpose of this video is to get people interested in this cool new band, then it’s done that well.

Best bit: the reminder that the Feelers were young once too.

Director: Joe Lonie
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… he used to do lots of things.

Shihad “Yr Head is a Rock”

The foundation story of this video goes a little something like this. Greg Page had previous made Shihad a video for their song “Derail”. He just did it for fun. The band already had a video arranged for the song, but they admired his initiative and kept him in mind when they needed a video for “Yr Head is a Rock”.

The video is shot in claymation, which was Greg’s animation form of choice back in the ’90s. He’d previous put it to use in the Throw video for “Honeyblonde”, but this one is much more sophisticated.

It tells the story of a truckie, driving alone at night along an empty road. He’s balding and is sporting a blonde handlebar moustache – essentially a plasticine Hulk Hogan.

As he drives, he starts to hallucinate, visited by ghosts from his past. We see him at a school ball in 1970 where “The Shihad Band” are playing. There he has a budding romance with a young lady, and deals with a bully who doesn’t take kindly to this blonde Romeo. But this fantasy starts interfering with reality…

I’m not normally a fan of claymation, but the animation in this video is really good, with very precise expressions of emotion. And the “The Shihad Band” look like the real deal.

Best bit: a road sign advertising “Tom’s Diner” – both a reference to the Shihad drummer and the Suzanne Vega song.

Director: Greg Page
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… the glass is smashed.

Ma-V-Elle “Depend On Me”

Ma-V-Elle head to an exotic location for their video, which actually looks like Venice, or a similarly exotic part of Europe. In a way, it’s a little bit disappointing that it’s the real deal. I’d much rather they were in some weird port town colloquially known as “Venice of the South Pacific”.

It looks like the trio toured Europe and filmed this video on a day off. The weird thing is, the location is almost incidental, like they have a romantic place shoot in but no idea what to do with it.

The three Ma-V-Elle ladies sing the song in various scenic locations, sometime solo, sometimes in pairs, sometimes all together. Sometimes they’re sporting fierce leather coats, which is a sure sign they’re being tourists in Italy. Some of their clothing seems like business wear, but that sort of stuff was actually cool going-out clothes in the late ’90s.

Even though the group is deep in Europe, they’ve still casually brought some Pacific flavour into the video. It’s a sweet song and I really appreciate that the video has captured Ma-V-Elle at their peak, on top of the world.

Best bit: the valiant attempt to keep from laughing while lipsyncing in a crowded street.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Next… keep on truckin’.