Tag: Graham Brazier

We last saw Graham Brazier way back in 1998 with the noirish world of “Long Gone for Good”. This time things are much more upbeat, with Graham pottering around the house, having his attention diverted by his dog and cat.

Graham also hangs out with his mum in her second-hand bookshop, he walks his dog, has coffee with a friend and watches a rugby game. The song has a really nice relaxed feeling to it and the video goes with that. The rock ‘n’ roll excesses of the early Hello Sailor years are long gone. The “In Your Company” video seems to depict a fairly ordinary day in Graham’s fairly ordinary life.

The one music video touch happens when Graham sits down and writes the names of various dead musicians on strips of cardboard – Joe Strummer, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, one of the Ramones and other dead dudes – and then throws them out the window. Because art.

But the video ends with a common touch – Graham having a singsong at the local rugby club. It’s all so chilled out that when it sings the line “Turn off the light/I’m in your company”, it doesn’t sound at all smutty.

Best bit: the cat walking all over Graham. There should be more pets in music videos.

Note: the YouTube clip begins with Graham reading a poem. The music video itself starts at 1:25, but you might as well start with the poem.

Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Going solo after the world of Hello Sailor, Graham enters a stylish, noirish world of the night, where three bad people each end up dead in the boot of a car. But is this the real life or is it just a revenge fantasy?

Guided by the lyrics, there’s Shorty, who “thinks he’s a big man”, but meets a grisley fate after drugging a woman; Nancy the lurex-clad stripper who throws a jiggling client (eeeew) out of a high building; and a salesman (played by Paolo Rotondo) whose manic sales pitch ends with his beheading.

During the instrumental break, the screen splits into thirds and all three stories are simultaenously shown again, each ending with the same car in the same dark alley.

It’s left unclear whether there really are three murders or if it’s just a dark fantasy of stressed out individuals living tough lives.

This grimy world is left behind with Graham finding a smashed bottle of milk on his sunny suburban doorstep. Hey, that’s milk in bottles, even though back in 1998 milk was widely available in cartons and plastic bottles. But was it really smashed? Perked up by a cup of instant, Graham finishes the video by just playing the song, then he’s gone.

Best bit: the salesman’s glamorous mannequin prop.

Director: Marek Sumich
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

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