The haunted mural, glowing in the dark, back to the old house, currency, along the coast, a glamorised kebab and a geek’s night out.
Tag: Steriogram
June 2010: P-Money, PNC, Shihad, Six60, Sleeptalkers, Steriogram, Sweet & Irie
Trouble in the rubble, seductive wallpaper, a Möbius strip of Kiwi rock, over the top, the tide is high, and extreme doppelgängers.
Continue reading June 2010: P-Money, PNC, Shihad, Six60, Sleeptalkers, Steriogram, Sweet & Irie
March 2010: Pieter T, Shapeshifter, Shotgun Alley, Steriogram, The Jury & The Saints, The Naked and Famous, The Phoenix Foundation
Tiny town, the god of earthquakes is annoyed again, down at the club, finger pops, an intense house party, island fans, huge and thrilling, and underwater adventures.
Continue reading March 2010: Pieter T, Shapeshifter, Shotgun Alley, Steriogram, The Jury & The Saints, The Naked and Famous, The Phoenix Foundation
August 2007: Salmonella Dub, Scribe, Steriogram, Streetwise Scarlet, Surf City, The Brunettes
A board game, son of Canterbury, letterboxed action, back to the ’90s, a literal road movie, and furry fun.
Continue reading August 2007: Salmonella Dub, Scribe, Steriogram, Streetwise Scarlet, Surf City, The Brunettes
October 2006: Solaa, Steriogram, The Chalk, The Exiles, The Have, The Reduction Agents
Pool party! And fun with office supplies, flaming flames, graffiti, the idea of desiring machines, and a big rock video.
Continue reading October 2006: Solaa, Steriogram, The Chalk, The Exiles, The Have, The Reduction Agents
August 2006: Spacifix, Starlett, Steriogram, Ted Brown, The Black Seeds
Gandalf rocks the caravan, opshop finery, enchantment, a whole lot of lamps and a very long answer to an unasked question.
Continue reading August 2006: Spacifix, Starlett, Steriogram, Ted Brown, The Black Seeds
August 2005: Pluto, Recloose, Sarah Brown, Sola Rosa, Steriogram, The Checks, The Phoenix Foundation, The Rabble, Tyree
Racing car action, flaming flames, a marionette, animated bands, extreme close-ups, and some punks.
Continue reading August 2005: Pluto, Recloose, Sarah Brown, Sola Rosa, Steriogram, The Checks, The Phoenix Foundation, The Rabble, Tyree
Steriogram “On and On”
I like that Steriogram always have a bit of fun with their videos without totally playing for laughs. “On and On” is another of those.
We find the band playing on the roof of a parking building, with singer Tyson entering the stage by jumping from above. A flamboyant rock entrance, or is there more to it?
There’s more to it, of course. In the middle of the song Tyson leaves the stage and goes running down through the parking building. There’s something about car parks in music videos that never quite works. The difficulty of big empty grey spaces?
But things soon get interesting when Tyson discovers the band and pals waiting on some mini choppers (“and yes they are our bikes!”, says the band’s YouTube description). This leads to the highlight of the video – a 30-second shot of the band riding the bikes, with perfect vehicular choreography.
Tyson gets separated from the group, is pursued by a bat-wielding maniac. In desperation, Tyson jumps off the edge of the car park, landing in the middle of his band performing. Oh, it’s the exact same scene from the beginning of the video. And on and on it goes. Clever.
Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… empty cans of, wait, what?
Steriogram “Go”
“Go” was the second of Steriogram’s two song to chart, reaching number 28. The song is an attempt to convince a friend to leave their small-town home and move to the exciting city. The video catches Steriogram in transit, with the band packed into a car heading through the countryside.
Dual singers Tyson and Brad are in the front of the car, along with their haircuts. Yes, by this stage Steriogram had become a haircut band. A quality haircut band.
But this isn’t a quiet Sunday drive. Soon enough the old car starts falling apart, with panels flying off and various band members being pulled out by the backdraft. This is the best part of the video, with some really fun shots of Steriogram flailing about in front of the green-screen rural scenery.
Having a music video based around goofy pop antics doesn’t always work, but Steriogram and director Adam Jones manage capture plenty of energy and spirit. Yeah, the video doesn’t have much to do with the song lyrics, but who cares when there’s a flying Tyson to admire? “Go” was voted 96 in the Film Archive’s top 100 New Zealand music videos.
Best bit: as most of the comments on YouTube note, a SpongeBob appears at 1:55.
Director: Adam Jones
Nga Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… kampai!
Steriogram “Road Trip”
“Road Trip” was the follow-up single to “Walkie Talkie Man”, Steriogram’s attempted breakout single that came with a great big fancy music video directed by Michel Gondry. “Road Trip” was somewhat less ambitious than the yarn-based universe, but still a good portrait of Steriogram in their attempt to make it overseas.
The song is an honest account of life on the road – the mix of sleep deprivation, boredom, having no money, hunger and – oh yeah – “we’re doing what we love and we love what we’re doing”. The video is along for the ride, but doesn’t dwell too much on those less fun aspects. As director Andrew Morton explains on YouTube, “I went on the road with Steriogram for three months back in 2004. We went to Tokyo, Toronto, and all through the States multiple times. It was an insane amount of fun and killer times. This video is a compile of those travels.”
There are a few shots of the band napping in vans and breakdancing in hotel rooms, but most of the video is based around live shows. Despite the tedium of the van, it seems Steriogram could turn up to a venue, put on a show and get the crowd moving.
It’s a really effective live video. They’re not faking audience size or enthusiasm – here’s a young New Zealand band who are working their arses off on tour. They didn’t quite manage to establish themselves in America, but this video is a good enough record of that year of hard work.
Best bit: the end shot of a guitar being tossed up in the air, with no follow-through on the comedown.
Director: Andrew Morton
Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision
Next… summertime gladness.