So, what's the best video you've ever seen? Depends on so many things, doesn't it? For the ‘60's generation, seeing The Beatles lys...
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So, what's the best video you've ever seen? Depends on so many things, doesn't it? For the ‘60's generation, seeing The Beatles lysergic extravangaza for Magical Mystery Tour - first broadcast on Boxing Day 1967 - must have been the aural equivalent of a particularly powerful acid trip. For the punks, witnessing the Mike Mansfield directed clip for The Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant must have been the perfect incitement to create a riot of their own. During the ‘90's, it was the video for Oasis' ode to hedonism ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol' (directed by Mark Szaszy) which really got the Britpop party started. Kasabian have, of course, always tested more boundaries than a bat wielding Freddie Flintoff. Remember the Peellaert inspired pop art of Shoot The Runner? Or how about the Wiz-directed promo for Empire, a (napoleonic) bridge to the sleeve of West Ryder? However, the video for new single Where Did All The Love Go? is arguably their best yet.
We spoke to director Charles Mehling in Paris about how the video came about. Because, as David Bowie, might put it, don't you wonder sometimes, about sound and vision?
Elliott Palm
Consultant Narcologist
WRPLA
How did you first become aware of the band?
CM: I've wanted to work with Kasabian ever since I first met them a few years ago at the K West Hotel in London, before they recorded the first album. There was talk of doing a short film then, but sadly it never happened. I was blown away by their enthusiasm and creativity. They were great to work with. They're confident in what they're doing, and they're prepared to take risks. They're a lot more playful with their public persona than most bands. At the same time, they allow the creative people who work with them free reign to express their own ideas within the context of what they are doing. That's very rare these days!
How did the idea for the video come about?
CM: The video was inspired by both the lyrics and the over-saturation of imagery we receive these days via the media. It can have a corrupting influence. It led me to the idea of a live performance by the band being watched by two kids. I needed a place where this over abundance of information could be played out, so the circus seemed like a good analogy for it.
What were the logistics involved in the shoot?
CM: It was a twenty six hour shoot which we did on a soundstage in London. The band's tour bus turned up direct from the previous night's gig, which was great, because when everyone showed up at 6am the band were already there. We had them trapped! They played the track through about six times and Tom and Serge did some extra shots. It was an exteremely long day, and I still only got about half of what I wanted to get. In the end, there's only so much you can do in 26 hours. There was an element of life imitating art. If you film a band with someburlesque dancers, some Hells Angels and knife throwers in a Big Top, it actually becomes a circus!
There are a lot of disparate visual elements involved ...
CM: Yeah. Because the band have such a strong image it meant we could play with certain imagery without overwhelming them. Anything from The Black Panthers to the Hells Angels; this iconic, screwball imagery all fits. It also seemed to be the context the band work off of. They use certain imagery and it sums up a vibe, and everyone reads into it what they like. For me, that's where art is at its best. I must say, I was surprised there wasn't more of a furore about the images from Abu Ghraib. There seemed to be more controversy about the naked female dancer. I guess that says a lot about the society we live in right now!
Visually, it feels like 21st century psychedelia; the ‘60's blueprint updated...
CM: There was definitely an influence from (the Sayles Brothers Rolling Stones 1969 movie) Gimme Shelter and Kenneth Anger's films - that ‘60's freedom of thought. It seems to suit the band. They were exciting times. Bands like The Beatles and The Stones had the tacit encouragement of the public to go as far out as they wanted. Now the climate seems to be the opposite - the further bands stray from the blueprint, the less inclined their public are to go with them. Kasabian aren't retro in any way, but they have elements of the golden age of rock'n'roll about their music and image, so I felt I could utilise that same kind of abstraction, by including Black Panthers and Hells Angels. Most bands have to stay within their own formula but Kasabian are stronger than that. They take elements of rock's past and make them their own.
Lyrically, the song's themes of knife crime and urban paranoia are very contemporary...
CM: Yeah. I know Serge was mindful of the video being relevant to today. From speaking to him, I gathered these are strange times in the U.K at the minute. Society has progressed yet youth culture still has a high propensity for violence. It feels like this rash of knife crime among young people is dragging things back to the stone age.
Did you want to obliquely reference that in the video?
CM: I tried to bring those ideas across in really subtle ways. I didn't want to tell stories, I wanted to allude to them. There are representations of it in the video - the knife thrower and the women dancing with the swords on their heads, so there's a hint of that narrative. The song works in the same way. When I first heard it, it just sounded like a great pop song - I didn't know that was what it was about. At the same time, I didn't need to be told word for word, I 'd rather just get the suggestion. Psychedelia and abstraction go brilliantly together - I Am The Walrus is the perfect example of how powerful lyrics can be when they mean nothing on the surface, but they mean so much when they're strung together in the right formation. That's where poetry and prose differ. You have a lot more freedom.
How did you get the Hells Angels involved?
CM: A stroke of luck - I don't think they've ever been in a video before. Fortunately, the band's tour manager is well connected with them and there's a bond between the band and the Angels. We got in touch with them and they happened to be at a rally in Italy. For a while it seemed like they wouldn't be able to do it, but they left a day early and drove for two days just to make it. In the end, about twenty of them showed up. They were so cool, and into the whole process.
While we're here, what are your favourite videos?
CM: Oh that's a difficult one. I'd say The Stones It's Only Rock'n'Roll - where they're dressed as sailors and covered in foam - and Roots Manuva's Witness.
(iLike.com)
(iLike.com)
