Chosen by DJ Monk
Despite the ongoing lockdown in many parts of the Überverse, we are still receiving a healthy bundle of submissions for our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ title. Many of them are produced against the background of continuing quarantine conditions in some countries, while others reflect artists being able to return and flex their creative muscles once again – and our winning offering this week does just that…
…And it comes from Finnish hard rocker Jessica Wolff and her highly appropriate visualization of her new single, ‘Superhero’, which sees the singer using her experience as a personal fitness trainer to full effect, playing the song’s title role in a flurry of carefully choreographed fight scenes. Jessica herself explained the background to the video:
“Originally, we were supposed to film the video in March, but the corona virus crisis hit Finland just two weeks before and we were forced to cancel. It was hard not having an idea if it would be possible to film it before the album release. Then the restrictions eased up in May, and it was again allowed to be in groups more than ten people. I had two weeks’ time to find a location and get the team of 16 people together. The schedule got tight, but we made it!
“I’ve used a little bit of action in my music videos but never really a proper stunt fight. This is a passion of mine which I’ve started with in 2008. For a long time, I wanted to have a music video with fighting scenes but I didn’t have the right song, time or place until now. We were almost in time for the release – but hey, better this way than no video at all. I´m so happy and thankful for the great production team, stunt friends, band members and the big support by the Souls of Rock Foundation. I owe you all a big one!”
‘Superhero’ is taken from Wollf’s latest album, ‘Para Dice’, which was released via Metalopolis Records earlier this month:
Our next video is another great example of artists adapting to lockdown conditions, with Welsh progressive heavy rockers Godsticks using virtual reality to stage an otherwise impossible “live” show, featuring them “performing” at five of their favourite venues, by way of highlighting the continuing threat to many grassroots venue, even after the current crisis ends.
Singer and guitarist Darran Charles explained the rationale behind the video for ‘Relief’, which is lifted from their current album, ‘Inescapable’:
“Like all musicians at the moment, we’re desperate for normality to resume so that we can play live once again. So, to compensate we’ve recorded a virtual live performance from the comfort of our home studios. It’s of course no substitute to being physically on stage, but thanks to some technological wizardry, we can invite you to watch us perform ‘Relief’ from our new record, and perhaps also set a record for playing the most venues in five minutes and two seconds. Some of these are well loved local and national venues that we’ve enjoyed playing at over the years, while others are representative of our ambitions and dreams! With concerts likely to be a significant time away from resuming, the survival of live venues and festivals around the world is under threat. Fortunately, there are organisations set up to try and prevent this from happening; organisations such as saveourvenues.co.uk/.
“We have put a list of some of our favourite venues and festivals on our website, some of whom need your support more than ever, and some who have had to set up crowdfunding campaigns. Of course, there are countless industries struggling at the moment, but this is ours, and in order for live music to resume in the future then we’ll need our favourite venues to remain in existence!”
Our next shortlisted submission sees us heading about as far down under as we can possibly go, with Tasmanian synth-punk rock devils (sic) A. Swayze & The Ghosts and their new single, ‘Cancer’, taken from their forthcoming debut album, ‘Paid Salvation’, which is due to land in September. The band’s enigmatic lead single, Andrew Swayze, who also directed the video, gave us some background to the clip:
“The images came to me in a dream. As soon as I woke I briefed Olivia and we took it from there. We were locked up at home so had been forced to make it entirely on our own from inside a little makeshift cupboard come production office we’d created. Clown paint doesn’t dry which is surprising.”
From the southern hemisphere to sun-soaked southern Spain now, where we enter the world of the Spaghetti western on the streets of Sin City, where it is ‘High Noon’. This is the first single to be lifted from the ex-pat duo’s second album, ‘Next Exit Sin City’ – itself no mean achievement, as they released their first full-length album just this past April, and immediately set out to use the extremely strict Spanish lockdown rules to write and record it’s follow-up, which came out just a few short weeks later. All that remains to be said is to get your best dad rock dance moves dusted down for this one:
Our final entry this week sees us more or less turn things full circle, as we couldn’t resist including the new offering from the Queen Of Metal herself, Doro, who just this past Friday released her new single, ‘Brickwall’, the first track from her forthcoming new album, the follow-up to 2018’s ‘Forever Warriors, Forever United’, which she has been recording in the USofA since February. Earlier this month, however, she managed to return to her native Germany for a pair of “drive-in” concerts in the cities of Worms and Bochum. ‘Brickwall’ starts off as a slow-burning ballad but develops into another fist-pumping metal anthem of the type that Doro has made her signature sound – and I van think of no better way to bring the curtain down on this week’s feature:
That’s your lot for this week. Hope you have enjoyed the new sights and sounds we have brought to you this week. Until next Sunday, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StaySafe…
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