Chosen by Monk
It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven whole days since we last awarded our coveted ‘Video Of The Week’ title, and, despite the ongoing, and some cases renewed, lockdowns 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.
After careful consideration of the 100-plus submissions we once again received this week – and, yes, we did watch them all – our winning selection comes from someone who is no stranger to the pages of ÜR, in the form of guitarslinger-for-hire Stevie R. Pearce and his bunch of Hooligans, who are proving that they truly are ‘Lunatics By The Pool’ in the hilarious – and extremely wet – video for the second single released to promote the band’s forthcoming second album, ‘Major League Son Of A Bitch’, which itself is due early next year via the newly established Heavy Rocka Records imprint.
Stevie told us a little more about the song and, of course, the accompanying clip, which itself brings some much-needed brightness into these otherwise dark days:
“I always write with an element of truth… It’s all true, each verse tells a different story that all in some way are related to a pool that happened to me… During a trip to Bangkok last year I witnessed some let’s say “Brits Abroad” discussing their stories of woe… which were kind of similar to mine… perhaps slights more elaborate… then it got me thinking about other times in my life where trouble had occurred by a pool… Thus, verse two, which is A Warrior Soul incident, and verse three – a day strip club in Tucson, Arizona during a day off debacle.
“A lot of the new album has certain depths… I’ve gone a bit further with it… However, ‘Lunatics…’ is an 18-30s lads’ trip to Kavos and just as tacky – and we do that very well.
“The video HAD to be by a pool. Jason Miller shot it and we had a blast for a day… Mainly I was happy no-one drowned – but it wasn’t for lack of trying.“
A change in mood for our first honourable mention, which sees us tuning into the ‘Voices’ in the heads of rising East Anglian alt-rockers Dead Reynolds, whose rising trajectory we have been monitoring for a few years now – and they continue to show that the trend is most definitely, and defiantly, upward with this powerful new offering, which serves as the first taste of their debut album, due in the Spring:
One feeling which many of us have been able to share over the past nine months or so is that of ‘Isolation’, and it is a sense which is now given new meaning, both sonically and visually, with this wonderful new single from French art-punks The Psychotic Monks. The video, which is based around live footage taken from a performance at La Ferme d’En Haut in Villeneuve d’Asq, France, last year, intermingled with all sorts of avant-garde imagery, was compiled by photographer Clara Marguerat, who told us:
“Through this video, we tried to recreate the experiences of deep introspection and dreamlike contemplation that may happen in concerts. Its main purpose is to make people feel good while watching it.
“It is a live capture combined with an abstract universe I made out of different films taken from the PM (Psychotic Monks) members’ personal collection. I mixed it with other footage we’ve worked on. It was a collective initiative, we wanted it to reflect the intense things they’ve been through during their last year of touring, but to keep it as open as possible and not to focus on their individualities.”
We travel to the Pennines for our penultimate choice, where we enlist in the company of up-and-coming alt-punks The Lounge Society and their imaginative video to accompany new single ‘Burn The Heather’. The single takes its title from the annual local ritual burning of the moor-top heather by the rich rural landowners for their lucrative grouse-shoots (and which those down in the valley blame on causing frequent flooding): although, if you ask us, it’s as heavily inspired by the abundance of magic mushrooms for which the area is also renowned!
Nevertheless, the band told us a bit more about the background
“[It] is a song deeply rooted in where we come from. The lyrics are our interpretation of some of the darker aspects of where we live, and our personal reaction to them. Musically, ‘Burn the Heather’ is intended to be an adrenaline shot to the brain. We wanted this to be the second single all along. We don’t want to be just another post-punk band, and we knew ‘..Heather’ would keep people on their toes. Unlike a lot of our tracks, the guitars are quite minimal and the rhythm really carries it, and we think it works really well. We want to make people move.”
The video’s director, Nick Farrimond, also offered his thoughts on the visual:
“Born from the sense of injustice surrounding irresponsible land owners who clear heather from the moorland for grouse hunting, (resulting in increased flood risks below in the valley where we all live) we decided to portray caricatured versions of grouse hunters, dressed head to toe in tweed and showing total disregard for the landscape and devoid of any values, morals or ethics. The band play the parts of grouse, making their way across the moors, dressed in fetching red boiler suits and unaware of the impending danger they face. What ensues is general carnage as the grouse are hunted one by one, each meeting a grizzly, untimely end… or do they? You’ll have to watch the video to find out.”
Our final selection this week is the beautifully languid ‘Funeral Suit’, the title track of the first solo acoustic album from Tony Reed, who should be familiar to many ÜR readers as the frontman, and creative force, behind Seattle stoners Mos Generator. The accompanying video is suitably complementary: simply shot in black-and-white and focussing on Reed, his emotions and his guitar, demonstrating that, when it comes to something like this, less most definitely is more…
Well, there you go. That’s your lot for this week. Until next Sunday, keep ‘er lit, keep ‘er between the hedges and #StayTheFuckSafe…
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