Our music video making journey with Dave Aspinall began in 2007. After having made a few well-budgeted videos for early singles from our debut Raise The Alarm, we were asked to produce a modestly-budgeted accompaniment to a b-side of our next release by our label.
We realised that there was one person who had been following us with a camera in his hand since the very beginning and so Dave was the natural and obvious person to approach.
After making this video (the track was called What You Like) we soon agreed that out of all the videos we'd made up to that point, this one stood out as our favourite despite not having the budget of it's predecessors.
To date we've collaborated with Dave five times, three of those for tracks featured on this latest album.
As a band, we enjoy the advantages you only get from working with a personality you have a long history with. We all go back a long way, so naturally there is no apprehension when brainstorming initial video ideas, however ridiculous they sound. I sort of don't feel like there's a camera being pointed at me most of the time when shooting too.
It Is Only You
The basic idea for this one was to achieve a kind of 'time-lapse' effect. For this we had to stretch the audio and slowed the track down until it lasted two hours. We filmed a recording of me singing the track close-up, uploaded this to one of our phones, stuck it to the top of the camera and hit the streets. After speeding the film back up, I'm singing in real time while the background is in hyper speed.
Don't Stop
After scrapping a pretty disastrous video that we'd already shot, we we're left with almost no budget and about three days to deliver something else! Dave came to rescue and headed to Leeds armed with a camera some animal masks. He had a simple idea of us knocking on doors and presenting our song to the unsuspecting resident of Leeds with a doorstep performance of the track. It was a pretty surreal experience for everyone involved but the residents of the estate the we filmed in were amazing and totally made it with their enthusiasm. It was a lot of fun.
Finally We Arrive
This is the promo for our new single. This time we gave Dave total freedom to make whatever he liked. He had always loved the track and was confident he knew how the video should look and feel. We trust his taste so let him run with the idea. It was the first video we've not been in. We're really pleased with the result, it looks really cinematic and have only just seen it for the first time.
As well making various music videos, Dave has been documenting our career on camera from early on. From some pretty ropey gigs in the back of pubs in Leeds in 2004 to festival appearances and tours all over the place. He joined us in the studio in Sheffield last year and made this short documentary about the making of our new album 'The Sunshine Underground' which comes out 19 May.
Look out for the album, hope you enjoy the videos x
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