Music Video Monday is doubling up!
Ryan Peel
A yummy shot from ‘2X’
Ryan Peel is back for the second time in 2019. This time he brings Webbstar, Thread Astaire, and Travis Roman with him for “2X.”
“‘2X’ is a fun, playful song about someone or something that keeps you coming back for MORE,” says Peel. “Seconds won’t hurt … but save room for dessert!”
Music Video Monday: Ryan Peel
If you’d like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Music Video Monday gonna slow it down a little this week.
Richard James’ reputation as one of Memphis’ punk wild men is well deserved. By the end of his raucous garage sets, he can end up singing from atop the bar, or preaching punk aphorisms while prone on the floor. But his song “Children of the Dust” shows a much chiller side of the Special Rider—an echoy slab of one-man bedroom psychedelia.
“The song came out of watching movies late at night,” he says. “It is named after the 1995 movie that starred Sidney Poitier and inspired by classic, European, horror films like Tombs of The Blind Dead. ”
For the video, Memphis filmmaker George Hancock captured footage of James on the banks of the Mississippi, and then layered on altered landscapes to create a dreamscape.
Music Video Monday: Richard James
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Today we’ve got a world premiere from Music Video Monday fav Marco Pavé.
“Cake” is Marco’s hot new single, and you can hear it first right here. Like his previous MVM song “Black Tux”, it’s all about the spiritual price extracted by the capitalist directive to “go get that money”.
The video is directed by GB Shannon, whose video for Vending Machine’s “Let The Little Things Go” topped MVM’s Best Of 2015 list. For this video, he revisited one of his favorite locations, the WREG building that featured prominently in his IndieGrant short film “Broke Dick Dog”. The video also stars Rosalyn Ross and Marcus Hamilton from “Broke Dick Dog”, as well as Memphis comedian Tut Weezy and the M-Town Dancers, choreographed by Robert Ward.
Marco Pavé "Cake" Music Video from VIA on Vimeo.
Music Video Monday: Marco Pavé
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Music Video Monday is heading off the rails!
Singer/songwriter Brennan Villines says he got the idea for the year’s most unlikely cover on the spur of the moment. “I was playing one of my regular gigs one night and about to wrap up when my friend Billy came in and I asked him what he wanted to hear.Jokingly, he says ‘You got any Ozzy?’ So I tried ‘Crazy Train,’ and as I finished the song I looked up and Billy just has this astonished look on his face. He told me, ‘You have to record that.’”
Record it he did, transforming the metal anthem into a ballad for a world gone mad. “I decided to go with my gut and really focus my artistry with this piece on influencing a positive message and bringing out those lyrics ‘learn how to love and forget how to hate,’”
The music video, directed by Andrew Trent Fleming, brings home the message by transposing images of Villines and dancers with scenes of protest and hope. If you’re feeling shocked and dislocated today, this song is for you.
Music Video Monday: Brennan Villines
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
This week marks the return of the music video competition to the Indie Memphis Film Festival.
In 2000s, Indie Memphis co-sponsored a music video competition with the much-missed community arts web site Live From Memphis, but the Music Video Showcase has been AWOL for five years. In an era where YouTube is the most important venue for new music discovery, the music video is more important than ever, so Indie Memphis will feature two blocs of music videos during the seven day festival, which begins tomorrow, Nov. 1.
The Hometowner Music Video bloc bows at the Orpheum Theatre’s Halloran Centre on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8:10 PM. 23 videos from the fusion of Memphis musicians and filmmakers reflect the city’s explosive creativity the Flyer has been covering on our Music Video Monday series. Among the MVM alums is our best music video of 2015, Vending Machine’s “Let The Little Things Go”, directed by G.B. Shannon.
VENDING MACHINE "Let The Little Things Go" Music Video from GB Shannon on Vimeo.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (2)
Another MVM alum is Andrew Trent Fleming and Marco Pavé’s scorcher, “Black Tux”:
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (3)
The third MVM alum is the Halloween-appropriate “No Loving But Yours” from Crown Vox.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis
Indie Memphis’ newest category is Sounds, which includes both music themed features and music videos. The Sounds video bloc, which is open to videos from all over the world, will screen on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4 PM. Among the highlights of the 18 videos in competition are this naughty puppet party from Eric White:
El Muppet Song from Eric White on Vimeo.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (4)
And finally, there’s this highly acclaimed, thumb wrestling epic from Etienne Fu-le Saulnier:
MUSIC VIDEO LITTLE PARTY QUEEN from Fu-Le Saulnier Etienne on Vimeo.
Music Video Monday: Indie Memphis (5)
You can buy tickets to the video blocs or festival passes at the Indie Memphis website. If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
It’s Music Video Monday’s time to get groovy.
Jeffrey Novak is a former Memphian with deep ties to the Goner scene through his former band Cheap Time. His new band Savoy Motel is a departure from his usual rock trajectory to a funkier, drum machine driven sound influenced by early 80s electro. Their new self titled album just dropped, and here’s their first music video “Hot One”.
Music Video Monday: Savoy Motel
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com.
Today’s MVM is NSFW. Unless you work at the Flyer, that is.
“I’ve wanted to be in a punk band since I was a teenager,” says Hormonal Imbalance’s Susan Mayfield. “Thought I’d be the guitarist for it if it ever happened, but life happened with kids and shitty relationships that kept me from it. In 2001 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and a friend sold me his drum kit cheap to cheer me up. I started learning. After yet another failed relationship, I was on my own with no life at all. Having already dealt with a deep depression, I knew I was headed that way and didn’t want to feel that again. I had always loved comedy bands like Green Jelllo, Mega Smegma, Butt Trumpet, and The Dead Milkmen just to name a few. So I decided to start my own band.”
Mayfield recruited Ivy Miller of Midtown punk provocateurs SVU for guitar and Adam Richards on bass. “I couldn’t have wished for better band mates because they loved the same music I did and loved my vision just as much as I did so it was a perfect fit,” she says.
The band recorded their first album at Rocket Science Audio in December, 2015, and got Rising Fyre Productions’ Jamie Hall and J. Lazarus Hawk to create the video for their first single “The Chick’s Boyfriend.”
“We were trying to produce a music video that wasn’t just a bunch of random quick clips of the band,” says Hall, who directed. “We as a production company want to tell a story of what the songs writer put on paper. It is important to tell the story that the song portrays. Truly, the song itself was our inspiration. Hormonal Imbalance is a fun group of people. there songs are your typical ‘punk’ songs, not the political kind of punk it is more of The Butthole Surfers or Dead Milkman kind of vibe, and with that we wanted to have fun with the video and the band.”
“The video is a perfect representation of the band,” says Ivy “dinosaur” Miller. “When Susan approached me about playing I was already in another band, and not sure I’d have time, but this is one of the most fun projects I’ve been a part of. The costumes and tongue in cheek vulgarity are key to our stage persona. Like…we’re gross and in your face, but funny about it, as opposed to being super aggressive and testosterone-y.”
Get ready for some dildo assault. Starring SVU’s Tyler Miller as “The Boyfriend” and Vicki Esmond as “That Chick”, here’s “That Chick’s Boyfriend”:
Music Video Monday: Hormonal Imbalance
If you would like to see your music video featured on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Music Video Monday is feeling your Monday pain.
Dead Soldiers are one of Memphis’ hottest live acts, and if you’ve ever seen them play, you know why. Their music is folky, but the energy with which they deliver it on stage rivals the raunchiest rockers. Their new music video gives you a little taste of their passionate delivery. “Sixteen Tons” is a country folk classic by Merle Travis that was made famous by Tennesse Ernie Ford. Joined by guests from Columbia, Missouri band Hooten Hallars, the Soldiers attack the song, bringing out the piece’s grinding, working class frustration with a death metal roar. Directors Michael Jasud and Sam Shansky and cinematographer Joey Miller cast the performance in a stark black and white. This one’s for all y’all suffering through yet another Monday morning working in the proverbial coal mines.
Music Video Monday: Dead Soldiers
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
Music Video Monday has news for you.
Chris Milam’s new music video, “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”, pays homage to one of the earliest, and most famous, music videos. In May 1965, documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker had following Bob Dylan to London while filming his seminal rock documentary Dont Look Back. Dylan wrote the lyrics to his song “Subterranean Homesick Blues” on a handful of cue cards, and Pennebaker and crew popped out back of the Savoy Hotel to film a short title sequence for the documentary. The resulting promo clip was an instant classic that has been parodied, emulated, and revered over the years.
Milam enlisted Memphis experimental film auteur Ben Siler to riff on the timeless concept for his song “Tell Me Something I Didn’t Know”. Where Dylan had a cameo by Beat poet Alan Ginsberg, Milam and Siler got a cavalcade of Memphians to silently confess their secrets on camera, ranging from touching to funny to harrowing. Milan says the total budget for the video, shot on an iPhone, was “about $9”, but the results prove that some ideas are evergreen, and you don’t have to have elaborate sets or costumes to make a great music video.
Music Video Monday: Chris Milam
If you would like to see your music video on Music Video Monday, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com
It’s time to take a little trip with MVM.
A couple of weeks ago, Memphis producer Matt Lucas dropped the first single for his new record Whiskey for Breakfast: A Day in the Life of Matt Lucas. “Ea$t Side Nights/Home” is a banging bit of post-Kanye hip hop. It’s full of contrasting sonic textures, leading with a pounding subwoofer beat before veering heavily towards chillwave at the climax.
Directed by Rahimhotep Ishakarah, the video reflects the song’s 21st century schizoid nature. “This video tells the story of a young man who tries to escape his problems but cannot escape himself or his vices,” says Lucas. “He tries to envision a world beyond his own to face the harsh realities of his past and present to motivate himself to take on his future and control his destiny.”
Music Video Monday: Matt Lucas
If you would like to see your music video featured here on MVM, email cmccoy@memphisflyer.com