I’m fairly active on social networks, but it took ’til today to hear about the Harlem Shake. If it wasn’t for Baauer “cock-blocking” Azealia Banks, I’d still be in the dark. After getting up to speed this morning, I filmed my own this afternoon.
Seeing as I’m dancing alone, it’s not strictly canon. Consider it a primer – I hope to film a group version at You Are Here. More details on that event shortly.
The folks at You Are Here kindly asked me to write about my SHINE TARTS experience. It’s a summation of what I’ve been discussing on this site, with a bonus photo of me in fetching pink sunglasses.
Music by Rza.
Luke suggested that I write about my ever-increasing pre-occupation with painting my skin at gigs. I suppose if this post reveals anything about my personality (aside from my child-like hunger for attention) it's how little encouragement I need to push something to the extreme.
It started with The Missing Lincolns set at Corinbank 2010. Luke was living in Cairns at the time so it was our first show in almost a year. Between that and the opportunity to play a big festival stage, I became obsessed with laying on some kind of arresting spectacle.
Without telling the other guys, I devised a fairly random costume concept, inspired by the character King Peacock from Alan Moore's 'Top Ten' series. A phone call to Mum and a visit to Lincraft and my outfit quickly took shape. I can still remember the look on Luke's face when, minutes before we took the stage, I threw a jar of yellow paint at Gleeson (our tirelessly dependable drummer) and asked him to rub me down. Gleeson took it in stride.
It's funny to think of now, but I was terrified. I'd never been shirtless in public before! That said, it was the day that I discovered the freedom of extreme costuming. I wasn't just Nick anymore- I was King Lincoln, Harbringer Of The Sun, and the only logical behaviour was to rule the stage like a king.
It was a few months after that The Last Prom started to take shape as a band/theatre project. Once I realised I was going to be performing as the Antichrist fronting The Four Horseman Of The Apocalypse, the door was opened for some fairly 'statement-y' looks.
2012 involved a full theatrical season of Last Prom shows, along with a resurgence of The Missing Lincolns in the wake of Luke's return. People were still talking about the Corinbank show, so to my mind there was no room to go backwards as far as on-stage presentation.
Bodypaint has largely given way to coloured hairspray, which has proven to be a quicker process both in application and removal. With so many gigs and promotional shoots, it felt like I spent half of last year either painted or washing paint off. Many was the time I'd be halfway through a workday and have a client point out where I'd missed a spot.
Expect me to take things to an even more ludicrous extreme in 2013, and not just in the bodypaint stakes. I'd like to finish with a shout out to the talented visual artists who have stooped to working with the blank canvas that is myself, particularly Julia Johnson and George Edwards. For more of their work, watch this face!
After falling in love with Holy Motors last year, I’ve plunged into Leos Carax’s filmography. Today I watched Mauvais Sang, and was struck by the similarity between this frame and one of our own.
Porcelain skin, white light, a splash of blue, bokeh on black, a sense of stillness. Mauvais Sang is superb and I highly recommend it.
Phase One of Operation: El Lukio Freedom has kicked off – I posed at the Fyshwick Fresh Food Markets for our good friend and photographer Tiffany Smith. Contrary to what I expected, no one cared that a guy in a pink wrestling mask was running around manhandling the produce. I even went through the checkout and the cashier didn’t raise an eyebrow.
I also pre-wrote 130 tweets today. Which sounds odd, but it’s the only way I could do it (especially sans smartphone). I’ll let them trickle out (if you’re curious, follow us, or find us on FB), but will collate some of the best here in a couple of months. There’s a mixture of content, from actual cooking tips, to food-related song links, to zingers. It was fun to write gags in such a truncated format – it’ll be a good way to hone my comedic skills.
Over the last couple of days, we filmed and edited “ The Public Service Announcement”. It’s a long-gestating idea, suggested by my focus group/work colleagues (who all vociferously use hand sanitizer several times a day). It took some time to find a way in – I didn’t want to do a bland direct to camera monologue, and eventually found inspiration in Mr. T’s PSAs and raps, intended to “reach the kids”.
In these irony-drenched postmodern times, the cringe factor is almost unbearable. We tried to capture its tone, to keep it as sweet and sincere as possible. If ours has its share of irony, it’s only what the viewer brings to it – on face value, it’s just as genuine and heartfelt.
For our shortest video, there’s several firsts. In particular, we experimented with green screen effects – I wouldn’t say completely successfully, but we learnt a lot. If we can bring down the amount of time they added to the shoot, I’d like them to become a regular fixture.
We’re taking a short break from filming, and exploring some promo opportunities (a photo shoot, vinyl stickers, a live cooking demonstration, as well as further “online penetration”). I’ll also use this time to script the next two episodes in conjunction, allowing us to set-up gags in one episode that pay off in the next (which we do now, but the possibilities are greater with a little premeditation. There’s times we’ve thought, “if only we had this extra bit with a guest chef” or the like).
Things have happened quickly since I last posted about Sunshine Sally. Then, I was 70% happy with the demos – that figure’s now hovering around 90%. I’ve trimmed two songs, bringing the total to 12. I’ve also re-recorded some of the demos, swapping out my vocal placeholders for the melodies on guitar or keyboard. Sonically, it’s now consistent.
It’s definitely a soundtrack by a pop musician – there’s no swelling orchestral arrangements or avant-garde electronic flourishes. The closest comparison I could make is to Badly Drawn Boy’s About A Boy soundtrack -wistfully upbeat, acoustic-driven pop, with a mix of vocal and instrumental tracks.
The band will be billed as ‘SHINE TARTS’ – it’s an ocker term from the movie (not actually in my edit), meaning a ‘good sort‘ or ‘top bird’ or the like. We start rehearsals this week. Part of the challenge I set myself was to work with people I’ve never played with before. It’s an eclectic group, and I can’t wait to get in the room and see what we can cook up.
I just returned from two weeks driving around New Zealand’s South Island. I packed the mask and jumper, and with nothing open on Christmas Day, we found ourselves with time to kill.
It was the easiest shoot we’ve done – we didn’t have to worry about lighting, and the dish is simple (but delicious). Even more fun was shooting the dancing bits at NZ landmarks – waiting ten minutes for a quiet moment at Franz Josef Glacier, so you can slip on a pink mask and do a jig, is a surreal situation. Whenever we’re filming, Lou and my oft-quoted mantra is, “this is what normal people do.” Patently untrue, but it reassures us enough to get through.
That’s ten episodes of One Pot Punk Rock in the can now. The production has reached a level I’m satisfied with – my next goal is increasing their popularity. Marketing and promotion have always been where I’ve let myself down. Every band I’ve been in sucks at it, which is shameful, because I’ve known for years that it is at least 50% of the ‘success’ equation. A good product has never been enough. Waiting on a record deal, or for something to go viral, is to wish upon a star. I still don’t know what the answer is, but it’s time to stop dumping it in the ‘too hard’ basket.
With Christmas done and dusted, I wanted to share the videos we shot for our Babyfreeze Christmas EP.
The first was Merry Christmas (I Don’t Want To Fight Tonight). This was the only one that maintained the black and white, moody/creepy visual aesthetic we’d begun this year. Like everybody, I’d dug the Way To War video a hell of a lot, and wanted to have a crack at something similar. Adding a Christmas theme seemed a delicious subversion.
Shopping centres are desperation magnets at the best of times, and feel even sadder at Christmas. The Another Lonely Christmas video was a two hour shoot at the Canberra Centre. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be escorted out at any point, but after filming for twenty minutes undisturbed in Top Bargain, our confidence grew. People kept apologising for walking into shot, which was exactly what we’d hoped for. This video was the most fun to edit, in no small part to due Nick’s touching performance. I’m also extremely pleased with the music production on this – the others veer away from the quote-unquote Babyfreeze Sound, but this one is absolutely perfect.
Which brings us to Christmas Number One – we filmed this minutes after playing The Phoenix (the first shots were in the carpark behind the pub – I put the guitar in the car and took out the camera). Nick had the concept in his head, and roped in the extras. It’s got mad energy, likely because of the speed of the shoot. I don’t think this took more than an hour, which is how I like to do it – there’s no wasted reels, everything we shot made it into the video.
It was a tremendous challenge given the time constraints (I was headed overseas – I had to leave the videos uploading on my computer when I dashed to the airport). That said, I’m already excited about the possibilities for next year.
Lick Nuke 