Two Videos, One Day, and a Blown Fuse
In May 2013, we drove our bus to a decommissioned hydroelectric plant east of Portland. It was a place I first spotted in footage from an episode of Grimm. Several of the music videos for The Yellow Album had a steampunk element because we were partnering with the Tai Chi Zero film series, and this location felt like a perfect fit. I wrote to their plant board, they were excited, and just like that we had special permission to film there.
Will, our guitarist at the time, had joined only a few months earlier (replacing Johnny) so this would be his music video debut. And because we were operating on pure scrappiness, we decided to shoot two different videos in a single day. Our friend Jason Ericson happily agreed to shoot both. Back then, nearly all of our videos were made by ourselves or friends who generously donated their time.
First up was our ballad Sour Love, filmed in the main turbine building. It's a massive space with gigantic turquoise turbines and windows overlooking the Sandy River. We wanted the setting to mirror the isolation in the lyrics.
We also found an empty loft with a broken pane of glass overhead that formed a perfect star as the sun rose, which made for a great backdrop for Aron's solo scenes. For smoother panning shots, different band members pushed Jason around in a wheelchair while he handheld the camera.
We spent about 90 minutes filming various band and individual combinations before changing outfits and moving everything to the transformer building for Misery — which would debut alongside the Tai Chi Hero film starring Daniel Wu and Tony Leung Ka-fai. To get more "steam" into our steampunk video, our roadie Ken hid behind the transformer and periodically hit the fog machine we'd bring on tour.
Longtime fans might also spot some familiar stage props, like our infamous lightboxes. We got about three takes in before (ironically) we blew the power out. Later, we intercut the footage with scenes from the then-unreleased film, and just like that, we had ourselves a complete video.
Watch the music videos here: Sour Love | Misery
Asian PaCIVICS and AAPI Heritage Month
May is also Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The Slants Foundation has partnered with Crossings TV to debut Asian PaCIVICS, spotlighting 9 artists who are using their music to drive social change across the United States. Many of us volunteer with this nonprofit because we genuinely believe in the power of art to move things forward.
While The Slants Foundation operates independently of the band, 100% of merchandise and royalty proceeds go directly to supporting their work. Check out what's happening over there, and if it moves you, consider throwing them a donation. We want to help empower a new generation of scrappy artists!