So, the video I directed for HELMS ALEE's "8/16" is finally out. Not only that, but on the front page of VEVO, which means it is getting millions more impressions than I ever would have imagined.
I had a lot of fun making it, especially going up to Seattle and shooting with the band (total DIY friend-fest. We owe a bunch of people hugs and favors.) It was stressful at times, but I was always sure we were working on something awesome. I am extremely proud of how it came out.
Ben told me about the idea for the video when the band was on tour with Boris around the time my video for Torche's "UFO" came out. Which means this was waaay before any of us knew that Beavis and Butthead was going to be back on TV.
So months go by, the band records Weatherhead and we pick up discussion of the video. At one point I proposed shooting them as live action versions of Beavis and Butthead, mostly because I was nervous about animating. We settled on the concept of the video pretty much as it came out, and I suggested trying out Kickstarter to get a decent budget to make the video (when I made the Torche video, what little money we spent came out of my own pocket). I'd do some things differently in hindsight, but mostly it went really well, and we got enough money to do the video.
Shooting the video and editing were smooth, and animating was too, but it is always a pretty slow process. I did all the drawings by hand then scanned, colored, and arranged them digitally. It took longer than I anticipated (as usual). When I gave the band an ETA I doubled how long I thought it would take and ended up being right on the money. It could have been done more quickly, but making videos isn't my full-time job (yet?).
So in the time it took to make the video, Beavis and Butthead returned to MTV, grunge returned to the fashion world, and at Trader Joe's I've started hearing the songs whose videos we re-created.
Excellent timing.
video link: http://youtu.be/GmcX97Y3vE4
"8/16" comes from Helms Alee's second full length album Weatherhead. Produced by Matt Bayles in the winter of 2011, and released the following July, Weatherhead finds the band expanding on what AVClub calls 'impossibly catchy heaviness'. Tours with Torche, Big Business, Boris and Minus the Bear have helped the band, and now Weatherhead, put grunge right back on the map.
The girls and boy of Helms Alee will be on tour this March with fellow Northwest resident, Thrones:
03/03 Bellingham, WA @ Jinx Art Space w/ Sloths, Tearamanapart
03/31 Seattle, WA @ Comet Tavern w/ Thrones
04/01 Vancouver, BC @ Iron Roads Studio w/ Thrones
04/03 Bellingham, WA @ Shakedown w/ Thrones
04/05 Arcata, CA @ Alibi w/ Thrones
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