The filming of On My Way seemed to come together very organically and without delay. From the beginning of filming....even before that, we all were on the same page. We definitely were aligned with the universe on this one. With the song being conceived in Tornillo, TX near the Mexican border, we knew instantly we had to return to that otherworldly region with its mystical vibe. On My Way is a song of hope and conviction inspired by the souls of all those wanting to find their kingdom on earth. With that notion in place, what better surroundings to begin, than a place where so many have begun their individual battle to find Elysium. The dusty plains, heat and extensive moistureless fields, was the perfect setting to symbolize the arduous beginning of any one man's struggle.
Although the arid conditions and miles of marching were a bit taxing, there is always great jubilation in believing in the outcome of our work and what it would mean to us and our fans. The second half and end of our video brought us back to Austin, TX during the South By Southwest Music Festival. For those of you who don't know, this is a gathering of 1500 of bands of all different styles who come together to share their talents for all and network with other bands and industry representatives. Everyone in attendance is there for the same reason: La Musica. Being surrounded by so many music enthusiasts...well, it's almost like paradise.
Again, how apropos to reach a place where music reigns supreme. One might even equate it to a "Promised Land". The filming that took place at SXSW was a blast. We were greeted by all with open arms and smiles. I mean come on...six guys dressed in white marching down the street clapping and chanting a positive spiritual message, how can you not. Ending the video with us continuing our journey, brought it full circle and shows our constant yearning for nirvana.
That's my general memory of the shoot, I'm working on another with some more specific events that I'll post ASAP.
James
Monday, July 14, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Laundry, volleyball and making the video...
In the beginning, when our thought process was void of light and darkness, Jessica came out of the abyss and had the 1st inkling of flashing lights to accompany our song On My Way visually. And then there was life, life for a music video, a music video that was not yet. And we saw how good it was. Basic & primal, the word spread and the ideas multiplied... and before we knew it a treatment was magically written.
After visiting Vincent Van Hoff on a vaca in Calcutta, he sent us back stateside with a premier backdrop: Expensive black velvets from Egypt affixed to large flats. Luckily before we arrived, arrangements were already made with our friends from the band Status Green... Lou and the boys allowed us to use their large Asbury Park studio, so we hurridly installed the flats before the lighting crew arrived. Timing is everything, people! So just before we were ready for lighting, my buddy Paul Agostino showed up from Nashville with a premier lighting package... we prepared, and affixed the lighting system to create the star backdrop. And thanks to the generous donation of outfitting us with fine whites from our NY friends at Ted Wilson's trendy 5th Avenue store, Simply Fine Whites... we were looking good for the shoot.
The studio shots turned out to be the best with additional thanks to our assembly crew -- Bob Erickson & Warren Harpster, wardrobe mistress - Dori Erickson, slate-clapper - Sue Beebe, Ralph Gould's iron and ironing board, etc. The list goes on and on, and I'm not going to bother to thank the rest of the people, except for Lisa and dog, Doc, Loveless, and Daniel. Studio shots were then complete and the whole process was fast, furious, and we finished the day before we had to leave for tour.
Next, the treatment told us to head South. So we went to Austin TX, and by design, SXSW was occurring at the same time. So there were a lot of hirable extras, which was perfect for the closing scenes in the video. Thanks treatment!
We then traveled to the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. It's a very special place to the band, the birth of OMW was indeed from that very land. Thanks be to Tony Rancich who opened his place to us...and so, we got a bunch of great desert shots: shrubbery included.
At this point, we realized that the treatment was calling for something special...a location that we would not have been able to select ourselves...so it directed us to Frank Herbert, who had some ins at this place called Arrakis. Wow, it turned out to be perfect and we got exactly the dune shots we needed! Turns out, though, that we were in a place that we weren't authorized to be, so officials there were strict, and told us that we were finished. Though we were kicked out of that place, they left us with a nice departing gift of local spices--they actually knew who we were and let us off easily!
Holy cow, then we were done filming! The whole process was about 2 months...and by this point we were in need of some R&R. We traveled to a friend's place in Colorado for a getaway, our stuff was so dirty...so the first thing I did was Laundry. ...and I'm horrible with laundry. For instance, the last load of laundry that I finished here in California was a failure. I attempted, completed the cleaning process...then on to the drying, and this is typically where I start to slack. I didn't dry the clothes enough, wanted to leave them out to finish up, but failed to do so. The results: Everyone in the bus holding their noses wondering what that foul stench was. At this point, I realized that I had to do my laundry again immediately. So I did, and everything worked out.
When the laundry was finished, the group decided that we needed some exercise. And something a little more than billiards, skiing or swimming was called for... So Volleyball it was. And there we were, together as a full band for the first time ever -- exercising together. Of course there was a game included, but it was exercise none the less. So it just turns out that I'm the worst volleyballer that deSoL has ever seen, I actually received a certificate in the mail when I got home that stated that Andy Beard is the worst volleyballer south of the Snake River. Albie on the other hand, whollups everyone in this game. The Wilt Chamberlain of Volleyball around here at deSoL. I would encourage anyone out there to challenge him! But expect to lose! It's so weird to me...sports have been on my side my whole life... now that this gargantuan thing has attached itself to my chin, my volleyball skills have been 86ed from the list. And I'm not happy about it!
So looking back on the whole experience of making the video for On My Way, our crew was great--everyone involved really kicked ass, thanks everybody! The traveling was great, we learned a lot. I knew ahead of time that I was bad at laundry, but now I have this whole thing with volleyball looming over me. Thanks a lot universe... offer me a great video...which I am ultimately thankful for, but why did you have to take away my Volleyball skills, too? So sad, Andy. : - [
After visiting Vincent Van Hoff on a vaca in Calcutta, he sent us back stateside with a premier backdrop: Expensive black velvets from Egypt affixed to large flats. Luckily before we arrived, arrangements were already made with our friends from the band Status Green... Lou and the boys allowed us to use their large Asbury Park studio, so we hurridly installed the flats before the lighting crew arrived. Timing is everything, people! So just before we were ready for lighting, my buddy Paul Agostino showed up from Nashville with a premier lighting package... we prepared, and affixed the lighting system to create the star backdrop. And thanks to the generous donation of outfitting us with fine whites from our NY friends at Ted Wilson's trendy 5th Avenue store, Simply Fine Whites... we were looking good for the shoot.
The studio shots turned out to be the best with additional thanks to our assembly crew -- Bob Erickson & Warren Harpster, wardrobe mistress - Dori Erickson, slate-clapper - Sue Beebe, Ralph Gould's iron and ironing board, etc. The list goes on and on, and I'm not going to bother to thank the rest of the people, except for Lisa and dog, Doc, Loveless, and Daniel. Studio shots were then complete and the whole process was fast, furious, and we finished the day before we had to leave for tour.
Next, the treatment told us to head South. So we went to Austin TX, and by design, SXSW was occurring at the same time. So there were a lot of hirable extras, which was perfect for the closing scenes in the video. Thanks treatment!
We then traveled to the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, TX. It's a very special place to the band, the birth of OMW was indeed from that very land. Thanks be to Tony Rancich who opened his place to us...and so, we got a bunch of great desert shots: shrubbery included.
At this point, we realized that the treatment was calling for something special...a location that we would not have been able to select ourselves...so it directed us to Frank Herbert, who had some ins at this place called Arrakis. Wow, it turned out to be perfect and we got exactly the dune shots we needed! Turns out, though, that we were in a place that we weren't authorized to be, so officials there were strict, and told us that we were finished. Though we were kicked out of that place, they left us with a nice departing gift of local spices--they actually knew who we were and let us off easily!
Holy cow, then we were done filming! The whole process was about 2 months...and by this point we were in need of some R&R. We traveled to a friend's place in Colorado for a getaway, our stuff was so dirty...so the first thing I did was Laundry. ...and I'm horrible with laundry. For instance, the last load of laundry that I finished here in California was a failure. I attempted, completed the cleaning process...then on to the drying, and this is typically where I start to slack. I didn't dry the clothes enough, wanted to leave them out to finish up, but failed to do so. The results: Everyone in the bus holding their noses wondering what that foul stench was. At this point, I realized that I had to do my laundry again immediately. So I did, and everything worked out.
When the laundry was finished, the group decided that we needed some exercise. And something a little more than billiards, skiing or swimming was called for... So Volleyball it was. And there we were, together as a full band for the first time ever -- exercising together. Of course there was a game included, but it was exercise none the less. So it just turns out that I'm the worst volleyballer that deSoL has ever seen, I actually received a certificate in the mail when I got home that stated that Andy Beard is the worst volleyballer south of the Snake River. Albie on the other hand, whollups everyone in this game. The Wilt Chamberlain of Volleyball around here at deSoL. I would encourage anyone out there to challenge him! But expect to lose! It's so weird to me...sports have been on my side my whole life... now that this gargantuan thing has attached itself to my chin, my volleyball skills have been 86ed from the list. And I'm not happy about it!
So looking back on the whole experience of making the video for On My Way, our crew was great--everyone involved really kicked ass, thanks everybody! The traveling was great, we learned a lot. I knew ahead of time that I was bad at laundry, but now I have this whole thing with volleyball looming over me. Thanks a lot universe... offer me a great video...which I am ultimately thankful for, but why did you have to take away my Volleyball skills, too? So sad, Andy. : - [
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
On My Way, the video
We've finally completed the music video for our new single On My Way. This song is very special to us. Well, all our songs are special to us. It's like having babies. You love them all equally, sure, but sometimes, there's a kid who comes along who shows a tiny bit more promise then the others, or has a special gift that sets him apart from his siblings. Ever since its "birth" in January 2006, we've had an especially strong connection to this song. It best encompasses our message and ambition for deSoL. It's a song of hope and its undertone of spiritual development has been inspiring audiences since we started performing it last year.
Now, the video that we've been working on for the past few months is ready to share with the world. We're super excited about it and want as many people as possible to enjoy it with us.
You can view it on our deSoLTv channel on YouTube
We're proud to say we created this thing ourselves from top to bottom. We had the germ of an idea in October of last year while we were on tour and started bouncing ideas around like "wouldn't be cool if we could do this," or "how great would it be if we could try that..." Then, in January, we started the ball rolling and before we knew it, we had a real production on our hands. Everyone pitched in. Andy & me being the default video guys, took on directing the thing and we designed the treatment with input from the band. Jessica assembled the costumes from her mom's theater costume shop and her sister acted as wardrobe mistress.
In late February, we were ready to begin shooting. We set aside 3 days for Prep, Shoot and Strike just before we left for tour in March The set was constructed by our good friends Warren and Bob with donated construction materials from their jobs and assistance from James, Doc & Daniel. We shot the studio scenes in Asbury Park in the rehearsal studio of our friends Status Green. They're a great bunch of guys and a good band, to boot. Doc operated the camera, Daniel ran the music, Jessica flashed the lights and 12 hours later we were done with phase 1.
We hit the road a few days later and drove to Austin,TX for the South By Southwest Music Convention. We played a great show on Thursday night and hit 6th street on Saturday to film the band marching through the middle of the convention for the climax of the video. The details of that we'll discuss in another post. Then we drove to El Paso for a show with The Salvador Santana Band and shot for 3 days in the desert of Tornillo and Fabens. Finally, we continued on to Sante Fe and Southern Colorado for 2 more days of shooting and we were done. All in all, it took us 9 solid, long, dusty, tiring days to get all the footage we wanted.
Then, Andy and I spent the rest of March and April editing it all together in the bus between shows. A lot of work, but we are more than satisfied with the result. The rest of the band will be posting about their experiences in the days and weeks to come.
Again, hope you enjoy the video and watch it multiple times. You catch something new each time you see it.
C6
Now, the video that we've been working on for the past few months is ready to share with the world. We're super excited about it and want as many people as possible to enjoy it with us.
You can view it on our deSoLTv channel on YouTube
We're proud to say we created this thing ourselves from top to bottom. We had the germ of an idea in October of last year while we were on tour and started bouncing ideas around like "wouldn't be cool if we could do this," or "how great would it be if we could try that..." Then, in January, we started the ball rolling and before we knew it, we had a real production on our hands. Everyone pitched in. Andy & me being the default video guys, took on directing the thing and we designed the treatment with input from the band. Jessica assembled the costumes from her mom's theater costume shop and her sister acted as wardrobe mistress.
In late February, we were ready to begin shooting. We set aside 3 days for Prep, Shoot and Strike just before we left for tour in March The set was constructed by our good friends Warren and Bob with donated construction materials from their jobs and assistance from James, Doc & Daniel. We shot the studio scenes in Asbury Park in the rehearsal studio of our friends Status Green. They're a great bunch of guys and a good band, to boot. Doc operated the camera, Daniel ran the music, Jessica flashed the lights and 12 hours later we were done with phase 1.
We hit the road a few days later and drove to Austin,TX for the South By Southwest Music Convention. We played a great show on Thursday night and hit 6th street on Saturday to film the band marching through the middle of the convention for the climax of the video. The details of that we'll discuss in another post. Then we drove to El Paso for a show with The Salvador Santana Band and shot for 3 days in the desert of Tornillo and Fabens. Finally, we continued on to Sante Fe and Southern Colorado for 2 more days of shooting and we were done. All in all, it took us 9 solid, long, dusty, tiring days to get all the footage we wanted.
Then, Andy and I spent the rest of March and April editing it all together in the bus between shows. A lot of work, but we are more than satisfied with the result. The rest of the band will be posting about their experiences in the days and weeks to come.
Again, hope you enjoy the video and watch it multiple times. You catch something new each time you see it.
C6
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