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All I wanted to do last night was pop open a bottle of wine and catch up on my reading. Cross my frikkin heart, stick a needle in my eye and all that jazz. But I should’ve known when my phone didn’t make a sound for a few hours that something was up – it’s like the calm before the storm.
I got about three sips into my first glass of wine before I was pulled to Fly on the Wall Studios in Roeland Street for aKING’s video launch for ‘You & I’. Now this video has been on MK for about a week, so I’ve been informed, so I’m actually not too sure what the point of last night was. It seemed more like a nice little get together/excuse which allowed all involved to have a drink, a ciggie, and pat themselves on the back for doing a good job.
Okay so let’s cut to the quick, shall we? I have very strong feelings towards this music video. I’m also very opinionated this week so forgive me, but I’ve paid for my sins and I will try my hardest to not become a cynical bastard. But seriously. I twittered sometime yesterday that, I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it was definitely more. Plus the preview was so hot, that it did a very good job of tickling my fancy, so to speak. And if you’re laughing at “tickling my fancy”, then your mind is just as dirty as mine.
Anyway, the fact aKING and management flew to a different continent to film this is a feat in itself and in a way – a status symbol. We all know that we can now class aKING up there with this country’s musical elite thanks to AAO, but what exactly was the point of filming in Buenos Aires? Was it cheap? Was there a ploy behind it? Or did someone just wake up one morning and think, “Hell. Wouldn’t it be great to film a video in a Spanish speaking country?” Or am I the only one who asks these kinds of questions???
There’s a cutesy scene where Laudo’s dancing with his music video sweetheart and he’s twirling her around while all the other couples around him are doing what looks like the Argentinean tango. His casual dancing gives it that nice little South African twist, yes. But my point is that this scene could’ve been shot in Corner Bar with a whole lot of local extras and I doubt anyone would’ve known the difference. I watched an interview with Hunter where he said he was very, very proud of ‘You & I’ and of what they achieved with it. I couldn’t agree more. It’s my favourite track off AAO and because of the genius concept of their previous album’s video for ‘Safe as Houses’ I wanted to be blown away by this ballad. It’s kinda like expecting a gale and getting someone fanning you with a piece of paper instead. I will be writing more about this for the LMG blog so enough is enough with the comment. Enjoy the video.
On the flip side, I honestly did have a good time for the hour-and-a-bit that I was there. After the second screening of the video everyone clapped and there were lots of ooos and aaas going around the screening room. And then Mikey and I met a random blond chick from Kommetjie who actually had no idea what she was doing there. She was HILARIOUS. And there was no Jack. Just some beer and cider and Red Bull. Hmmm. I think I was the only person who was upset about this – yes, yes I was the only one.
Laudo and Hennie then did a little 5 song acoustic session and it was interesting to listen to Laudo try and cram in all the “OOOs” on ‘In the Twilight’ that the United Khayelitsha Mabaso choir do. They closed very nicely with the glorious Facebrick (or as Manim likes to refer to it as Facebook) Constellations but it’s very nasty to tease us with a handful of songs like that. Their set also saw the return of the infamous dual-pedal tambourine effort, but sadly, Laudo’s snor is no longer with us. Manim and I paid our respects to it with a warm Black Label and Windhoek respectively. And then we bummed cigarettes off the cool kids.
Highlight: The Fly on the Wall studio. Their space is gorgeous, no wonder they’re so productive. I especially like the playground swings randomly hanging in the middle of the one room and the Daily Voice placards stuck up on the wall.
