Our debut of Shivery Shakes' video for their Punctum Records single, "Sidewalk Talk" took us all to different inhibited places in our pasts. And with Saint Patrick's Day just around the corner, the Shakes' video ignites every incident ever incurred on account of Jameson. This writer is reminded of a celebration with friends years back down the coast in suburbia, where a backyard barbecue bash and Irish car bombs sent me sleeping in the bathtub for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. But here in the video made by the band's William Glossup and Marcus Haddon, side walking, talking, and drinking ends up with a variety of confrontations with friends, neighbors, bummed out roommates, and embraces of the great porcelain alter.
Before you view the following responsibly, we would at this time like to point at the video's opening word of viewer caution that states, "Warning: This film contains flashing lights which may not be suitable for photo-sensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised." Now that we have that out of the way, wake up with a couple of empty Bulleit bourbon bottles and begin your sideways walking extravaganza to "get out of your mind." The flashing strobe and dual vision effects begin on the neighborhood walk and intensify with every swig of Jameson. Things get out of hand when bro altercations over drunk handling of a Shivery Shakes records leads to egg, ice cream and vino combinations, and subsequent toilet projectiling that displays a rainbow's range of colors. With more seizure triggering effects (including clever fuzzy perception tricks to mimic seeing through the lens of blurry spectacles), neighbors and locals get upset over the debaucherous commotion. Self-preservation and care is tossed to the wind, with the ridiculous party-drunkard's mantra of, "but the way I'm drinking tonight, I'm not gonna get home."
Vocalist and guitarist William Glosup of Shivery Shakes took some time to shake things up with us for a few minutes.
"Sidewalk Talk" is such a sick track, what inspired the b/w video ode to public Jameson drunkenness?
We wanted the video to reflect the way the song feels; like an anthem of drunken chaos. It just so happened that the footage looked best in black and white and we just had a bottle of Jameson handy — as we always do.
Tell us about making the jump from your recent 7" to the upcoming album coming later this year. How have the full-length recording sessions treated you all?
The 7” songs Sidewalk Talk/So Long were very much their own thing. We wanted them to be as gritty and hairy as they could be, which is a departure from our more refined pop sensibilities. It was a lot of fun to let loose on those tracks. The full-length is coming along great! We were much more delicate with the songs on the full-length; they are much dreamier, which required more attention to detail in layering and arranging. We damn proud of it and really can't wait to get it out…
Were all the strobe effects in the video to mimic the effects of alcohol? Tell us about making this wild video, it's pretty experiential…to say the least!
Marcus and I [William] both wanted the video to stand out and do justice to the energy of the song. It can be hard to make a video feel energetic when you are trying to get a steady shot and everything, so we thought to ourselves, 'wiggling video! That’s it!'
We had been toying with the idea of shooting a video in 'stereo' — to where the background was constantly shifting but the focus stayed the same. It is definitely supposed to be disorienting and similar to the effect of drinking until you have double vision. We shot with two cameras on shoulder-mounts trying our best to keep the focal point the same, it was hard, and had to correct a lot of it in post-production, but we’re stoked on how it came out!
Do you worry that this might either make boozing look terrific or utterly mental?
Nah…
Some of the effects of the "Sidewalk Talk" have seriously been scrambling with my frontal lobes, is this intentional, and/or normal?
That’s definitely what we were going for! If this song/video can scramble your brains, then we are doing our job right. It’s getting harder to do that in this era where nothing is shocking. And if that’s not what you’re into…we warned you before the video really gets moving!
Spring/Summer plan for Shivery Shakes?
This Spring we are playing a bunch of awesome shows here in Austin, TX while we finish up our debut LP. We’ll be touring up the East Coast in May/June and hopefully out to the West coast in late Summer. We are really excited for all of the things that are lining up this year.
Shivery Shakes' Sidewalk Talk/So Long 7" is available now from Punctum Records.
