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Sprockets Music Video Competition
Local Bands Get Behind Their Guitars and in Front of the Camera
Fabulous Bird’s “Bless Me"
D espite the hope every year that one video submitted to
the annual competition of music on film that coincides
with AthFest will allow the phrase "now is the time on
Sprockets when we dance" to be uttered, the competi
tors continue to take things rather
seriously, putting together videos
that, while often low on budget,
are carefully conceived and mostly
distinctively Athenian.
There are always a few that
show up from out of state, mys
teriously, causing the viewer to
cock her head and think, "Why
haven't I heard of that band?" The
Buddyrevelles' contribution, "The
Foreigner," which features the
band covered in mud, playing the
tune and being hand-washed like a
beloved automobile, would be an
example of such, but although the
band formed in Eau Claire, WI, the
video is still charming. What the festival always demonstrates
is the tremendous range of music produced in and around
Athens—folk-pop, experimental, rock, country, rap, etc.,—and
the friendliness that exists between bands and genres.
This year's festival comes
right before AthFest starts,
rather than right after, mean
ing it's easier to pencil it into
your calendar and allowing the
videos to serve in some ways as
a preview of the shows to come,
in much the same way as the
Flagpole Music Awards. Many of
the bands and artists who sub
mitted videos are also playing
AthFest (Blue Flashing Light,
Down with the Woo, Kite to the
Moon, Modern Skirts, Noogeez
and more), and if you've enjoyed
their video work, you may be
more likely to rework your sched
ule to see them play live, espe
cially if you're talking about The Buddy System.
The four-person band could count its projector as a fifth
member, seeing as their reason for being is wrapped up in the
idea of videos to which they provide a soundtrack, and two of
those ("Clap Paws" and "Return
to Horse Mountain") are featured
in this year's Sprockets. Lauren
Gregg, bandmember and anima
tor, says, when asked about the
importance of videos, "Being
a very visual person, it is fun
to see a story or images to go
along with the music. It just
adds to the creativity of the
song and can sometimes give it
more meaning to make it even
more special. My band is a bit
different because instead of the
video being an afterthought, we
write the visuals as we are writ
ing the songs. One doesn't exist
without the other." Gregg and
her business partner Craig Sheldon, who make up the digital
illustration firm Kangaroo Alliance, have been here before; they
created the video for of Montreal's "Wraith Pinned to the Mist"
that snagged an Audience Choice Award a couple of years ago.
Je Suis France's contribution, "That Don't Work That Well for
Us," may be set to the most melodic song on its recent album
Afrikan Majik, but that doesn't mean the band's reneged on its
love of surrealism. Tacos, beards, a shaman and the power of
music all play crucial roles in the video. D.J. Hammond, gui
tarist, had the following advice for others with the desire to
see their vision immortalized on film: "Be damn proud of your
'art-ass' art. Who gives a crap if there's a crew of contractors
laughing their asses off at you while you jaunt through a field
The Buddy System’s “Return to Horse Mountain"
Je Suis France’s “That Don’t Work That Well for Us”
dressed in a Druid robe? Not us. If you gotta dance, do it to
the max. If you gotta prance, prance on, Prancezilla. Even if
you gotta cry, let 'em bleed, 'cause bottom line is this jam is
going to be gold on camera."
Peter Alvanos, AKA, Fabulous
Bird, a mostly one-man art project
(or, as Peter describes it, "a band,
a song, a video, a statement, an
expression, art, a hook, a melody
in the moment"), contributes per
haps the most quickly composed
entry in the festival. He says his
video for "Bless Me" was "shot,
edited and completed from 11
p.m. Sunday evening to 6 a.m.
Monday morning," by himself, as
you'd expect. While it is simple,
it's both an appropriate represen
tation of the band and heartfelt;
the closing shot, on a poster that
says, "Nikki Sudden, 1956-2006,"
is sweet and sad. He says, "Rest and the desire to turn some
events in my life into a positive one sparked my creativity. I
decided to add a visual to this song because I felt the song
deserved it. Hopefully some fresh faces will get an introduction
to Fabulous Bird. I wanted to
support this festival as well."
Noogeez, one of local leg
end Bob Hay's many bands
playing at AthFest, returns to
Sprockets this year as well, with
their reworking and video of a
Squalls song, "Elephant Radio."
Ken Starratt, who plays double
bass and sings, said, "After the
success of 'Kathy' in last year's
Sprockets, we recorded seven
more songs last summer that
Bob wrote for the Squalls over
25 years ago—songs that we
felt lent themselves to acoustic
interpretation and songs that
lent themselves to interesting
imagery. In fact, a lot of Bob's early songs were written from
dreams he had, thus, the weird imagery; e.g., snowmen who
come to life, elephants floating in the sky, a girl who discovers
she can fly. The<Noogeez are really a video band; that's what
we want to do. Put these eight
songs of Bob's to video and make
them kid friendly."
These four (young, older,
experienced, new-to-the-game,
serious, jokey) present a small
example of the bigger picture,
in which videos by Athens' most
acclaimed and well-known bands
(Drive-By Truckers, Modern
Skirts) exist on an equal footing
with smaller, weirder entries,
each of which has a chance to
snag a trophy. Sprockets will
screen the nearly 30 videos in
competition on Saturday, June
14, at the 40 Watt and pres
ent the awards for "Best Music
Video" (chosen by a panel of five judges) and "Audience
Choice" (chosen by you, the people, via ballot on the night of
the initial screening) at the Flagpole Music Awards on June 19.
Hillary Brown
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WHAT: Sprockets Video Showcase
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
WHEN: Saturday, iune 14
HOW MUCH: $5
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NEWS & FEATURES I CALENDAR I MOVIES I A&E I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS
JUNE 11,2008 FLAGPOLE.COM 27