Since this photo was taken a lot has happened. Pez and I are knee deep writing his next record so I thought I’d quickly reflect on the past. I’m sure that once this new record is completed I’m gonna have a lot of new stories to tell! 2008 and especially 2009 were massive for both Pez and myself, with the release of his debut record “A Mind of My Own” (it was also my first major release). “The Festival Song” went to radio and quickly attracted a lot of attention, was a “most requested” song on JJJ and was downloaded 30,000+ times from the their website. I am very grateful for the way in which people connected with it and embraced it as a bit of a summer anthem. It laid a great foundation for Pez as a new artist. We’ve developed a lot since then, which we’re excited to share with the release of the upcoming album.
“The Festival Song” was the first single, so a lot happened very quickly after it’s release. We obviously wanted to film the clip at a festival but due to the album coming late in the year most festivals had already booked most of their acts. Pyramid Rock Festival in Phillip Island, Victoria were keen to let us film the clip there, but we had to find someone to give us 15-20 mins out of their set. Luckily our mate Drapht was more than happy to let us do our thing at the end of his set on the main stage.
The day of filming was crazy. It began with ridiculous weather that had everyone convinced we wouldn’t be able to shoot. Rain, gale force winds, and the cliff face, ocean side location of Pyramid Rock had us worried, but as the day went on, much to everyone’s relief, it was clear that mother nature was going to give us enough sun to make the clip work.
Getting the on-stage footage was going to be full on. We only had one chance to do it and we had to get it right. I went backstage to set up my dj equipment and as soon as I got to the top of the steps I realised there was going to be a major problem. Mother nature may have decided to let a little sun in, but she couldn’t be assed stopping the gale force wind. My slipmats blew straight off the turntables and my laptop screen was shaking with the force of the wind. I had to tape it down to make sure it didn’t blow off the table!
Thank god for Traktor Scratch software and internal play mode!! (For those non dj peeps reading this, that means that your laptop dj software is playing independently of the control record.) Because when I went to put the needle down it stayed in the groove for a second or two then the tonearm got blown straight off the platter!
Anyway after I got all this sorted we went ahead and performed the song and it was crazy. The crowd was incredible. One guy dressed in a purple superhero suit managed to jump the barrier, dodge security and get up on stage only to be gang tackled, fall back off the stage onto a security guard.
Check the clip after the jump..
MUSIC VIDEO: Pez – The Festival Song from Holscope on Vimeo.
Nice insight into the behind the scenes of your story. Like war stories from uncle Steve in his favourite armchair next to a warm winter’s fire… except light from a computer monitor and details less horrific (but only because of internal play mode). Bring on next summer!