Yeah, so I’m just another one of those people transported to scenes and memories of my early childhood by the brilliantly made ’Stranger Things’ on Netflix. And whereas the new video doesn’t feature monsters or any sort of special effects (but it DOES have blinking lights on a wall...), it got it’s inspiration from that theme of ”the normal life” colliding with ”the upside-down” (i.e. the dark hidden side to our lives). Obviously this theme is essentially the oldest story in the book: Good vs. Evil, Olymp vs. Hades, Heaven vs. Hell, or – another current example – the Light Side vs. the Dark Side of the Force.
Now all of those stories happen on a huge, even epic, scale. But those battles of good and evil happen on a much lesser scale as well, inside us all, that ”angels and demons on your shoulder” thing everyone’s heard about. And while I was stuck – quite literally – with a lot of things when writing ’Stuck With A Rhyme’ those angels and demons appear to advise you on what to do. I wanted that element of dichotomy, of being torn between two extremes, to be the driving idea behind the video. And, I mean for Pete’s sakes, it’s just a music video, so no need to get any more analytical about it than that, right?
But I just wanted to give you a little backstory on it, because the few people who’ve seen it before it’s release have asked me why I look so damned angry in the video. It’s because the song’s about being fed up with being yourself at that particular moment in time. And while my lyrics – as per usual – shroud that whole theme in a cloud of slight mystery, I wanted the video to address the theme as straight forward as possible.
And I mean, it’s basically a punk song, so of course I’m going to look disgruntled and ready to pick a fight!
On another note: the idea behind this whole EP is that I’ve done it completely on my own. Whereas I had a good friend of mine help me out on the first one and the third EPs going to feature a lot of my friends – especially Tuukka and Karza that I’ve been playing the gigs with – I wanted this EP to be about pushing myself to the limit and see what I’m able to do completely on my own. Everything you hear – and now also can see – is done by me from the ground up. Writing, performing, recording, mixing the songs and dressing, shooting and editing the videos was done by your’s truly. It’s been a fun challenge and I’m actually quite pleased at the moment with how it all turned out – and I’m not easily pleased with myself at all, mind… – but at the same time I’m looking very much forward to hearing other people’s voices and instruments playing on the next EP. But that’s too much jumping the gun at this point, so let’s get back on track!
Fun fact about the video: it’s shot entirely on my iPhone! I’ve used Moment lenses for some shots, others are just your basic iPhone 4K video. I just don’t have the money to rent or – God forbid – buy any fancy video equipment, so I’m happy to make do with what I’ve got. And besides, that’s just another manifestation of the guerrilla approach I’ve taken to making this whole The Fisherman & The Sea thing happen. And it’s still so much fun. It’s painful and disheartening at times, but the fun always wins out in the end. The fact that anyone else except me cares about these songs or their videos is still so amazing and humbling to me. And a way bigger reward than any financial gain can ever be. Still, not to say that I wouldn’t mind making a little more than the 1,65€ that I’ve made so far from streams, haha… So feel free to stream the shit out of this EP, please!