A month into autumn, Local Spins opens up its screening room to showcase a diverse collection of videos by Michigan artists with plenty to offer for the eyes as well as the ears.
Believing in Tomorrow: Kari Lynch has a new video for her touching song, “Better Than Today.” (Photo/Tori Thomas)
As part of Local Spins’ occasional foray into the marriage of song and video, we present a handful of compelling new music videos by Michigan acts. And hey, with Halloween right around the corner, The Verve Pipe’s new animated video for “Hit and Run” makes for a pretty creepy take on a track from the alt-rock band’s dark “Overboard” album.
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THE GO ROUNDS, “SHOCK N AWE”
The Kalamazoo “twang-rock and jelly-roll” band’s video for a song from its new “Don’t Go Not Changin'” album pretty much has it all, at least when it comes to extras and recognizable Grand Rapids hot spots. The video for “Shock n Awe” by The Go Rounds was written and directed by John Hanson (with assistant director Jenna James and director of photography DJ Viernes), and if you look closely, you’ll spot musicians such as Molly Bouwsma Schultz, Scott Schultz and Theo Ndawillie II from Vox Vidorra, plus Joey Schultz, Fiona Dickinson and members of the 61Syx Teknique breakdance troupe. Familiar Grand Rapids settings such as Richard App Gallery, Wealthy Market and Hall Street Bakery show up, too.
THE VERVE PIPE, “HIT AND RUN”
Created by independent Israeli animator Ofir Sasson, this inventive treatment of The Verve Pipe’s song about a character tormented by a “Hit and Run” accident reflects the “early animation and film works of the 1930s through the 1950s,” using “simple geometrical shapes and lines, together with dark and gritty themes.” Band frontman Brian Vander Ark (who plays a role in another video below) says Sasson “brilliantly” constructed the video. “I expect people will want to watch it again and again.”
KARI LYNCH, “BETTER THAN TODAY”
Inspired by the “senseless violence” of the June church shooting in South Carolina, Grand Rapids country singer Kari Lynch created a poignant and powerful tribute that’s not only “a prayer for those who grieve the loss of loved ones, those who work for justice and peace and those who strive to make tomorrow better than today,” but a song that displays her impressive vocals. The song was co-written by Mark Barger Elliott, produced by Brian Vander Ark and recorded by Roy Wallace at River City Studios with musicians Karisa Wilson and Theo Ndawillie II. The video was produced by Elliott and edited by Danny Mohill. Oh, and the song was one of a handful of stellar finalists in the critic’s choice awards in the folk/country category of the 2015 St. Cecilia Music Center/ArtPrize song contest.
SICK SMILE, “EXCUSE ME WAITRESS”
Although unfamiliar to many in West Michigan, Detroit’s Sick Smile is a distinctive, “groove-based” rock band that caught the ear of Local Spins with its infectious pop-hued strains. And the new video for the band’s tune, “Excuse Me Waitress,” is a real treat, filmed at Bumbo’s in Hamtramck and directed by Corey Presley. (A previous Sick Smile video, “Piano Song,” has racked up more than 73,000 views in two months.)
FAUXGRASS, “THE WORRYING KIND”
Boy, videographer John Hanson really gets around. He also directed this video of Fauxgrass performing a new ditty, “The Worrying Kind,” at La Luna Recording in Kalamazoo. It’s a simple, one-take sort of affair, but works perfectly in complementing the throwback, vintage feel of this bluegrass tune featuring Tim McKay, Jason Wheeler, Adam Balcer, Jeffrey Niemeier and Mark Lavengood.
Copyright 2015, Spins on Music LLC
