Today's feature is on Moth Complex and their recently launched video for Tied Up In Knots.  Key Notes recently caught up with front woman Aoife O'Leary (or 'what's her face from Moth Complex' as the person who introduced us called her) to ask her about the making of the video.

Firstly who directed the video? 

Tied Up In Knots was directed by Gerry Owens (Aoife's Moth CompleX co-writer). He, Ian Kane (video producer) and I began planning and storyboarding the video about 6 weeks before we shot it.

Where was it shot?

The shoot was meant to be in a disused warehouse on the outskirts of Dublin, but a couple of weeks before the shoot date, the roof fell in and everything fell apart… So I started asking everyone I know if they could think of any good locations. No luck. Eventually, in an ironic stroke of luck, my car broke down and I went up to Colm, my mechanic, who is based in Drimnagh, and while he was fixing my car I told him my story, and on the spot, he offered us the use of his garage.

Colm was brilliant - and so trusting as a whole crew of us not-very-normal-looking people arrived and took over his garage and livelihood. We hung lights from everywhere, covered walls, ceilings and floors with red sheets and filled the place with smoke. We had pulled in favours from everyone we knew – lighting pals, film pals, family pals – and were determined to make this video the very best we could…

We worked over a weekend in Colm’s garage, we did all the band performance stuff, my second verse stuff and also additional stuff, which I’ll come back to. It was so much fun, but also freezing cold being filmed in January in Dublin in a garage.

After we finished shooting, I decided to edit the video. I had never intended to. But as I done audio editing and the video was so important to me, I decided I could learn video editing software in order to edit the video. So I did. I knew that if I didn’t, I would have been seeing
someone else’s interpretation of it, and I wanted to see mine.

So after I did an initial edit of the video and I looked back at it, I loved everything but our footage for verse 1, which we originally shot against a white background. It just didn’t suit the rest of the video, to my mind. So rather than let it go, I decided to re-shoot it. So we rented a room, a load of lights, etc, and re-shot. Then I was happy.

So what was the concept behind Tied Up In Knots?

For the performance part, I wanted it to be about our band playing the song and for the verses, I wanted it to be about me singing the song. No concept as such. Just singing and performing a song that means so much to me. Nothing else. And the performance part was so much fun. We played the song over and over from different angles and it was so full-on, but in a different way to a gig or a rehearsal. And so focused. I loved it. Everyone was so “on”. Such intense energy. Gerry, the director, was shouting all the time we kept playing the song over and over 'keep close up in the camera, don’t block your face with your hands' etc. It was all brilliant. I’m sure I sound like such a novice, but I am, this was my first time to do anything like this.

Finally, how does the concept relate to the song?

The video edit that is out so far is just us performing the song, really. There is an additional part coming in a second edit. This came to me in the weeks before I began storyboarding the video with Gerry and Ian. I couldn’t shake the idea of someone being “tied up in knots” in the video. I kept fighting with myself. One part of me said that the idea was ridiculously obvious and unimaginative, so I kept rejecting the idea over and over, but somehow, I couldn’t shake it and it kept coming back to me.

So I suggested the idea to Gerry Owens, who the idea very much appealed to, and he expanded on it to an idea of having a girl, naked, suspended from a ceiling with rope and “tied up in knots”. Naked. Bare. Restricted. Exactly the emotional base of the song for me.

It looked amazing in storyboard – we threw around various ideas and Gerry, ultimately, came up with this comic book like drawing, and I laughed out loud thinking how cool it looked, but thought “who in hell will do this?” I didn’t want to do it myself. I loved the idea and in another circumstance, I’d be cool about doing it but I wanted to be singer in this video. Singing and performing a song that means so much to me. Nothing else.

So at that stage, we put the literal idea of Tied Up In Knots on hold. As it happens, I was dancing in a show at the time, as was a friend of mine. She was a big Moth CompleX fan and so supportive of me and the band and everything. Then one day, having tea and biscuits, she was talking to me about how she had been photographed naked for a “Suicide Girls” shoot recently. She spoke in such a relaxed and open-minded way and a bell went off in my head! I asked her if she felt like being “tied up in knots” and suspended naked from the ceiling in a garage for my video. She said she’d love that!! I explained the freezing cold (in a mechanic’s garage at the end of January, wearing no clothes, hung from ceiling with ropes meant for big boats, lads on the shoot working staring at her etc…) And she was still on for it!

So that is the footage that ties the concept to the song. Yes, that footage hasn’t appeared in the edit we’ve done to date. Not sure we could see MySpace or TV playing it so we did the first edit with the band first… But the second edit is on it’s way!

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Key Notes is not the type of person to say 'I told you so' and this morning is no different.  The demise of State magazine, though worryingly predictable, is of course a bad thing for the people involved, but not for the music reading public.  While State was in print, Key Notes took the unusual step of buying both it and Hot Press to judge the two side by side.  There is no doubt that Hot Press upped it's game, but in fairness, when an 'Indie music magazine' decides to put ABBA on the cover or run a full length feature on Justin Timberlake, they are essentially gifting market share to their competitors.

In a statement you can read here, State head honcho Phil Udell talks of how 'the music magazine world is heading the same way as the rest of the industry – the audience are able to get their fix wherever and whenever they please and usually for nothing.'  Surely somebody could have told Phil and Co. that this was the case 6 months ago?  Or has the industry changed so much and so quickly in that 6 months that they couldn't have seen this coming.  EVERYONE, even this humble blog, saw it coming.

One suspects that State (or Free State as it probably won't be known) will now rely on advertising to continue it's free existence.  However, Key Notes is sure that the money men, especially in the current economic climate, will push their advertising towards Hot Press as it is the more established publication.  Indeed, and again without saying 'I told you so' Key Notes predicted this in March just as the magazine launched. 

Once again, this blog is sure that the future of music journalism is websites such as CLUAS, freebies such as Analogue and Connected and the Friday supplements in both the Irish Independent and Irish Times.  The most worrying aspect of all of this is that Hot Press will probably slip back into pre-State mode, focusing on 'increasing its quota of fashion, gaming and much more.'  Mind you, if it does, then sooner, rather than later, Key Notes suspects that it will follow State, and those that have gone before, into the dustbin of the 21st century where they'll join VHS, cassettes and Oasis.

In honour of State's new found, er, state, here's a rather old version of The Who's I'm Free:

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Electric Picnic Day Three (live in Stradbally, Co. Laois)

Review Snapshot: In terms of giving Electric Picnic Sunday a mark out of ten overall, I went with a 9….but the festival itself was more than the sum of its parts and as tents got packed away until next year and showers of a near transcendental nature were taken it’s fair to say that Electric Picnic 2008 ranks among the best. 

The Cluas Verdict? 9 out of 10

Full Review:Day three of Electric Picnic began with a rude awakening of sorts, namely 130dBs or so of My Bloody Valentine’s sound check causing much of the Charlie Chaplin campsite (located directly behind the Electric Arena) to shoot bolt upright, from sleep to wake in a time Usain Bolt would be proud of! Still, it was a handy reminder not to forget the earplugs for later in the day.

Feeling every so slightly delicate following the previous evening’s excesses, a seat in the sun with some soul was just what the doctor ordered. Candi Staton was the perfect act for Sunday afternoon on the Main Stage as a sizeable crowd of ramshackle revellers lounged around on the lawn, finding themselves reinvigorated by her incredible warmth, personality and honeyed vocals. ‘Young Hearts Run Free’ brought the crowd to their feet and the good vibes just kept on coming. An extended version of ‘You Got the Love’ was a triumphant end to the set, as every word was belted out across the Main Stage.

Given that the sky above Stradbally was blue as opposed to several shades of grey for the first time in weeks, it seemed a shame to descend into the darkness of yet another marquee and so it was time for some general lolling about in a bid to soak up a selection of what else was on offer at this year’s picnic. Wall of Death at the circus had stomachs churning vicariously, Djembe lessons in the Irish Aid section of the Global Green proved just who was drumming to the rhythm of a different beat while Karl Spain had us running for the exits with his woefully underwhelming stand up which was fortuitous as it led us straight into the Electric Arena and CSS.

Lovefoxx was resplendent in her customary jumpsuit as she bounced and hopped across the stage. This band of Brazilian beatsters were as energetic as ever as they knocked out hit after hit culminating in a closing couplet of ‘Lets Make Love’ and ‘Alala’. Strangely the crowd were more subdued in their appreciation – no doubt festival fatigue was to blame!

Next up was Grinderman.”My face is finished, my body's gone and I can't help but think standin' up here in all this applause and gazin' down at all the young and the beautiful with their questioning eyes that I must above all things love myself”….hearing Nick Cave deliver these lines in a snarly, sinister and dirty version of ‘No More Pussy Blues’ is just confirmation, if it were needed, that the man is one cool bastard. Together these Bad Seed offshoots give the crowd a monumental kick up the arse, Warren Ellis in particular rips his bow through distorted paeans to angry, ageing rock gods. Other highlights included ‘Honey Bee Let’s Fly to Mars’ and ‘I Don’t Need You (To Set Me Free)’.

As the crowd cheered Grinderman from the stage a palpable air of anticipation descended on the Electric Arena. The last band to grace its’ stage this year was without doubt the most eagerly anticipated and as a wall of amps were wheeled on, hundreds of hands reached into hundreds of pockets fumbling for earplugs.

My Bloody Valentine was without doubt the gig of the weekend and possibly the year. ‘I Only Said’ proved the perfect opener and from there it was just sonic bliss throughout. Although there was no new material there was ample representation from both ‘Loveless’ and ‘Isn’t Anything’ LPs and the ‘Tremolo’ and ‘You Made Me Realise’ EPs.

Swirling soundscapes were complimented by one of the better lighting designs of the festival and some mesmeric visuals projected onto the stage backdrop. The crowd were near reverential for large portions of the set not moving beyond an appreciative sway during songs, but tracks such as ‘Soon’ gave rise to much more animated dancing. As for noise levels, let’s just say no internal organs were dislodged but it did get pretty intense during the ‘holocaust’ section of closing track ‘You Made Me Realise’. There was little or no banter aside from a cursory ‘How’s it goin? Thanks for comin’ but yet as the audience erupted in applause, you could tell there was an air of satisfaction in a job well done, particularly among Kevin Shields and Colm Ó Cíosóig.

Although there were notions of catching some of The Sex Pistols and Conor Oberst, there was little point, seeing another band after that would have simply been an exercise in going through the motions.

Jan Ní Fhlanagáin

• Check out as well CLUAS.com's reviews of Day 1 and Day 2 of Electric Picnic 2008.

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