One of our discoveries at The Great Escape earlier this year, Dublin buzz group Girl Band recently released an excellent video for their latest single “Paul”. Taken from their soon-to-be-released debut album Holding Hands With Jamie, the video was directed by Bob Gallagher, who explains the idea behind the video after the jump.
“The idea came about from shooting an audition tape for my friend Kate for a kids TV show job. She’d curse if a take didn’t work out, which in the context I thought was hilarious. I’ve often watched kids TV with my Goddaughters, and every time I do I can’t help but wonder what it’s like for the actors behind the scenes. What the dynamics are like? There’s such a sheen on those shows of happiness that I thought it would be interesting to look at the flip side of that with a character who is full of self loathing but has to literally wear a big grin on his face.”
“While I was researching I watched a documentary about Big Bird and there’s a line in where he Carol Spinney says that a woman was complimenting his performance but that she couldn’t see that inside the costume he was crying. It’s quite tragic. I think everyone has experiences of having to put on an outward expression and feeling trapped, so Paul’s costume is a visual extension of that. He’s inside the suit, at a distance from everybody around him, but wearing this absurd smile that’s totally false to what’s going on inside. When the pressure of living that life comes to a head he gets to be himself, and in a bizarre way he gets acceptance from his hero Big Rooster, so I see it as a bizarre but happy ending.”
We can’t wait for the full album, but for now, enjoy this killer track’s excellent music video. Our music video of the day:
Girl Band’s debut album Holding Hands With Jamie will be released Friday 25 September via Rough Trade / Remote Control.
