Formed in 2010 emerging through the baptism of fire of the Melbourne metal scene, King Parrot have pillaged their way to international recognition. The band’s notoriety began with their hell-raising live show, full of energy, ferocity and hilarity. For the past four years the band have been confronting and entertaining audiences, raising eyebrows and beer mugs.
The band are about to embark on a 10 date national tour which will introduce new drummer Todd Hansen (The Bezerker, Rome) to the fold and showcase new material and never before played tracks before the band once again head to North America for an extended touring season, rounding out the remainder of 2014.
Part of King Parrot’s huge success is also credited to their ability to create hilarious, entertaining, and high quality music videos. They’ve managed to capture the imagination of die-hard metal fans and non-metal fans alike by producing some of the smartest indie music videos to date, if you haven’t seen a King Parrot video you have no excuse. The band’s vocalist Matt Young was kind enough to divulge some secrets on how to produce a killer music video.
Ask Your Friends For Help
You never know who might have had experience at their high school drama class or just has a knack for creating or producing something cool or helpful that may play a big part in your clip. You may know a script writer, comedian, brilliant actor or have a friend of a friend of a friend who is Spike Lee. Ask around, don’t be shy and broaden your scope, everyone likes to be on camera!
Collaborate With Experienced People
Make sure you’ve done plenty of research on who’s making videos in your city and who is doing work that is closely aligned to your vision. There are plenty of great people out there, so make sure that you are on the same page with the producers/directors etc that you have chosen.
Students can be really good people to work with, so keep that in mind if you are on a tight budget. Don’t just get your mate to do it because he has a camera on wants to make a video.
Know Your Role
Just because you’re the singer in the band, doesn’t mean you are going to be the best actor or person to play a lead role in your bands video. Fact is; you probably suck (see King Parrot videos for examples of this).
Know your role and if there is a guy or girl in your band that has a natural ability to act, let them shine and do their thing. Its about making a good video, not stroking your ego! If you don’t have any good actors in your band, please get in touch with King Parrot’s bass player Slatts. He is available at very competitive rates.
Don’t Be Afraid To Try Something Different
With the scope of great new local videos and the way they’re being made changing all the time, don’t be afraid to try something different and new.
There is so many performance based music videos out there, so if your going down that road, try and add an extra angle to it, or do something different. A bunch of dudes playing in the shed out in the backyard has been done a million times and it ain’t very entertaining.
Do Your Research
Come up with a bold and original idea for your video and then go about searching for other videos of a similar ilk, the more you collaborate with your team on this the better.
There’s bound to be something similar that has already been done. Even if it is an entirely different genre to what you would normally listen to, it doesn’t mean there may not be a good idea or influence that you could use to make your next video totally awesome.
Release Your Video At The Right Time
Don’t just do a video and then not follow it up with something exciting that is happening with the band. Your video is supposed to be used as a promotional tool so use it in conjunction with your next album release, or an upcoming tour. Don’t just put it out and then sit on your hands and wait for some music industry person to sweep you of your feet, it ain’t gonna happen. Get on the road!
Use Good Equipment
Source out the best possible equipment you can find, and try to use the best people available on the day. This may require some extensive research but sometimes the difference between a great clip and a poor clip can come down to the type of camera your using. It’s as simple as that. Ask people (not me) that you know and try and source the best (and cheapest) equipment you can find.
Keep An Open Mind
Don’t be afraid to share your ideas with your team, but be open to everyone else’s input and allow all involved to be a part of the process. You may have came up with the original concept, but other people can always help you build and develop the idea into something even better than you could have imagined yourself. Working as a team to produce the final result will always keep everyone happy and makes for a much more enjoyable experience when making the video.
King Parrot East Coast Tour
Wednesday, 16 July – Carriers Arms, Wodonga, VIC 18+
Thursday, 17 July – ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT 18+
Friday, 18 July – Tattersall’s Hotel, Penrith, NSW 18+
Saturday, 19 July – Corrimal Hotel, Wollongong, NSW 18+
Friday, 25 July – Ding Dong, Melbourne, VIC 18+
Saturday, 26 July – Wrangler Studios, Footscray, VIC AA *ARVO*
Saturday, 26 July – Barwon Club, Geelong, VIC 18+ *NITE*
Sunday, 27 July – Karova Lounge, Ballarat, VIC 18+
Friday, 1 August – Vaudeville Room, Caloundra, QLD 18+
Saturday, 2 August – Crowbar, Brisbane, QLD 18+
For tickets and info visit the band’s Facebook page.
