Happenings on the Scene – Misty Street makes memorable music moments with music videos

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2012 (5070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon won’t be claiming the title of Hollywood North anytime soon but we have had our share of films shot here over the years.

“For The Moment” (starring Russell Crowe), “The Lazarus Project”, “Wrong Turn 4” and “Gun of the Fallen” come to mind. Brandon has also served as the location for parts of the hockey flicks “Keep Your Head Up Kid” (The Don Cherry Story) and “Goon”.

We can now add music videos to B-Town’s list of cinematic activity. Yes, music videos — you know, the kind you rarely see on Music Video channels these days?

Remember when music videos used to be the exclusive domain of major labels, with the mega budgets to shoot the videos as well as the corporate pull to get them on MTV.

That has all changed. YouTube, MySpace and Facebook have seemingly taken over as the hot beds for music videos these days.

Bands don’t need the massive budgets to get the job done. Everything from low budget bore fests to high end first rate music vids are available on these sites and it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway, a music video is one of the best ways to promote your band.

Shooting a music video is the dream of many a band member. However, what often seems glamourous and fun takes a lot of planning and work that entails plenty of hurry up and wait.

We recently found this out after chatting with Misty Street’s Mariah Phillips, whose band just completed work on their second music video.

Frank McGwire: So what’s it like being the star of your own music video?!

Mariah Phillips: It was a surreal amazing experience. I have always enjoyed acting and never have the time to pursue it, so this video really created an opportunity to let loose and have a great time portraying a variety of deep emotion.

What song was the video for?

The video was for our new track called “Untouchable”. I wrote the lyrics to this song approximately six years ago. Greg and I wrote the music and melody and we continued to make changes to it over the past few years. The song just never felt quite done until this year. We have taken extra care and attention to this song and recording it has taken longer than all of our others. My daughter Chanique Phillips is singing harmonies and backup on this song as well and I am super proud of what she has added to this song. Having Matt Corey add some creative lead guitar lines along with Cody Williamson’s awesome drumming really completed this song.

Where was the video shot?

The video was shot, believe it or not, in the basement of the boxing club. It was so incredible down there. I went to check it out one day on a whim as I was scouting out locations for the video. I was blown away by how perfect it would be for the mood I wanted to portray. Warner Buck from Warner Buck’s Insurance is the owner and they also do our taxes (and do a great job). Warner graciously agreed to let us use the space.

How long did it take to get the takes it takes to make a video?

Haha! We started the shoot at around 10 a.m. Saturday morning and wrapped it all up by about 8 p.m. It went by painlessly and there were no glitches all day. We were pretty prepared for it as we had spent a lot of time planning for this one.

Did you get many scenes in the first take?

It all went actually super smoothly, so we did approximately two takes per scene just to make sure Graham had lots of footage to choose from. This video will be more of a concept video as opposed to a scripted story line. I wanted to portray the emotion and the feeling behind the song, to have a likely situation happen in an unlikely space.

Who made up the rest of the cast and crew?

In amongst the drama going on in the video are shots of our full band, which includes myself, Greg Gibson on bass, Matt Corey on guitar and Cody Williamson on drums. William Moes, who is no stranger to the acting scene in Brandon, was super awesome to work with and was a good sport about being my boyfriend in the video. He had to get a hair trim and highlights, a spray tan and book time off his busy schedule for the shoot and he did it all without blinking an eye. He is super talented and I couldn’t have asked for a better fake boyfriend. I cannot forget to mention Trish from Bodicures, who was the makeup artist, hair stylist and helped me plan wardrobe for both our previous video and for this new one. She is amazing and I really don’t know how I could have done it without her. Paul Scinocca from Winnipeg, who produced our first album, has come out of retirement to produce our new stuff. We are soooo thankful for that, as we love his style.

This is the second video for Misty Street. What song was the first one for?

We released our first video in December of 2011 for our song called “Lost”. We were super impressed with Graham Street’s amazing talent as a producer/director/videographer and couldn’t wait to start plans for this new video. More of Graham’s work is available for perusal at www.street-media.ca.

Are these tunes part of a forthcoming album? When will it be available for purchase?

Now that “Untouchable” is complete, we have started recording our new material and are pretty pumped to release them. Release date is still in the air at the moment but our hope is fall 2012. We have been collaborating with our new band members Matt Corey and Cody Williamson, which has really added a new flavour to our music. We will be releasing the new music video to YouTube when it is complete. It will also be available on iTunes along with our first CD.

Do you have a release date set for the new vid?

The release date for the video is to be announced, though we hope by late summer. You can view it on our website and YouTube as well as our Facebook page.

Does Misty Street have plans for more videos in the future?

Absolutely.

Any good outtake footage or blooper stories you can share?

The scenes were pretty dramatic and serious for the most part, but we had a lot of good laughs during the day. Some of the scenes were a little risqué so I can safely say my mind is blown and it seems like a surreal experience. It was the most dramatic and in-depth acting I have ever done — it definitely pulled me out of my comfort zone. I spent literally hours planning this video — many hours on the computer till the wee hours of the morning surfing around looking for ideas, then shooting my ideas back and forth with Graham Street. It was amazing all around, from the beginning planning stages, choosing the location and then finally the shoot.

Feel free to wrap up by including some upcoming gig info.

Our next gig is the ’70s social at The 40 next weekend. All other band info is available on our website www.mistystreet.com

Untouchable from the male lead’s prespective:

“This was quite a bit different than what I’m accustomed to. We shot in the basement of the boxing club — the chilly air and eerie lighting lent some creepy vibes that helped a lot with the tone and style of the video.

The video is basically about a girl who is unable to be vulnerable and let herself fall in love, and I’m the guy who tries his best to make her happy but finally has enough of her self-sabotage, so I hit the road running.

It’s a new character for me, and a new style of acting (film acting). Focus was a huge challenge — the atmosphere was generally uncomfortable, and there is a lot of stopping and starting and little bits that you do over and over to get the best take. Overall, it was a great experience that I was excited to take part in.”

» Local actor and physical trainer Will Moes.

Frank McGwire is a radio personality and booster of the music scene in Brandon and Westman.

» Frank@kx96.astral.com.