Below, Sam King- Drummer for Sloan and The First Gentlemen, answered a few questions on the band's upcoming music video for their first single Faithless out June 25th.
Where did you film the video?
We filmed the video in three different parts of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow, Scotland. We started at the skatepark, then moved our way to the fountain and finished up at one of the main entrances to the park.
What is the general idea behind the video?
It’s fairly simple: three guys playing their instruments in a park. We wanted it to look like we were buskers, but contrast this by playing with fairly over-the-top gear; Glasgow buskers would usually be seen playing out of small battery-powered amplifiers, and with a drum kit consisting of a kick, snare and hi-hat. Our setup included two full size amplifiers, and a drum kit with a growing number of extra additions, making it fairly challenging to spot who’s behind it.
What was it like filming it?
It was a great experience. We were lucky to have the sunniest day of the year, so far, and even luckier to have freelancing videographer Nick Dempsey, formerly of the BBC to film us for the day. Throughout the day, we had a lot of attention - firstly from skaters, and then from passers-by at the other two locations. We’d anticipated a bit of hassle, but all the interactions we had were very positive, with people taking an interest. We were also concerned that the skaters would take issue with us being in their territory, but they were happy to let us film, and we got some great shots of them skating past us! Overall, I couldn’t have been more pleased with how the day went.
Tell us a bit about the song Faithless from your perspective (musically or what message you’ve taken from the song)
In short, ‘Faithless’ is all about questioning the world we live in, and the beliefs that we have, however, unlike Neil Peart, I’m not a drummer and a lyricist so what I speak about is usually based more on the musicality and production, more than the lyrical meaning (maybe this is something I should improve on!). Unlike Ross and Smithy, I came to this project after the album was completed, meaning I wasn’t part of the writing or recording of the album. When auditioning for the band, ‘Faithless’ was the first song I listened to, and I think it gives a good sense of the bands sound, and what we are about. The song has a great drum part, which is very energetic, with a lot of quirks. I find that since the drums were programmed, there are features that may not have been thought of by someone sitting at a kit. This made me reconsider certain things, and hopefully some other people out there may have half an idea what I’m on about!
I’m excited for everyone to see the video, and to see how the song translates to a live setting, when we can!
Sam King is the drummer for Sloan and The First Gentlemen, a band that started out as a way to test the Songplistic Method which has now evolved into it's own full-fledged project. Their debut single Faithless is out June 25th with the music video out shortly after. There are more songs on the way so stay tuned!
Sloan and The First Gentlemen:
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