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Eddy Says
Eddy Says: Losers’ first (amazing) video
By Eddy Temple-Morris | Published on Monday 8 March 2010
It must have been more than two, but less than three years ago, when I was taking a stroll around Brick Lane on a Sunday, when I was stopped in my tracks by some prints on a stall in one of the indoor markets there.
The black and white, Edwardian gothic style mesmerised me, as did the subject matter. The artist had almost done visual mash-ups, putting skulls on the heads of animals, and animal arms and legs (mostly octopi/squid) on human limbs and torsos.
I was so impressed, I stopped and bought one of the prints, ‘Death Stampede’, which featured the body of an antelope running at full pelt, but with a human skull that was cracked open and had flowers pouring out of it, cascading behind as it ran.
I complimented the artist on his unusual and brilliant style, and we got talking. He told me his name was Dan Hillier, and over the next ten minutes it transpired he knew who I was, had been to Remix All-nighters and that we had friends in common.
We stayed in touch, I bought three more prints and we started talking about Losers and our need for a visual identity. I told Dan that we’d made an album and would, somewhere down the line, need images for singles and the like. Dan said he’d been asked frequently about providing artwork for music projects, but had turned most of those offers down because he didn’t want to be associated with most of the music out there. But he agreed to give our stuff a listen and give it some serious consideration.
I excitedly show Tom Bellamy, my partner in Loserdom, Dan’s stuff and suggested the idea of hooking up. Tom was gobsmacked by two things: The art itself and the fact that he already knew it! He’d seen Dan’s work before and loved it. This seemed like destiny at work…
Luckily, Dan liked what he heard of Losers, and was up for becoming, essentially, ‘Art-Loser’. I wanted every single, every download, to come with a piece of Dan Hillier artwork, then for all these images to appear collectively in a kind of collage on the album cover.
More than that, I wanted to become joined to Dan at the hip, in much the same way as Pete Fowler was to the Super Furry Animals. I love the fact that they’ve grown together and that Pete always did the SFA art. I knew Losers would make at least three albums, as the whole project had a concept and a plan that was three albums long at the outset, and loved the idea of us growing together.
So, then along came Distiller Records, and the campaign for our debut single, ‘Flush’, which features expert vocals from Riz MC and Envy. It was agreed that a video was needed, so ideas were sought. Mine was simple; to keep everything in line with this original idea, and therefore to try to animate Dan’s artwork. I talked to Dan about it, and he said it’d be ace to put wires in all the knees, elbows and tentacles of these incredible creatures and walk them across a page using stop motion filming. He said he’d put the word out to his faithful, and duly did.
“Animator needed for Losers video, those who want money need not apply ;)”
The budget was tiny, derisory even, and animation takes a lot of people-power; it’s usually the most expensive way of making a video. Nevertheless, three animators got in touch and expressed an interest. One of them, Tom Werber, had worked for some big pop names yet had heard of Losers and was more enthused by the idea than anyone. The awesome A&R/marketing dept at Distiller gave him the final nudge he needed to take this gargantuan task on and work began.
The one month schedule soon became two, then three, then almost four, as frame-by-frame, this astonishing piece of work came together. Tom and Dan, and others, worked their fucking nuts off on this, for bugger all money. Chris Cunningham and his crew did the same for Aphex Twin back in the day – some of the best art ever has come from poor, skint people, inspired to work way above and beyond the call of duty.
The duration of the project is why it’s taken so long for ‘Flush’ to come out, but when you see this video, you’ll see it was more than worth the wait. When it was finished, Tom and I looked at each other, with our jaws slack, shaking our heads and incredulous that WE could be involved in something THIS cool. I’m not exaggerating, this video will win an award, or awards… if it doesn’t then I’ll have to invent an award for it to win.
The whole thing has made Tom and I and everyone in the Losers camp almost explode with pride and joy. We hope you enjoy it as much as us. I would really love to know what you think, so please let me know via Facebook and Twitter – always the best ways to get in touch with me.
Please have a look at Dan’s website, too – www.danhillier.com – I’d get in there and buy something while it’s still relatively cheap, because this artists is far too talented for this art to remain this reasonably priced.
Lastly, I want to publicly thank Dan Hillier, Tom Werber and Distiller, for making this happen. You have my undying love and respect. When all is said and done, I know we have made on of the best videos that has ever been made, one that will be looked back upon with the same fondness and awe as ‘Coffee & TV’ by Blur or anything by Aphex Twin and Chris Cunningham.
I still can’t quite believe it, every time I see it.
I’m pinching myself now…
No… not dreaming.
The video for ‘Flush (feat Riz and Envy) by Losers, created by Tom Werber and Dan Hillier, will be aired exclusively for the next 24 hours on NME.com here.
With much love,
eddy X
Eddy Says from this edition of the CMU Remix Update.
