With the lead single off their debut album due out tomorrow, we went behind the scenes on set of LSF’s upcoming music video for Silica.
Images: Vasili Papathanasopoulos
Made up of vocalist Blake Lauricella, guitarist Dylan Rodgers, bassist Wade Miller-Duncan and drummer Caleb McKinnirey, LSF (FKA Left Side Filter) have spent the majority of the year working on their upcoming debut concept album, Halloween Night. Due out just in time for spooky season, the Halloween themed record takes its cue from classic horror films and television programs, musically influenced by Black Sabbath, Radiohead and Silverchair.
In the clip, the band attend a Halloween inspired dinner party, encountering a number of other worldly figures. Lead singer, Lauricella, finds himself repeating the same dinner party over and over, with minute differences to each loop.” The video itself all happened really quickly, as the whole premise of its concept was for it to have a one shot style loop which would link into the lyric, “You’re at the bottom, get in line”, at the end of the song, and visually with myself becoming the rabbit waiter at the start of the video. We filmed with the whole song playing in a high FPS, so when we would later play back the footage in half the frame rate it would achieve the ‘slow motion’ smooth video look.” The band take on the four central roles within the clip, complete with a pumpkin head and rabbit costume, with the whole scene revolving around the continued re-animation of Lauricella’s character.
Written and recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the band began working on the track during a recording session at their studio. “It started off by creating the intro guitar riff and looping it, and then Dylan got on Ableton and made up a beat that became the drum beat which was later layered with Caleb’s drum recording.” Taking inspiration from Radiohead’s acclaimed record In-Rainbows, conceptually the track navigates anti-authoritarian feelings, wanting to break away from the expected outcomes of life. “Lyrically, I was just adlibing stuff on the spot and hoping it would fit which is the usual approach, and then towards the end of the song I thought “I got to say something scary” as it is a Halloween album, and whats more scarier than being in line? Well, a lot of things, but as a semi-young person it often plagues me thinking how far we have to go in regard to making the life you want for yourself in any situation, but especially the music industry and being constantly at the bottom is a scary thing, I guess?”. Complete with a strange and jazzy bass line, the experimental track crated a new soundscape for the band where they could run wild. “The whole thing was an experiment really, and I enjoy the sound and way of creating that it lead us to, as we could add in an as many catchy hooks and focus on the whole aesthetic of the songs atmospheric quality that came from mixing rather than worrying about getting it tight enough to go into a ‘real’ recording studio. If that happened we would have never had the time to even create the song in the first place.”
WARNING: This video contains strobe effects and rapidly flashing lights. This video may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised. Filmed by Vasili Papathanasopoulos.
Filmed by Tas Wilson, the music video came to fruition during one session at the bands Wollongong studio. Having transformed their space into a spooky dinner party, Lauricella intricately planned out each shot, leaving no space for error. On their collaboration with Wilson, Lauricella shared: “We hired Tas Wilson as the videographer who kept everything organised and made sure we got all the shots we needed. It was great working with Tas, as he has an eye for visuals and was easy to work with in regard to being on the same page whenever it came to shot types and managing the entire shoot.”
Enlisting the help of their friends, the cast is rounded out by Acacia Reynolds, Jenaya Okpalanze, Sam Andrews, Julian Cable, Julius Boess, Oscar Wright, Sean Lea. “The whole video wouldn’t have come together without the help of some of our amazing friends who dressed up as extras. They really made the video stand out and we love them all for actually being there for us when we needed to make this video come to life.” Lauricella adds
The four-piece will be staging a one-of-a-kind show, showcasing the experimental avenues they explored while creating the record. Taking place at UOW Uni Bar in late October, fans can experience the album in full and are encouraged to don their spookiest costumes to make this Halloween, a night to remember. Final tickets are on sale now!
Stay tuned for our interview with LSF where we unpack Halloween Night. In the meantime, watch our recent interview with the band below!
Silica is out tomorrow. Watch our behind the scenes video above.