The Band Explains: Trails and Ways - 'My Things' (Video)
'My Things' is taken from the band's sophomore album 'Own It' due out on October 7th, 2016. Trails and Ways is Keith Brower Brown and Ian Quirk, with Kendra McKinley (guitar/keys/vocals) and Miriam Speyer (bass/vocals) who join them on tour.
Trails and Ways Explains:
Where was the video filmed?
100% in my house in Oakland, CA. Thank you housemates.
How does the video compliment the song?
The song is me wrestling with the hypocrisy of being an (alleged) socialist with a huge emotional attachment to my material possessions. The concept came to me pretty suddenly: me buried by my things and singing a love song to my things, all in my house.
Any behind the scenes stories?
The stop-motion video concept meant me holding still, or nearly still, and doing the same thing 10, 20, 40 times as everybody else moved objects around me or I changed clothes. A lot of my favorite moments came from me letting loose or goofing around after being cooped up in repetition for an hour. Like the moment where I spin two power drills in bed, or dancing with two vacuums at once. Divine inspiration. Hardest moment was the bathtub scene where I'm looking right into camera; that meant staring into a huge light. I was crying a little, but what's new.
Tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
Ian (producer/drummer) brought in the stop-motion idea, which I think was a really brilliant way to put the focus on the things themselves. Gonzalo, the director, has a great eye and fleshed out the concept a lot. Just felt right for everyone that this personal, tongue-in-cheek song about me and my domestic objects should be like this; colorful, me-in-front-of-the-camera, vulnerable, lighthearted. I wanted us to explore the trouble in how I wrap up my identity in things, how I can be addicted to the highs of consumption and masking yourself in the aesthetic trappings you want. But I also wanted there to be ambiguity and ambivalence in the anti-materialism, because the honest thing is that I do still have these doting feelings for some of my things and don't think that's all wrong. I think some beloved personal objects for everyone can be a part of the socialist utopia which a lot of us hope for.
What is the message the video is trying to convey?
This young man is a sick and depraved materialist who needs help or possibly a lifetime eBay ban
Interview feature by Karla Harris
