The Band Explains: The Buns - 'STOCKHOLM' (Video)
Paris rock duo The Buns spoke to us about their dark DIY music video and single, 'STOCKHOLM' which saw them influenced by the concept of Stockholm Syndrome.
'STOCKHOLM' is 2 minutes 52 seconds of brazen garage rock featuring searing guitar riffs, sultry vocals and heavy drums with the aim to seduce its listener into submission.
The Buns Explains
Where was the video for 'STOCKHOLM' filmed?
The video was filmed in a cellar, a friend's music studio under construction. We needed a dark place because the idea was to film in the darkness with a flashlight.
How does the video compliment the song?
The song is about the Stockholm syndrome so we wanted to connect fear and desire. Being locked and scared, in a dark place, but at the same time loving that feeling of danger. It's a paradox we often find in romantic relationships. An addiction to someone hurtful who keeps us from being free, in a certain way. Being unchained to someone.
Any behind the scenes stories?
We didn't have money to pay a director nor proper video cameras to film so we decided to do it ourselves, with the video cameras of our phones, its flashlights and a vintage video app ! Being our own director was fun and easy, because we know each over very well, we knew what we wanted to do and we didn't have to wait for the technical team to be ready. The fact that we were limited with the filming equipment forced us to find simple ideas, with the constraints of that one and only place, as if we were actually stuck in that cellar.
One of us also filmed afterwards the mysterious tattooed man in a prestigious hotel in Monaco, but it's top secret...
When we got all the pictures, we sent it to a friend of us who is a professional film editor. We're very proud of this video. It's a rewarding experience to have directed it on our own !
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
The principal idea was the confinement, the captivity. We wanted to have strong visual elements like the chains and the stone of the cellar from one part, and the mysterious man from the other part, to evoke the prisoners and the sexy hangman. We wanted to mix the dark side and the erotic potential of being trapped. But without falling too deeply into the cliches of sado-masochism !
What is the message the video is trying to convey?
There is a double meaning.
First meaning, the clinical Stockholm's syndrome : you can imagine a girl locked in a cellar by a man, discovering she's actually falling in love him.
Second meaning : it's a story about a toxic relationship, a sexual addiction, an emotional dependence, a mental obsession, a fight between reason and desire, love and hate. Thegirl knows she has to escape from him but she feels too confused and too weak to be able to do it.
But people can also just take the song for what it is : a loud rock song with a big guitar riff and a heavy drum !
Interview feature by Karla Harris