The Band Explains: Coopertheband - 'Rebels'
Phoebe Scott (vocals/guitar) of indie folk rock five-piece Coopertheband gives us all the behind-the-scenes gossip about their colorful, playful visuals for 'Rebels'.
Taken from the band's recent album, 'Kingdoms', 'Rebels' is a reflective track, featuring robust rhythms and an affecting, powerful vocal that builds into a rousing, rebellious anthem full of rich vocal harmonies. In combination, the track and visuals have the effect of leaving their listener/viewer feeling a little more happier and encouraged than they may have been before.
Coopertheband Explains
The board game scenes were filmed in Cooper’s living room {which took several weeks to clean completely}, and the “battle” scenes as we like to call them were filmed in an open field beside Cooper’s house.
How does the video compliment the song?
We really wanted the video to be cinematic, so we came up with a story that we could portray to be as big as the song sounds. We’ve always seen 'Rebels' as a kind of battle song, along with 'Mercy!', another track from our album 'Kingdoms'.
Any behind the scenes stories?
During the board games scenes when we were arguing, our director, Riley Pope, told us to just say anything with an angry face. So, we were shouting really nice things to each other with angry faces, like “THAT’S A FANTASTIC COLOR ON YOU!” and then sometimes it was just complete nonsense. It made for some really good shots, but it was really hard not to laugh. In another scene, I get decked in the face with blue powder. When Riley asked who wanted to do it, my boyfriend Jake ran over saying “Me me me!!” You can imagine that I could really feel the love.
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
We wanted the imagery to be really bright and colorful and loud. What’s more bright and colorful and loud than fireworks and glow in the dark paint?! We also really wanted it to be fun. So we invited all of our friends over and just got really messy. You really can’t script people having real, genuine fun, so we said “grab a sparkler and run around” and it worked out perfectly.
What do you hope people take away from watching the video?
Even though the video has a distinct plot line, we really wanted to show that we’re just a bunch of goofballs who argue about board games and run around fields with powder paint with our friends and rock out wherever we can. We’re so blessed to get to do what we do, and this video highlights how incredibly fun it is to do it!
Interview feature by Karla Harris