The Artist Explains: Rocstrong - 'Ching Ching Ching'
Dublin-based alternative artist Rocstrong speaks to us about his politically charged single and visuals for, ‘Ching Ching Ching’, which explores the power of money and the wide wealth disparity in society in 2018.
Taken from his forthcoming EP ,‘All On Black’, to be released on December 3, ’Ching Ching Ching’ is a rebellious assault of rock, soul and indie influences , defiantly pushing back against greed, the mainstream media and big businesses.
Rocstrong Explains:
Where was the video for Ching Ching Ching filmed?
'Ching Ching Ching' was filmed in 4 different locations. I visited Kinshasa this year for the first time and it was amazing, I saw a lot of my family and also used the opportunity to get some good footages from there. My cousin and his friends got their motor bikes and brought me around to roam the city and get some awesome snaps and clips that I eventually used for scenes in the video. Then Barcelona followed… It was my first time visiting and it was completely different from the other parts of Spain I have visited in terms of the culture but the mixture of different people was so cool, it really fitted with what I wanted to portray in the video. Paris was next and I also used the opportunity to see family I have there and at the same time shooting some greats shots in such a great city and it was no surprise that many from there where happy to get involved and help me spread the message.
Finally, Montevideo I actually wasn’t needed for this footage so I didn’t actually make the trip there. I would have loved to. The directors are actually close friends of mine (both from Uruguay) and they knew exactly what I was trying to do so they used their contacts to get the right footages from there. It was perfect.
How does the video connect with the song?
In the song, I’m talking generally about our attitude towards money but not trying to pinpoint specific matters. Instead I’ve kept the subject open to allow listeners to form their own perspective and relate to it in their own way. The video helps in terms of showing various scenarios of people’s attitude to money. It covers different parts of society (rich, poor, middle class) and the game scene is a highlight of that.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
There was one scene that was not used in the video. The directors wanted to shoot some night shots in a big forest that was close by to where we were staying in Barcelona. My manager, a friend, the two directors and the crew were driving as close as we could and before getting out to walk the rest of the way. We came across a group of wild pigs that surrounded the car. These pigs were minding their own business at the same time so we were just trying to drive by carefully. My friend whispered to me ‘are we really going to get out of this car and walk around in the woods in the pitch black?” “I replied yes of course we have flash lights”. What he said next made the whole car laugh uncontrollably. he said “if there are wild pigs here eating around us, don’t you think there are animals in that forest that eat these wild pigs? This isn’t Ireland”. The whole car was in tears! I would love to tell the rest and how it went but this was one of the peak moments that night.
Could you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
As soon as the song was completed, I sent it to Manu, one of the directors and told him that I would love to shoot the video for this. He was living in Uruguay at the time but he was planning to visit Barcelona. He reached out to Federico and the created the concept and sent it to my team. We fell in love with the script. They broke down what was happening in each scene and what they wanted it to look like in the end. The idea was to try and show wealth, poverty, struggle, and happiness while also keeping the common thing in all the images which is the power money has on us all, no matter what race, country, colour and no matter what stage of life you are in. Manu flew in and we went to meet them in Barcelona. We initially picked Barcelona, Paris and Berlin because they are very diverse cities but we settled on Paris and Barcelona due to timing constraints. We were very happy with the outcome and it was great to spent time with the crew and my team, while shooting this video together.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
The message in this video is wide open. But in summary, I’m trying to simply open people’s eyes to how powerful money is and how it can either make or break them.
The truth is, we have given money so much power and it’s going to be up to us to change that. I want people to know that our mind is very powerful and we should focus on that instead of focusing money. It all starts with decisions we make internally so we should focus on mindfulness more than anything. I talk about this in a bit of detail in 'Homicide', one of the songs on the EP, out December 3rd, 2018.
Interview feature by Karla Harris