The Band Explains: Mint - 'Goodbye Beautiful'
Grimsby’s Mint speak to us about their powerful socio-political single and music video, ‘Goodbye Beautiful’, which is a wake-up call to do our part in looking after the planet, in even the smallest of ways.
Where was the video for ‘Goodbye Beautiful’ filmed?
We was lucky enough to have some pretty big names in the green movement donate footage to us and the parts of me singing are located in a derelict power box inside an abandoned theme park in Cleethorpes. It felt very appropriate!
How does the video connect with the song?
Well the idea of the song came from the chorus. It’s an old anti-facist resistance song sung all over Europe as a rebellion against evil. We kinda wanted to weaponise that again today’s evil. Which is down to the view to interpret what that evil is. (The answer is: war, greed and fucking up the planet by the way)
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?
-We did have a couple of flares. “Did” being the key word. We’ve never been to a Courteeners gig or whatever. We’ve never used one I can’t lie haha. There’s a video somewhere of me singing with this flare in my hand looking like the most uncomfortable little puppy on Earth.
Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
We couldn’t really use enough material to be honest. We wanted to convey a framed portrait of where humanity is at. Because humans do great shit all the time. But (for instance) I bet half of the western world doesn’t understand or has even heard about the monstrosities happening in Palestine. I know half the stuff that ended up in the video I wasn’t clued up about until we made it! We kind of just want people to care about NOT KILLING EACH OTHER just as must say they do about the controversy inside a vegan sausage roll hahaha.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
Now I wanna make this clear. We aren’t strict, progressive activists from the year 2029. Like half of Mint eat meat. One has a diesel car. We all have leather jackets etc. We don’t wanna scare people too much (despite the videos style), we kinda just want everyone to TRY. It’s so easy and super important to give a shit about the planet yano? However you do it. Go veggie, recycle more, be more fast fashion conscious. It’s not about perfection, it’s just about doing your part I guess.
Interview by Karla Harris