The Artist Explains: Kris Kelly - 'More'
Alt rock/singer songwriter Kris Kelly talks to us candidly about his gripping single and music video, ‘More’ which sees him battle with the 7 deadly sins personified.
Where was the video filmed?
At a studio in Los Angeles.
How does the video connect with the song?
Well, first I explained to Kris Moyes, the director, what the song meant to me personally. There is a thread running through my album "Runaways" that deals with 'running away' in all kinds of ways: running away from home, running from yourself, running from love, running from childhood trauma, etc. Running to avoid facing oneself and avoiding the difficult work needed for growth. For me, 'More' is about society or humankind in general nowadays has created so many easy ways to run from themselves, to take the path of least resistance, for things to be 'easy' and to not have to embark on an inward journey. Money, drugs (legal and illegal), sex, TV, religion, co-dependent relationships with other people, and the list goes on. It's so easy to just jump from one form of instant gratification to another, and we wonder why we're not 'happy'. So I explained that to Kris and he started to get images and ideas. And ultimately the way the song translated to him was through the Christian seven deadly sins. Which I thought was interesting, and we went with it. So each character in the video embodies one of the 7 deadly sins.
Do you have any behind the scenes stories you could share with us?
Well first, I can first tell you that I'm a control freak and it took a lot of trust to give Kris Moyes the room he needed to create. I am someone who likes to plan every last detail, and Kris asked me to give him space and to not over-plan, so that he could be free in the moment during the shoot to experiment and improvise. That was his creative process. Different than mine, but I had to respect it. I had to have a lot of trust, and I'm glad I did. In the end, it was really beautiful and inspiring to see the way he worked. How he came alive during the shoot and came up with so many fascinating shots, visual ideas, movements, etc, all on the spot. I come from a theatre background, and there was that type of ensemble vibe on the set. There were some funny situations - having to drop the egg yolk onto the 'gluttony' character's eye. He had a hard time not flinching, which is understandable, so we had to do many takes. They also created a big pool of water that I had to stay in for long periods of time and it was completely freezing. So during ever shot of me in water, just know I'm in secret agony.
Can you tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
Kris Moyes came up with all of the imagery used, inspired by the mood of my song and the lyrics. From very early on, he was sending me visual references and ideas. I went back later to those emails after I saw the final video and was amazed at how much he had actually incorporated without me being aware of it during the shoot. I loved the honey, eggs, string-fight, black/white, reflection/distortion, water, mask imagery in the video. Not to mention the seven deadly sin characters of course. And I think my connection with all those images is probably different than the director's connection with them, and it will be different for each viewer too. So I feel the same way about going too in depth about these images as I do about over-explaining lyrics ... it kind of kills the magic if I give you my take on them.
Is there a message the video is trying to convey?
This particular video is surreal. There's not a specific linear message being conveyed. The 'More' video deals with symbols and images that I think will trigger emotion in viewers that isn't necessarily literal or specific. This video is working with feeling, atmosphere, and vibes. There is definitely an exploration of darkness, the shadow-world, the forbidden/taboo, and the hidden corners of the self, and I think that definitely translates.
Interview by Karla Harris