The New Loud Rockets: Video Launch

Remember your first music video? Probably not, unless you’re cool enough to be in a band, and then even cooler enough to convince someone to put a camera in your face. The New Loud Rockets slipped into their skinny pants to launch their debut music video on Saturday.

As is so typical of the Cape Town underground, things didn’t get going much before 11pm. Drawing parallels to The Hives, The Founders kicked off with a long instrumental intro that gradually seeped into the aroused attentions of increasingly pissed NLR fans. The ever-growing crowd really were very receptive of the “still a little way to go” band.

The making of Bleeding in a Cab. More Vids | Submit Vids

The hype was building. Even during the interval the foosball got unequivocally more aggressive, people gathered around the empty screen where they would soon watch the new video and the bar was drained. Cigarettes glowed like frantic torches in the night. The lads were excited. Waaay less nervous looking than last time at the venue. They were hugging everyone out of shear appreciation of their presence at the launch.

It was time. They took the stage. Adrenaline pumped. Unfortunately they were introduced by the only South African “entertainer”, Cokey Falkow, who still thinks dwelling in the subterranean cesspools of human anatomy is comedy gold.

It went from nobody laughing to nobody standing still. Heads moved. Precious personal space was pawned for the party. The air-con suffered.

The parents of the stripped down fourpiece looked on proudly as their boys no doubt blew their initial expectations back in 2006 out of the water. When it came time for the “thank you’s” the parents were right at the top of the list for their continued support and belief. Touching. We just wanted to see the damn video!

And wow, was it worth the wait. Directed by Dylan Culhane, Bleeding in a Cab was shot through ink in water. Band members were depicted in the permeating ink. Very original and the black and white made one momentarily think back to the Gnarls Barkley Crazy video where his face appears in black and white paint patterns. Screams of excitement.

After the video the distinctively Strokes-sounding New Loud Rockets came back on and the party continued. You could see they were proud of their work, and in total awe of the crowd’s response to the video. All in all, it was a superb show of South African talent from one of the best up and coming bands of the future.

[Guest post by Richard King]

“Cigarettes glowed like frantic torches. The lads were hugging everyone…”