Exclusive interview with Tice Griffin of Water District on producing the official music video “Supernova”
Exposed vocals: Where did the idea for the music video originate?
Tice Griffin: I’ve always loved space dramas, Everything from Star Wars to Interstellar has kept me glued to the screen. When I wrote the song “Supernova” I imagined an astronaut leaving Earth for a new world, but because we couldn’t go to space we decided to bring the astronaut to Los Angeles.
Exposed vocals: So in this video you have an astronaut walking around the city of Los Angeles. Is that a metaphor for something? What inspired that?
Tice Griffin: The idea was inspired from the reactions I see from people when they first come to Los Angeles. There really is no place like it and it can be quite shocking when you first arrive. The space suit is kind of a metaphor for the shell they put themselves in and the removing of the space helmet at the end of the video is symbolic of leaving that shell.
Exposed vocals: What made you want to produce your own music video?
Tice Griffin: The song came out a year ago and although we had plan to release it with a music video we kept running into speed bumps. Every music video producer we spoke to had unrealistic budgets and or creative differences. It became very stressful and at one point the video was completely called off. A few months passed after the release of Supernova and I felt that the song had faded. It didn’t do as well as we hoped it would have on the local radio stations and it definitely didn’t generate the attention we were hoping for. This song was the highest budget production we had ever had. It was tracked by Aaron Espinoza, mixed by Tony Hoffer and Mastered by Dave Cooley. Yet it was almost completely stagnant, and I attributed that to the lack of video content. So although I didn’t know anything about producing a music video, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make things happen.
Exposed vocal: Tell us more about your experiences as a first-time music video producer.
Tice Griffin: Where do I begin!? I had been exclusively in the world of writing songs and recording them my whole career. so I knew I needed help from somebody I could trust to bring my Creative Vision to life. So I reached out to my long time friend and up-and-coming filmmaker Logan Ward to be the director. Although Logan just started making short films in the last few years it was apparent he has a knack for the craft. His first two short films “Insomniac” and “Pigman” have gained attention at film festivals all over the country. He accepted the invitation to be the director and we got to work!
Exposed vocals: What came easy and what were some challenges?
Tice Griffin: The easy part was the performance piece. It only took us one day to find the location and it only took us one day to shoot the footage. The challenging part was the b-roll, and obtaining an astronaut suit. Most people aren’t aware of this unless you really tried to go all out for Halloween one year, but a movie quality space suit is quite expensive to rent. We came up with the concept, wrote the story and shot the performance piece without even looking into the cost of a spacesuit. After a month of phone calls it became obvious that a movie quality space suit was far beyond our budget and it was time for me to take matters into my hands again. So in an effort to stick to the original concept I began researching how to build my own spacesuit. i found the materials we would need and with the help of my very talented mother, we built a space suit.
Exposed vocals: What was the process of casting “Piper” The Astronaut.
Tice Griffin: Piper the astronaut was portrayed by the very talented Claudine Quadrat. We put out a casting call and we had every girl try on the space helmet. Although we had many talented actors considered for the roll, Claudine was the obvious choice. It is quite challenging to portray an astronaut without any dialogue and still be appealing within the confines of a spacesuit. She definitely nailed it, and was a pleasure to work with.
Exposed vocals: What advice would you give to Musicians who are considering producing their own music video.
Tice Griffin: Don’t settle and don’t cut corners! If you are beginning to make quality recordings and write quality songs you most likely have already learned that lesson. My advice is apply the same standards to the production of any art form. Also always work with people who you trust and respect. If I’ve learned anything from this experience, its that the creative process should be the easy part rather then the difficult part. Up until this project I had always struggled with collaboration. I thought all artists were stubborn and hard to work with. After working with Logan I learned that it’s totally possible to work with somebody who you don’t bump heads with. Bumping heads is pointless, if you and your creative team don’t see eye-to-eye then you don’t trust or respect each other and you simply should not work together. That’s not to say that they aren’t talented, you just don’t work together well and that’s fine. Can you guys still make great product? Sure! But at the expense of your happiness and potentially your art. Collaboration is a relationship not a marriage, always keep that in mind.
Exposed vocals: You guys are working on new music? How’s that coming along?
Tice Griffin: Great! We are going to release an EP this summer! My friend Danny balistocky is producing it, and i think it’s the best songs I’ve written. I’m embracing my strengths and conquering my weaknesses as well as trying new things. I look forward to sharing it with everyone!
Exposed vocals: Real quick, what artists have you been listening to recently.
Tice Griffin: Our friends LAYNE are great, and I really look forward to their new music! Andrew McMahon in the wilderness, The 1975, The Smiths, and Chris Isaak.
