The mighty Cocos Lovers have just returned from what sounds like a successful trip across to Austin, Texas for South By South West. The festival is a showcase or shop window as much as anything and Will told me, “We played three successful gigs and did a couple radio broadcasts, which attracted a lot of interest in the Lovers. We don’t want to say too much yet but it could give them a great platform across the Atlantic for the next album.”
The video for Under The Hawthorn Tree was made by Peter Cocks. An author and screen writer. Peter is a fan and friend of Cocos Lovers. We thought the video to be really rather good and the story behind it is also very interesting. Peter took the time out to explain, “I moved from London to Deal in 2006 and saw the emergence of Cocos Lovers and Smugglers Records down there. I was amazed by the quality and diversity I had chanced upon and have been a supporter ever since.
“My background is in TV, writing and art direction, as well as running The Private Widdle Social Club, a cabaret event in Deal. Will has often spoken to me about making a video, and I generally haven’t had the time. Then recently, I had one of those dreams that stays with you…it featured very blurred, almost slowed down Cocos Lovers in a big place, maybe a church with Punch and Judy characters and various other, random images. I mentioned to Will that I’d had a dream…an idea, and he mentioned that he needed a video for their next single.
“I started to trawl the web for images as a mood board, then began to paste them into an edit. It began to remind me of a 1920s surrealist film by Fernand Leger called Ballet Mechanique. I cut the footage to the track and it began to feel good. I used images from my childhood, such as the East German Singing Ringing Tree for fairy tale qualities, some animation by the Czech, Jan Svankmajer and a little hint of ‘Wicker Man’ for English paganism.
“I filmed the song in a chruch the other week, then re-filmed the projected film twice to get the blurred, slowed down quality I was after. It makes the vocals look a bit slurred, dreamlike. I’m quite pleased with it.” So you should be Peter.
The band have also have more UK dates lined up and a string of summer festivals, visit their website for full details: http://www.cocoslovers.com/
Interview by: Simon Holland