Adelaide rockers Colibrium premiere their killer new music video for “Alien” exclusively right here on The Void today! Colibrium guitarist Christian shares the story of the clip, getting electrocuted at Cherry Bar and lots more.
Christina: How would you describe the story of the song? The ending in particular is most triumphant.
Christian: The story is essentially the finale to our first two clips Lcked and loaded” and “spinning on the wheel”. The Secret agent theme follows through the first two clips and after our “Escape” in spinning, Chris then gets abducted by an alien. Because alien.
Christina: What are the ideas behind the clip? The mix of the psychedelic images and these hyper close ups is really interesting. I like how you move from these explosions of colour (almost feels like what you see if you squeeze your eyes shut) to this restrained hospital with so much tension and focus on such powerful imagery and the pull between the two humans … what was the idea here?
Christian: Aaron is such a creative genius that when he heard the song was called Alien he decided to make it about an Alien. Also, after two videos that solely featured hideously ugly men he really wanted to shoot something nice – hence our alien is a beautiful woman and the abduction experiment turns into a psychedelic romantic connection. Rather than turn Chris into an alien with her magic alien wand, she decides to make herself human and join him on the beach. It’s a tale as old as time really.
Christina: What is a random thing that happened on shoot day that we might not know about?
Christian: Chris insisted on being shirtless in his underpants even though there was no real reason for it. He asked Aaron if he should be naked and before Aaron could answer he was stripped to his boxers doing push-ups.
Christina: Did you have any films, directors or other visuals in mind?
Christian: Given the restrictions of location and budget Aaron decided to go for a 60’s Star Trek vibe for the alien. A shiney dress and some green makeup was enough for Gene Roddenberry so it was good enough for us!
Chris insisted on being shirtless in his underpants even though there was no real reason for it. He asked Aaron if he should be naked and before Aaron could answer he was stripped to his boxers doing push-ups
Christina: This song hails from your brand new album, In Balance. What do you think the underlying emotion is of the album … how does it make you guys feel to play, and what are you looking to inspire in others?
Christian: The album for us is really an expose’ into what we love musically as listeners, thats why its quite diverse. We love playing it because there are challenges for all of us at certain points and it keeps us on our toes.
Christina: The production on the songs is sh*t hot (technical term) especially the vocals – so big and clear. What’s your background with making music/producing music?
Christian: Christian and Craig are both sound engineers so we do have rather picky ears. Our Producer Reid Jones is a Super star and when teamed with Forrester Savell for the mastering, The product speaks for itself.
Colibrium – In Balance: Get it on iTunes
Christina: What were the most challenging/satisfying moments making the record?
Christian: We did the album as a project layout, piece by piece. What was great was watching Reid glue all the separate instrument sections together and then follow with the vocals. It really was a building-block scenario and was awesome to watch unfold. I suppose the key satisfaction is we had it all done from first drum hit to finished masters in 12 weeks. We ran a well oiled machine.
Christina: What would be your ultimate lineup to be a part of, who do you see as the bands that would slide in with your style? Just want to give listeners out there a vibe!
Christian: Blind Guardian, Tool, Radiohead, Mastodon, Alice in Chains, Led Zeppelin, George Clinton and Bjork.
Christina: For the uninitiated, what is the vibe at rock shows down in Adelaide? Is there a supportive scene there?
Christian: Adelaide has a pretty close knit bunch of bands that we know. You always have a few regulars that hop from gig to gig and venues are really easy to work with putting on multi band showcases and shows in general. We have it pretty lucky here.
Christina: How can we hear more Colibrium/buy merch/see you guys play live?
Christian: We have the album available on all online stores, and on CD. People can contact us through our webpage and we will personally post out copies for $15 including shipping. As far as shows go, We have a couple already booked in Adelaide this year and We’re looking to hit regional Vic and regional SA to get the album on the road. We just finished the album tour this weekend at Jive on Saturday night here in Adelaide. Were Pumped!
Christina: Does anyone in your band have any special skills/power moves on tour?
Christian: In big choruses/unison sections, Craig does this crazy lumberjack-like thing with his bass and we stand in awe admiring its grandeur.
Christina: What’s the story of this clip, your first single released back in November? Love how much of a story you have created.
As the first video launching the band we really wanted to make a statement introducing us as a unit. Aaron found himself watching The Usual Suspects one night and the police line-up idea struck him as the perfect way to show us as a group. It also felt like a great way to place us in a tradition of hard-working Aussie rock bands – the underdogs, the outlaws.
Christina: What is the most ridiculous thing that’s happened at a show?
Christian: Gus got electrocuted before our show at Cherry Bar in Melbourne. His amp had an issue with the effects loop and he was in the dark and we were about to go on and it was.. yeah.. not ideal. Safe to say his hands were quite fast for the whole set.
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