The most famous Saskatchewan musical act remains Joni Mitchell, but I’m willing to bet that even the Canadian goddess has never been arrested whilst making a music video. Shoegazers Close Talker managed to do just that when making the video for ‘Waking Up‘ taken from their new album, Lens.
Not only does the video make you rethink just what winter could be, compared to life in the British Isles, but there’s a rather cool narrative going on.
According to guitarist Matt Kopperud: ” Filming in January in Saskatchewan proved quite difficult. With long days in -30 degrees, a hyper dog, freezing cold water, limited daylight, and blatant trespassing on several properties, the stakes were high. Not going to lie, on day one of shooting we were detained by the police for both trespassing and mischief (for carving Close Talker in the stair treads). Following some sincere apologies and prairie charm, we negotiated our way to being able to speak to the homeowner. We explained our project to the kind farmer and our idea for the opening shot (which included the wood carving, or as far as the courts are concerned, vandalism and defacing of property). His response was, “oh ya, that is pretty cool”. He gave us keys to the gate and said we could continue using the old abandoned house if we promised to be safe…Other than some minor hiccups and fear of tipping a canoe or acquiring hypothermia, the whole experience was pretty great and really new to us as we had never directed anything before.”
