As I wrote about in my last entry, part of my trip to Hawaii was spent filming a music video with improv rock duo Oil in the Alley. I’m not sure how many Mega Fans can say they’ve had such an opportunity to work with people they admire so much like I did. I lived the dream, and did them proud.
Oil in the Alley finished up their “Reunion Tour” in Hawaii on January 29th and premiered the music video I filmed with them, Rule the World (Skulls and Dragons). Their next tour is named after the song.
When I first started following them on Facebook, I wouldn’t have imagined having any influence whatsoever, but improv being what it is, things tend to take on a life of their own.
First I discovered their animated series from the early 90s. Then the anime series that was made after the group originally split. When R Kevin asked if anyone had stills from their original SNES game, I even managed to dig one up. Those things were relatively easy to do from my home in Malaysia, but I wanted an even bigger part of the action, and Oil in the Alley are based in Honolulu. I flew there, and stayed in The Equus Hotel, which was named after their original Dos Equus song. Naturally this made it easier for the guys to find me when they had to pick me up or drop me off for the video shoot.
Words can’t really express how much fun these guys are, so I’ll just share the video now.
Prior to the official online release of the video, it had 50 views on YouTube, credited almost entirely to viewings and re-viewings by my friends. They started the comments of how “catchy” the song is and how “well made” the video was, and they’ve continued to be said by people I don’t know. It’s true, you will find yourself humming or singing the song over and over. That’s one of the reasons I chose the song over the other choices I had.
It’s been not quite a week since the video was released, and we’re up to 233 views on YouTube, and 116 people sharing it on Facebook. I’m not sure how viral I expected the video to get, but it’s certainly the most successful project I’ve worked on to date with those statistics. We’d still love for more people to watch it, so if you like the video, if you like the song, please share it with your friends, and encourage them to pass it on. There aren’t too many groups you can influence the history of, or their music collection. If you’re ever in the vicinity of one of their shows, check them out and give them an original song title you’d like them to sing. You won’t regret it.
Oil in the Alley is also in the process of selecting songs for the album they’ll be releasing later this year, so if you want to have a say, go check them out on Facebook, watch their videos, and vote for your favourite songs. Be a part of music history.
The direct YouTube link to the music video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsnasDsX_G4
Dominica May 