Rock Lobster
Wig
Give me back my man
Strobe light
Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Creole
I always loved this shot. Peter Ashworth was the photographer and we shot it in his studio in Shoreditch, London. The set was inspired by the old Hollywood Busby Berkeley musicals. The final photographic print was made from a dye transfer which was the highest quality print one could make and just looked stunning.
Kid Creole - Tropical Gangsters
This was shot in New York with photographer George DuBose. It was my first visit to the big apple and for me it felt like I'd stepped into a movie. The cab dropped me off at the Parka Meridian hotel - having not long before been a poor student I thought they'd made a mistake with booking me into such a luxurious hotel. We set the shot up in George's studio with a few props - I always remember Coati Mundi putting his address book in front of the crab which I thought was inspired.
Kid Creole - Doppelganger
Another trip to New York but this time I brought photographer Peter Ashworth whom I been working with a lot in London. We hired a studio and found the props filling the a section with sand. The Band didn't show until about 3 am after clubbing it so we worked through the night. In the morning after the band had left, the owner of the studio showed up. Even though we'd cleared up most of the sand he went ballistic saying he would have never hired it out to us if he knew we were bringing in sand. I understood what he meant because after thoroughly cleaning the place it still crunched under foot as we were leaving. Sand and studios don't mix!
Kid Creole & The Coconuts - The Lifeboat Party
I co-directed this video with Michael Geoghegan in Hamburg, Germany where the band were performing. We only had 2 days to shoot the promo so we set the party scene in the hotel we were staying. It didn't take long for it to turn into a real party. After a few hours of good times and lots of drink the band just wandered off into the night. I remember meeting Coati Mundi the next day looking slightly worse for wear. Good time had by all.
The Christians - Hooverville
This was shot on the site of an old power station in Liverpool. The building was completely derelict and about to be pulled down. When working out what to shoot for the video having looked around Liverpool at many run down areas until we finally came across this location. I'm amazed they allowed us in let alone film there. I worked with the band over several campaigns and chose photographer Alistair Thain as their main photographer. Alistair artistic style of photography seem to suit the band - funnily enough he never shot many stills but was a magician in the dark room and could create the most incredible images.
Harvest for the world
Forgotten town
Words
Colour
Grace Jones - Love is the drug
I co-directed this with Matt Forrest where we employed half the top animators in London to work on it. Grace was supposed to show up to do the vocal but never made it, so we used a top model Katie Jane Spencer as a stand in and filmed only her lips mouthing the words. We shot it in the Island Records recording studio - The Fallout Shelter and were there for several days filming all the stop frame animation.
The Christians - Drip Drop
This was filmed while we were making the Hoovervile video at the derelict Liverpool power station. It wasn't planed, the band just stated singing the song and we got the steady cam and sound gear out and quickly filmed the performance in one take. Funnily enough the track was put on a B side of one of the the Hooverville single.
Grace Jones - Love is the drug
These masks were made by model maker Sue Venning and photographed by Peter Ashworth. Following on from Jean Paul Goude's mask theme I contacted Madame Tussauds who had made a model of Grace. The kindly obliged and allowed us to use the mold of her head from which we made plastic masks. Sue then went to town creating a series of different looks. These images were then compiled in a special record sleeve boolket which became a much sought after collectors item.
Too good to be forgotten
Things the lonely do
Excitable
All over the world
Spellbound
The Prisoner - I am not a number!
This was part of a series I made for Telstar records based on TV themes. I watched the entire series of Prisoner episodes and managed to match up the correct sequences with the music soundbed. To give it a contemporary edge I then filmed dancer Richelle dressed in 60's prisoner gear and some rappers and edited the whole thing together.
Thunderbirds
As a kid this was one of my favourite TV shows. Who was to know I'd be working on a musical version all those years later. Again it was a case of watching all the episodes and selecting the clips that matched the dialogue. I then decided to make Parker a DJ and so got and outfit and mixing desk made for him. As in the series they often used real hands for the close ups so I got a replica top made and some bling jewellery which I actually wore myself. One huge mistake was not hiring a puppeteer. I naively thought it would be easy to operate and soon found out it wasn't.
XL1
Telephone operator
No one like you
I don't know what it is?
True love ways
Blind Vision
Pearls Galore
You're my angel