Plus the band announce two tour dates as part of NZ Music Month:
Taranaki – Butlers Reef – Saturday 12th May
Auckland – Whiskey Bar – Saturday 19th May
The modus operandi for any theSlacks video is to get people together, and turn the day into something of a celebration that tends to run twice as long as the video shoot itself.
For ‘Yeah Nah’, a gorgeous Taranaki sun was smiling down on the band and with cold bevvies in hand and some spare ribs for the BBQ, they set about capturing the song in visual form. Watch the video for their second single ‘Yeah Nah’ below.
Given the nature of the song lyric, it seemed appropriate to chuck in some home-grown beach cricket and touch rugby as well as an early evening performance on the deck of the New Plymouth Yacht Club, all of which made it into the final cut.
On top of the day-shoot at Ngamotu beach, the band members and central characters in the video (Dinnie and Pierre) spent a second day cruising around Back Beach and Lake Rotomanu in New Plymouth. theSlacks were rolling in the very same car that was used in OMC’s ‘How Bizarre’ and rather chuffed to be doing so.
Much of the inspiration for the song and video comes from the nature of the band. theSlacks was conceived at the tail end of the grunge-y, whinge-y 1990’s and the focus was firmly on having a good time and not taking the band too seriously. Forget about hating on your mum and dad and throwing stones at billboards; try instead stoking a chilly bin to the brim and high-fiving your neighbour as you re-string your old acoustic guitar.
The resulting video is bright and sunny, full of smiles and all the other things the band like to surround themselves with.
Very soon, theSlacks will be able to claim two decades of kicking back, rolling the vibe and bringing their Rural Drift genre to towns and cities all over Aotearoa.
Originally founded by songwriter brothers Scott and Mark Armstrong, theSlacks already have an impressive back catalogue with plans for their third full-length studio album well underway.
theSlacks struck hokey-pokey gold last year with their bi-lingual single ‘Big Aroha’ which, thanks in part to a video shot in a local 4-Square store and went viral online, proved to be a hit with schools, Kapa Haka groups and ex-pat Kiwis all over the world.
The follow up single ‘Yeah Nah’ came to the band when listening to their brothers and sisters interact and the lyric springs from the interesting and unique way Kiwi’s talk to each other. It takes a handful of well used New Zealand phrases and words in English and Te Reo to pull the proverbial out of the way we communicate. The song also hints at a coming change in our thinking and culture that is overdue and will be for the good. Light hearted, fun and irreverent ‘Yeah Nah’ is in the same vein as ‘Big Aroha’. It builds on the concept of ‘Kiwitanga’ which is a loose term coined to paint a picture of what the unification of our bicultural roots might look and sound like in a future Aotearoa.
Watch the official video for ‘Big Aroha’.
Follow THE SLACKS online:
Website: htpp://www.theslacks.nz
Bandcamp: http://theslacks.bandcamp.com
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theSlacksOnTV
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theSlacksNZ
