The now-defunct South Florida rock adventurers Blond Fuzz graced our pages and blogosphere pretty regularly in the past. But for the new year, the three-piece has reincarnated as a poppy, dream-hazed concoction called Young Circles -- possibly as an homage to a notable landmark in Hollywood. By the way, the guys are celebrating the release of the Bones EP release at the Vagabond in Miami tonight.
But if you're missing the psychedelic rock just a little too much, we've got your fix. Regular New Times contributor Ian Witlen directed Blond Fuzz's last music video for "Black Magic Touch" and has finally released it to the masses, along with five quirky, behind-the-scenes anecdotes most outsiders aren't aware of. You know, in case you fancy drinking for eight hours straight, being punched in the face, and partying in a hot dog costume. Check it all out after the jump.
The same team was behind Surfer Blood's "Floating Vibes."
"On set I had a great team to work
with," says Witlen. "Bobby Keegan, Lucas Marchesani, Sean Keegan and Kelley Randall are also known
as Afflux Club. They were all part of the team behind the Surfer Blood's video
for "Floating Vibes." They were all an integral part to pulling everything
together on set and keeping sane while shooting during two separate eight hour
days."
Alcohol? What Alcohol?
"I used to work as a photo assistant for commercial catalogs and with a lot of set stylists. They taught me along the way how to make alcohol out of everyday drinks to match color for film. Although we were shooting the house party
scenes at DaDa's, I didn't think it would be a good idea to have the band or
extras drinking actual alcohol. We had to be able to shoot take after take for
about eight hours straight. The beer is made of a mixture of juice, soda, and
carbonated water, with mixtures that vary depending on type of drink. The
whiskey that Jordan is drinking is made of iced tea, coke, and ginger ale. While
that may sound tasty, I can assure you it wasn't. Jordan was doing take after
take after take while having to take shots of the nasty concoction. He went
through two and a half bottles of it. I'm sure his stomach wasn't too thrilled
with him."
Jordan insisted on actually getting punched.
"Jordan was very insistent on the punch being realistic, so he actually got punched in the face, for three separate takes." Ouch.
It takes a lot of effort to throw one man in the air.
"We honestly didn't know if we'd be able to fling Jordan in the air or how many people it would take. We ended up getting four mattresses and putting them underneath him, because there was a nice concrete studio floor that we didn't want him falling into. There was a huge tarp and eight people surrounding it. It was pretty hard to get him into the air, but we ended up doing it."
Hot dog costumes boost morale.
"We were all kind of low on morale when we were trying to get Jordan up in the air. It was a lot of work so early in the day. It was probably 85-90 degrees during most of the shooting. Dave brought his Halloween costume -- which was a hotdog suit. We were basically all ready to jump into it, they turned the camera on and they were ready to go. I put on the hot dog costume and just came running in and did a flip on the mattress. Everyone just stood up like, 'What just happened?' and everyone was ready to shoot again."
Check out the final video below, and tell us what you think.
BLOND FUZZ - BLACK MAGIC TOUCH from Ian Witlen on Vimeo.
Young Circles Bones EP Release Party. 10 p.m. Friday, January 7 at the Vagabond, 30 NE 14th St, Miami. Click here.
