Being one of their new record’s most sentimental cuts, the beloved Mansfield band knew that they needed something just as cinematic to pair with the track. So, like all great Aussie bands do, they went bush.
Clambering into an old Holden Kingswood and trekking deep into the guts of South West Queensland to a town called St. George, the band enlisted the expertise of longtime friend Dan Graetz and a trusty crew of camera operators to help create something that reflected their connection with Australia.
From dusty red roads, arid rural terrain and plenty of schooners at the local, the team managed to create one of the most visually engrossing Australian videos of the year, and as expected, Violent Soho fans snapped it up in their droves.
When he wasn’t the focus of the lens shooting the music video, Violent Soho’s Luke Henery was busy behind-the-scenes with a camera of his own, snapping the crew at work and documenting some of the band’s escapades along the way.
Today, we’ve got the privilege of publishing some of Henery’s own shots and personal anecdotes from the making of ‘Slow Down Sonic’, making for a super special behind-the-scenes glimpse at one of Australia’s most loved acts as they road-tripped their way through the bush on one hell of an adventure.
Luke Henery: On the drive back to Brisbane it rained and washed down this long road, which helped set a perfect sombre vibe for the last part of the shoot before the last leg of the drive back home.
Luke: Joel From Deathwish Hotrods took on the challenge of getting Zed Charles’ (Royal Artillery) old Holden Kingswood back on the road. It had been sitting in his yard for a few years. Joel got to work and within a week had the Kingswood purring again, all good to go.
Luke: Australia is full of amazing pubs. The Australian Hotel is no exception, the massive fire place friendly staff and locals made the shoot easy. I could drink beers around that fire place forever.
Luke: Mikey has always loved movies, and should probably make them. He has a perfect director vibe.
Luke: One of the parts of this video that was amazing to me was the shots of the car while we were driving. At first watch they seem effortless, but the rigging and work involved in those shots blew me away.
Luke: This is a view I’ve had for so many years, and I wouldn’t have it any other way – unless James wants to have a few beers.
Luke: There’s been a few times over the Violent Soho video making timeline that we’ve put Dan in the boot of our car and driven off. I don’t know what this says about both parties involved… but it has always ended with us getting awesome videos.
Luke: During the shoot, we were driving down the road at around 50km an hour and this is the view I had watching this camera come loose and fall off the rigging. That was a full-on moment!
Luke: Dan checking the camera for damage. The camera was fine and finished the clip with no problem.
Luke: What kind of mad genius mounts a camera to a car with magnets? If you look closely at the camera, you can see some of the previous damage from falling off the side rigging. I would have been scared mounting that camera – worked a treat though!
Luke: Wouldn’t be a road trip with out some good tunes. The Young Einstein soundtrack is packed with bangers!
Luke: It’s funny to look at this picture now and think of all the touring we have done. We had a massive year planned for touring around this record but now this photo is the closest thing I have to a memory of touring this album.
Luke: That tailgate turned out to be a great spot to play guitar. One of my favourite parts of ‘Slow Down Sonic’ is the slide guitar that James plays.
Everything is A-OK is out now via I OH YOU.
