Opening Suite, interpreted by five directors.
The first piece on my record, Tonight You Look Like A Spider, entitled, “Opening Suite”, is comprised of five compositions and has a running time of nearly 11 minutes.
My girlfriend, Ellen Philips, had the great concept of soliciting five directors to come up with visual ideas for the five compositions.
I didn’t tell the directors who the other directors were.
I told them they had carte blanche creatively and they didn’t have to tell me what their ideas were.
I promised that I would neither censor nor edit their creations whatsoever.
If they wanted me to be in the video, I consented.
Jared Varava and I first worked together on a video for British songwriter Bill Fay, and again when Jared directed the Pretty Polly video for Vandeveer.
I’ve been friends with Tim Rutili for years. We both resided in Chicago when Tim was in the band Red Red Meat and later Califone. Tim has done a substantial amount of film soundtracks, and wrote and directed the feature film All My Friends Are Funeral Singers.
Label mate, Adam Harding and I have had a relatively short friendship, but it’s been a continual blast. He’s the creator of the musical entity, Dumb Numbers, and has directed several videos including one that I star in. I directed one for him as well.
Jennifer (Jen) Lynch is an extremely gifted moviemaker. Our recent friendship has blossomed from an abundance of creative gushing and fun-having. Outside of her film directing, she wrote the classic book The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.
Todd Adam Philips is best known for his musical career with Bullet LaVolta, Juliana Hatfield, Model/Actress and The Lemonheads but has always had an incredible sense for visuals and is an outstanding film editor. I’m proud to call him one of my very closest friends.
Because of the way “Opening Suite” is arranged and very specifically orchestrated, the five directors’ visions work in ensemble much like an Exquisite Corpse.
My name is David Yow.
Editor’s note: the DVD for Opening Suite comes with a CD of Mr. Yow’s full album, and is available for $10 HERE