The Noolands take things back a century for their new video and it was all about working together with people in the Barrie community.
The video for the song Grenadine, which was officially released today on YouTube, was inspired by the slapstick comedy and storytelling of old black and white Charlie Chaplin silent films and others from the era.
"Our new Grenadine video was the result of amazing collaboration in our hometown of Barrie," says Brandon Davenport, percussion, piano and vocals for the local band. "We're so lucky to have people that believe in our band and are willing to be a part of what we do, no matter how weird it is."
The band thanked the folks at McReilly's Pub in downtown Barrie for allowing them to film there and cover the place with pie, as well as Theatre by the Bay for the costumes.
"They really helped inspire the whole idea," Davenport says.
The Simcoe County Museum also allowed the band to wander around the Midhurst property, riding toy horses and dressed as 1920s bootleggers.
"Making this music video, and the single, was one of the most creatively challenging adventures our band has ever been on," Davenport says. "In the studio, it was a whole new folk sound and a fresh style for us after putting out a fairly heavy record and a pretty simple vibe."
Coming up with characters to play and planning the whole Grenadine video was "key" and it took time.
That meant many days of getting up at 7 a.m., meeting downtown, storyboarding, putting on the costumes, grabbing the horses and cameras, driving to a location "to run around in the hot sun for hours or get a pie in the face!"
"We put so much, maybe too much, energy into this silent-film music video and we're just happy to have it out there," Davenport says.
The Barrie band's roots date back to high school and they eventually made their way from the living room to the studio. They released the Us on a Bus EP last year, which featured two charting singles on FM and satellite radio and sold-out live performances around Canada, the band had attained national acclaim.
The group, which was founded in the summer of 2014, includes Davenport, Aaron Casey (lead vocals, drums, guitar and piano), Peter Meers (saxophone), Jon Laxton (bass) and his twin brother James Laxton (guitar and drums).
To catch them live, The Noolands will perform at Mavricks Music Hall on Oct. 12 for Impact Live’s Breakout Sound concert series.
