Sep. 26, 2012 - Issue #884: Strangelove
Young Empires
These guys are probably Facebook friends
It's simple: you watch a music video, like it and share it on Facebook for all to see. But what if you could be part of that video—or at least your Facebook photos could?
Young Empires, a four-piece indie rock group based in Toronto, has made that possible with the video for its new single "White Doves," directed by Miles Jay. Before playing, viewers are asked to sign in with their Facebook username and password, and then to type in the name of their closest friend. What unfolds is a thought-provoking conceptual look at memory, with viewer's Facebook photos taking centre stage throughout the video.
"You see so many music videos come out, you watch them once or twice, someone posts it on Facebook, and then it's gone, even something great ... so I think for us we really wanted to do something that would have some kind of sustainability and some lasting quality," says Aaron Ellingson, one of the band's founding members and a former Edmontonian. "I think any time you can make people feel like they're part of something and you can have some kind of interaction, it really helps. When you're in a band, with things like Facebook and Twitter, you can do it a little more than people used to and you can interact, but any time you can involve people in something they're going to be more excited about it and it's something you're going to watch more than once."
The addition of viewers' Facebook photos not only allows fans to get in on the action, but also enhances the overall theme of the video: memory. Ellingson says it particularly focuses on the value placed on memories. The photos in the video are often in various states of destruction, which he believes would be a traumatic thing for many people to witness in real life.
"You value your car and your clothes and things like that, but those things are replaceable," Ellingson explains. "And it was kind of the idea of those pictures, that's the memories and the physical picture can get destroyed, but the memory is still there, so it's just kind of that idea of making you stop and think and value that."
Thu, Oct 4 (8 pm)
With Dragonette and guests
Starlite Room, $32 – $46.50
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