By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
Miss the moody sounds of classic-era death rock and goth? Well, grab your mascara and rip your fishnets because indie rockers Medium have just released an audiovisual blast of nostalgia with enough vintage spooky vibes to raise the dead.
Lissa Carandang-Sweeney in “PEEKING THROUGH THE BLINDS”
Inspired by 1980s MTV Halloween specials and horror classics such as The Return of the Living Dead, “PEEKING THROUGH THE BLINDS,” the band’s latest video, finds the art punk trio (comprised of composer/guitarist/vocalist Cotter Phinney, bassist Veska Naratama and drummer Rocko Zevenbergen) traveling to a graveyard five hours away from its New York base of operations to don the corpse paint as KISS-inspired zombies. The clip also stars Lissa Carandang-Sweeney (Alice Heart) as the helpless “Barbara” and features the FX artistry of RJ Young (Popeye The Slayer Man, I Need You Dead!).
Cotter Phinney
Released on Phinney’s Psychic Reader Records label, “PEEKING THROUGH THE BLINDS” echoes and pays homage to the L.A. deathrock sound pioneered by bands like 45 Grave and Christian Death (with whom Medium shared a stage in April of this year), exploring themes of death and sin. Although nailing the sound was essential, according to Medium frontman Phinney, who also directed the video, the imagery completes the package.
Veska Naratama
“When I was, like, 13, I begged my parents to buy me a bootleg DVD of Elvira’s 1986 MTV Halloween Special on eBay. I watched it a lot. With this music video, I tried to make something that felt like it could’ve fit right into that special – something that looked like a piece of lost media,” explains Phinney, adding, “I put a lot of time and effort into our music videos, not only to put our best foot forward, but also to give myself as much experience as possible. I’ve always wanted to direct my own feature-length horror movies, and this is sort of my film school.”
Rocko Zevenbergen
Experience “PEEKING THROUGH THE BLINDS” now!
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