FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Watch Some Brutally Awful Holiday Handi-Cam Footage on the New MarineVille Video

The Wellington based band have also just released a new single of unique and imperfect pop charms.

The only thing missing on the video for MarineVilles's "Turning of the Sod" is audio of a middle aged couple arguing about where they are going to eat lunch and how Frank should have bought more US dollars at the hotel earlier that morning.

Taken from the band's new 7" the video features some brutally awful Handi-Cam tourist footage from an unknown Latin or South American country.

Named after A Trip to Marineville, the 1979 debut studio album from English art punks Swell Maps, the Wellington band formed in 2000. Led by founder, principal songwriter and guitarist Mark Williams, the band produces music that works rumbling bass, and sprawling guitar work with a careful considered pop nuance. It’s a music that sits well in the NZ post-punk pop dynasty but brings it’s own unique and imperfect charms.

Advertisement

Having gone through some incarnations the current lineup includes Williams, Greg Cairns (ex Verlaines, Bonnie Prince Billy) and Jeremy Coubrough (Tlaotlon).

Local Wellington label Epic Sweep who released the bands excellent 2012 7” is taking care of the new "Turning of the Sod 7” .

We sent Mark a few questions to find out more.

Noisey: Turning the sod is a ceremony that celebrates the first day of construction. Is there any metaphor of start of building in the song?
Mark Williams: It could be that three of us have just had our first kids? Not that we refer to our kids as sods. Not yet anyway. Musically speaking, it was one of 10 songs we made up on the spot and recorded straight to an iphone three- on-the- floor. I love the aesthetic of one saturated mic.

Has writing songs become easier for you?
Yes - in that making shit up on the spot is a way to combine song, improv and noise without really trying. And editing later is almost as much fun as writing from scratch.

You were asked in an interview if you could go back to a decade who you would jam with and you said Prince in the 80s. Ha! What is it about Prince?
He can do stuff I can't ie: be funky, and he would hate what I do. That mixture of elements that don't really belong together is interesting. Maybe I could be Arto Lindsay and he could be the rest of the Ambitious Lovers…or vice versa… then it would be really bad/good!

You have had quite a lot of lineup changes but this one seems pretty solid. Will you stick with them. Or them with you?
This was our first recording with Kirsten Van Newtown on bass. Denise Roughan our previous bass player has decided her live music career is over. Greg the drummer has moved to Dunedin. Jeremy the keyboard player has moved to Australia. We did play a party recently though. Fuck mate, we're solid as a rock!

‘Turning of the Sod’ is available now through Epic Sweep.

Like this story? Like NOISEY on Facebook.