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We Insist You Watch WALL's Richard Kern Directed Video for "Cuban Cigars"

Here's what happened when ace newbies WALL teamed up with infamous photographer Richard Kern and headed to a bar in the middle of the day.

WALL shot by Peter Senzamici

Two awesome entities coming together: rising Brooklyn band WALL and New York filmmaker/photographer Richard Kern—a union guitarist Vince Mcclellend describes as "fast and cheap." We premiered "Cuban Cigars" back in November and now we've got the first look at the Kern-directed video.

Turns out the band have a personal connection with the auteur as singer Sam York has worked with him on magazine projects and some of his own works. "It felt special to have him working with us on making this video," continues York. "The shoot was hot and sweaty and I got so tired I passed out on the couch at the end; it made my brain feel like scrambled eggs to listen to my own voice play over the speakers for hours on end. Richard is ruthless in the best way, insisting we do take after take to get the right one and to no surprise he knows what he's doing, it turned out great!"

Annoncering

There's a lot to love here :

1. Of course the song sounds just as fresh and tersely twitchy as it did when we first heard it—so please take a moment to appreciate that.

2. The way York's blunt short bangs frame the furrow in her brow when she's singing passionately.

3. Bassist Elizabeth Skadden's stripey turtleneck. Want.

4. The way the dudes dance semi-awkwardly at the 1.02 mark.

5. The mini-make out during the mini-middle 8.

6. Was this filmed at Happy Endings in the Lower East Side? We think yes. According to bassist Elizabeth Skadden, it was shot in the day time and the vibe was rather like a dream sequence from Twin Peaks. She added: "I took a lot of inspiration from the music video 'Addicted to Love' by Robert Palmer which was my first exposure to women playing instruments (I know I know, they aren’t really playing)." And we all know "Addicted to Love" is one of the best songs and best pop videos ever to hit MTV and the world. So. Damn. Iconic.

7. This video was made in conjunction with Super Deluxe, which, if you're not familiar is a dope channel on YouTube with lots of comedic shorts, mini-docs, animations, and whatnot.

Vanessa Gomez had one more note to add about the WALL/Kern collobration:

"For some reason, I was anticipating being afraid of or intimidated by Richard. But he was very laid back, kind, approachable and funny. I appreciated that he wanted to collaborate on the video concept and cared about our opinions/ideas. That was important to me. The whole process was super fun except for when I took a nasty spill. I tripped over someone’s knee which made me nose dive into a metal tripod and I landed in a suitcase. It looked like some sort of cartoon. Or at least it felt like a cartoon, from my perspective. People definitely saw my butt. During the filming Richard looked at my bare feet, raised his eyebrows, and said: 'Nice shoes.' Still not sure what that meant. I like Richard!"

Check out the video below and listen to their debut EP here.