June Body have returned with a new video for “River Never Runs Dry” and if it teaches us anything it’s that even the simplest, low budget music video can be beautifully entertaining if you’ve befriended the right videographer. Working with Alex Boyd, June Boyd have turned what might have been a run-of-the-mill video into what looks like humorous live-action take on a Studio Ghibli production.
“He had the crazy idea to come on tour with us last summer—crazy because we told him we would all be losing money,” explains Connor James. “As a 2-year-old band, everything is out of pocket. It’s tough to get people out to shows locally, never mind in provinces you’ve never played in. He really seems to believe in us, and has acted as a kind of advisor to the band in addition to supplying us with amazing content.”
The band, along with Boyd, toured through Ontario and Quebec in the Spring of 2018, and the resulting tour video culminated in their mini tour documentary called “Plan for Us.”
Still in college, Boyd found an opportunity to follow up the first release with a new video for the band (for course credit, of course), pulling inspiration from youtube videos and whatever they felt they could get away with on a budget of $50.
“We wanted the imagery to reflect the themes of the song, which revolve around finding ways ‘intentionally or otherwise’ to damage yourself.’ Sometimes you think you deserve it, or maybe it’s habitual—but however you might be doing it, you’re welcoming some kind of affliction into your life,” explains James. “Enter the ghost. The ghost is living with us, we compete with it, it degrades our lifestyles, and is eventually evicted.”
Comically drifting, literally and metaphorically, along the side of the road, the Ghost is the Charlie Brown of “River Never Runs Dry,” subject to all kinds of misadventure and abuse.
The creation of the Ghost even required a sacrifice to be made…
“The sheet we used to drape the ghost with was courtesy of Boyd’s partner, Nicole. It got pretty messed up in the first scene. It made for a good shot, but the sheet was wrecked.”
Drummer Jonny Renken recalls, “The whole video I felt terrible about Nicole’s sheets. That’s all I remember.'”
It wasn’t the last of the mishaps, either, but things tend to go wrong when you combine sports and blindfolds.
“The football scene is one of the first we shot, and is hilarious to me, but probably not to Alex Callaghan (bass) who was playing the ghost when I hit him in the face with the ball. If you look closely you can actually see me kind of panic for a half-second when I realize where the ball is headed,” says James.
“The beer bath scene was horrible. All those cans were acquired as part of a sick tradition in which the video’s director, Alex Boyd, receives cases of non-alcoholic beer from his friends on his birthday. He pulled them out of his shed and emptied them (not fully) and I got into the most rancid-smelling bath ever. The bathroom still smelled like stale beer when I moved out of that apartment.”
And the live performance shot even contains some unexpected guests. Despite hauling their gear out to the middle of nowhere, the band soon realized they were shooting in the middle of a mountain biking trails.
“Folks on bikes were whipping by yelling stuff like, ‘Sounding great guys!’ or ‘This is the best riding music ever!’—You can actually spot a rider ripping behind us at one point.”
Now two years into their run, it’s past time you’ve seen June Body for yourself. Thankfully you don’t need to hike up a mountain to catch them.
Tours Dates:
07.17.19 – Halifax, NS @ Menz & Mollyz
07.18.19 – Charlottetown, PE @ Baba’s Lounge
07.19.19 – Saint John, NB @ Taco Pica