This one was always going to work out strangely. Larne-outfit Dutch Schultz approached Bandwidth last year, with a view to relaunching their single It Bends In The Middle, a fantastic but largely unnoticed track that was now to be re-polished, re-recorded and re-packaged by their new parent label Di Di Mau Records. The pitch was quite simple – make us something that will grab attention, and while you’re at it, try and make us look sexy, and funny, but not sexist, and most of all make it ROCK. Ok, so clearly not that simple.
The result caused quite a stir needless to say. Or rather the band’s reaction to the video did – they took it rather too well, inviting Jo Robinson and other dancers from Polercise to attend their launch tour, inadvertently causing quite a ruckus amongst more conservative commentators.
So it came time for single number two. We at Bandwidth were looking for something equally as visually striking as the first video, but something which redressed (no pun intended) the balance a little towards the Schultz’s eclectic grunge/indie roots. So reluctantly the band packed away their high heels and lippy and, much less reluctantly, hit the road with A Plastic Rose to play some of their most blistering live dates of their career around Ireland and Scotland. Back home, we called in a few favours and took a trip (pun intended) around the park, and up and down the Stranmillis Rd in Belfast.
To us, ‘On The Shelf’ is the sound of a band on the cusp of something big. Featuring globe trotting dance/rock act Skibunny‘s lead vocalist Tanya, there’s a confidence in this song (and dare I say it, an optimism, if that’s not a dirty word) that will take Dutch Schultz as far as they want to go. We thought about a wee band from a provincial coastal town, with the hutzpah to do anything they damn well felt like, before the big record labels started calling the shots, and even then they’d just damn well do what they felt like. Maybe that’s why some of the kinder ones are already comparing the video to a mutant cross between Wind In The Willows and this little band.
As so far as the band goes, we certainly see the comparisons.
Director: Will McConnell
Bandwidth Films 2009
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