I had no plans to be in the ‘The Top Floor’ music video until a few hours before the official start of the shoot in Port Noarlunga, when I was told that I (a last resort) would be playing War Room’s trickster violinist, Thea Martin. I received costuming instructions while on the bus home from work: “Thea core but a bit more formal if possible!” My brother Sam (who would be playing War Room drummer Harry Blight) also texted me with his own suggestions: “You should wear a cap!” Apart from that, the way that I chose to embody Thea was completely up to me.
(I’m writing this at the Stirling Library. My brother is sitting across from me sending emails, because sometimes the two of us have to leave town to get any work done at all. In the far corner, a man and his son are playing a game of chess. The chess pieces are huge - the pawns alone are as tall and thick as cans of Sprite.
I interrupted Sam’s productivity streak to ask him how he had approached “becoming” Harry in the music video. He threw his hands up in the air. “I tried to play the drums right but I’m not a good drummer. When I arrived, though, Harry revealed to me that I could just play a standard rock beat.”
I was already starting to become lost, and fearing Sam would delve even deeper into the realm of music technicalities, I asked more specifically about how he allowed himself to become a different character.
“I thought if I didn’t worry about the way I looked too much I would be fine,” he said. “I was just trying to be a regular guy who is a good drummer. You know. A nice fella.” He went back to sending emails.)
In order to Become Thea, I wore:
Black pinstriped suit pants with a rip over the left knee. I cut the hole in the material myself after I saw a beautiful girl in the Bronx wearing ripped suit pants, but to be honest, I kind of regret that now. I still wear them anyway, because they are good suit pants.
A green canvas vest that I borrowed from my brother.
Lilac fingerless wrist-warmers. This felt right at the time, though I honestly can’t tell you now if I’ve ever in my life seen Thea wear wrist-warmers.
Silver jewelry. I usually wear gold, but Thea doesn’t.
Thea’s very own Dragon New Warm Mountain cap, purchased in Melbourne when Big Thief played at the Forum. (Louis Campbell also brought an extra Jackulson cap to the shoot, just in case.)
Doc Martens. Obviously.
Red lipstick! Thea never wears lipstick, but I often do. It is one of the core features of my Look, and I wanted a little bit of me to be on camera too. When Thea picked me up, they were immediately amused that I had chosen to stick to my signature red lip. It’s near impossible to escape my own image, I joked. I guess even when I’m playing someone else, the me is always present.
“I’m enthusiastic about chaos. I’m enthusiastic about a big mess.” This is what Louis Campbell said in January when I interviewed him and his musical partner Luka Kilgariff on their artistic process. In the same profile, Luka described their music as “tongue-in-cheek” and “a bit stupid.” In my profile on Thea Martin the month before, I referred to War Room as “God’s silliest band,” citing their “veritable commitment to giddy, indulgent, and weird sounds.” So I’ve known for a while now that at least when it comes to music, Louis and Luka are agents of chaos. On the set of the music video, I was thinking about how, in actuality, the two of them seem to approach most things in life with this kind of giddy indulgence. Everything is silly, everything is messy - that’s how you make creation fun, I guess. They - and the director, Connor Mercury - are shouting instructions over the whipping wind. Thea stands behind the camera, gesturing wildly at me whenever I’m supposed to slice the bow across the violin strings. Everyone is scurrying all over the place, carrying amps and guitars. Chelsea (Mustaca, playing Luka) and I are the only people in the video who aren’t musicians, and so keep exchanging nervous, perplexed looks with each other whenever the camera isn’t rolling. She is doing a pretty good job at pretending to shred it on the guitar. Hari Starick, as Maxwell Elphick, is probably the most successful out of all of us at appearing completely uninhibited - they are thrashing around in circles, legs akimbo. I am doing my best not to break Thea’s violin as I leap over a makeshift fence. Jackson Phillips, playing Louis Campbell, nearly leaps over a cliff, and then seems to decide against it at the last minute. The sun sets slowly over the course of filming. By the time we are finished, the sky is black, so dark that you can no longer see the sea.
It is chilly when the boys hold aloft a carton of beer to celebrate wrapping our hectic shoot. I can’t drink beer because I am a baby, so I help myself instead to the apples and supermarket muffins they have also provided. I stare wistfully at the cigarette Louis is smoking. He asks if I want one, and Jackson reminds him that I quit about a month ago (which is lucky, because I might have said yes anyway). I helped myself to another apple instead.
“The Top Floor” is giddy, rushed, run through with an angry kind of joy. It plays with time and expectation. So does the music video, which I’m pretty proud to have played a small role in. I don’t really have much to say except that I really enjoy making things, and I really enjoy hanging out with people, and I love it when I get to do both of those things at once.
Watch ‘The Top Floor’ music video, directed by Conor Mercury, on Youtube here.
Stream the single now.
the cast
the crew
All photographs included in the article provided by Louis Campbell