Gore & Valentines

Text Amy Gore Talks More About Nighttime Shoot of “Drivin Around”

Straight from the Lion’s mouth, Amy talks about the nighttime shoots with Director Brittin Richter and finishing The Valentines’ first video shoot together.

See the video here!

Director Brittin Richter made the hitchhiking shots on day 3 the most fun. Well, riding in the back of the car singing with the camera on the dashboard was really the most fun. It took multiple takes of me walking down the street singing with my guitar and the band driving around the corner to make it work. For a second, the car wouldn’t start, but Jackson got it running again.

Two Wayne State University cops stopped by to check us out, I wasn’t sure if we were getting a ticket or what. When Brittin told the police officers that we were shooting the ‘new Amy Gore video,’ they knew who I was and that I had a new group! They notice me standing on the corner and I started laughing. I said, ‘Hi, I’m Amy and this is my new band!’ There were also people driving by and stopping while we were filming at night in the field with the cars, too. We couldn’t tell at first if we were going to get stopped or robbed. This is Detroit, remember, we’re things are done guerilla – DIY style. The art is yours for the making or taking … if you can take it.

The nighttime shoot felt the most wild. We were a bit strung out from shooting in the sun the days prior. The band and crew literally packed cameras, lights, instruments and gear into cars and drove out to a field, set up, and started shooting. We did so many takes with the smoke machine going in front of the car lights –which were all our cars parked and running – playing and singing. It was fall so it got cold and Leann and I weren’t dressed properly. I think I had a bathing suit on. Leann and I had heels on, which were sinking into the field. We had to stay on tip-toe while performing so it looked right. It might look easy, but it was a really long day and our legs were getting tired! It didn’t matter, though; everyone worked hard and soldiered through it. Someone brought back hooch from the party store and things got warmed up, but the band didn’t have a drop until we were done. We’re professionals!

Shooting the video was an incredible amount of work that we couldn’t have done without the brains and brawn of Brittin and his crew. Everyone worked so well together: playing, singing and goofing around during the shoot. We worked about 12 hours a day from start to finish, it wasn’t easy, but it was a great time! Thank you Brittin, Nikki, Ronit, Yvonne, Marcie, Tommy, Scott, Leslie and everyone else who made it possible!

And there you have, “Drivin Around.”

-xoxo

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Text AG&HV and Shonen Knife!

For those of you that were there, (and shame on those that weren’t!), Monday night we played with Shonen Knife and White Mystery at the Lager House! It might have been the most rockin’ fun Monday night of all time.

Shonen Knife is consistently the cutest and coolest band from Japan. For being so cute, they bring the rock. I love their drummer, Emi. She’s a total powerhouse! The last time I saw Naoko, the lead singer and guitarist of Shonen Knife, was in Osaka, Japan, where she lives. I was on tour with Nikki Corvette.

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Nikki recently returned from a whirl-wind tour of Europe with her new Italian band, The Romeos. I haven’t seen her in a month, it was nice she came out to rock’n’roll with us! White Mystery is a rad two-piece lead by Miss Alex White from Chicago. They’re heavy, psychedelic and wonderful. Oh and loud! I like it.

Our next show is in Kalamazoo, MI at Bell’s Brewery on August 11! Stay tuned… xoxo
~ Amy

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Text Straight From the Lion’s Mouth…

Amy dishes on recording The Valentines’ first video, “Drivin Around,” in Detroit with Director Brittin Richter.

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I met Brittin Richter on the set of esQuire’s video for his single ‘Enjoy Yourself.’ I’ve been a big fan and friend of esQuire for years. I love his style and songs. He’s truly unique and very talented. I gave Brittin the three songs we’d recorded so far, and he had a vision for ‘Drivin’ Around’. Brittin’s idea for the story of the video was that Leann, Joe and Jackson pick me up as a hitchhiker and we become a band. He had the whole thing mapped out and made a huge story board of it. I was impressed!

The car in the video is named The White Whale and was courtesy of Dave Krieger. The car is the true star of the video. You can’t take your eyes off the thing. Driving in it was divine. Anyone in that car looks fabulous, no exceptions! Initially, we shot in Hamtramck, MI at Brittin and Nikki, his girlfriends’, loft. The first shot of me busking is in the alley behind it. My view was of the parking lot and the sawed off parking meters across the street. Tommy, the camera man, was set up in a wheel chair in front of me, he rolled in and out in the chair with the camera to get the shots.

It was hot. I was in full sun with extra lights and reflectors on me, which made it even hotter. We would break between takes and my super amazing friend and stylist Yvonne Spampinato would pop over with an umbrella and water and we’d hang out in the shade a bit. Yvonne styled a photo shoot for my previous group the Gore Gore Girls. She is a master at costuming. Me, not so much! I’m a jeans and boots girl. Yvonne was the stylist for this video and she did an amazing job. She custom-made a pouf-y black and gold shrug ala David Bowie for me. You can see it in the night- shoot part with the cars. I still wear it, it’s pretty insane. Marcie Bolen, local rocker and cosmetologist, did our hair and was in the shoot. We met at the Gold Dollar when she was playing guitar in the Von Bondies. Marcie is an original! Her style is so sharp and artistic. I think she is her own canvas. She crafted our hair for the video. Yes, craft, you heard me! She does hair like a sculptor or a painter. She created my hairstyle for Gorevette, the group I played in with Nikki Corvette. The hair-style named the Glam Hawk, to be specific. Some of that look went into Leann’s coiffure, the now infamous Shark Hawk. Leslie Paterra did our make up for the shoot, she is a magician. I absolutely love working with her, she knows her craft! There’s an art to all of it, and these three girls are the best. Also all are hilarious; we couldn’t stop laughing the whole shoot.

The cop part was supposed to be played by esQuire, but he was in Alabama vacationing. Brittin found two girls to play lady cops instead. They’re brilliant! I don’t know if in real life two lady cops will kick you out of an alley for singing and playing guitar, but in my world it was just about right.

-AG

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Text AG&HV - Together at Last

Amy Gore talks about her first recording session with The Valentines, what lead to it, and what it’s like playing with this killer group.

I wrote the first 3 songs for the band’s debut show in April 2011: “Diana,” “Fine With Out You,” and “Drivin Around.” Originally, I called the latter “So Lost Now;” I think it’s on YouTube both ways. The first show was taped almost in its entirety, which is pretty exciting. We rehearsed maybe for 3 weeks as a new band for a showcase. For that show I was a little nervous, and Jackson was sick. I can’t remember, but I think he had the flu. Leann was quiet and Joe was … Joe. Italian.

After the first couple rehearsals I knew I wanted to record, and I wanted to record right away. Recording is kind of like creating a time capsule. It serves partially as a document of the feeling of that time. I hoped to capture the newness of the group. We really didn’t know each other as bandmates, but it felt like family right away. We had fun right away and none was the least bit pretentious about anything. I find pretension to be offensive. It’s counter-intuitive to creating things. Once you think of something or re-work it too much things can lose their charm. There is something exciting and immediate to the first sessions of a new band.

We started at Rustbelt Studios with Al Sutton in April of 2011. I played through both a Fender Pro Reverb amplifier and a Bad Cat amp, one stacked on top of the other. The Bad Cat amp was left behind from a Kid Rock session. Jackson played through an Ampeg Gemini II. Yes, the Bad Cat is upholstered in red, white and blue sparkle, it’s garish and wonderful. I like the tones we got from both amps together.

At the end, our first recording session gave us a lot of insight as to who we were going to be as a band. We were different from anything I’ve ever done before. The Valentines were a mystery together. And it makes it worth playing and pursuing to see who we’re going to develop into.

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Notes