Premiere: New Video from Lowlight

"Motel Chronicles"

Motels.

Especially in the seedier ones, you just kind of have to put out of your mind the stuff that may have happened in that room where you're spending the night. People passing through, untethered from their normal, day-to-day lives. They have the freedom to do or to be whatever they want for a night or two.

In another sense, I guess, the individual rooms of any given motel could be a metaphor for the ways in which we compartmentalize our own minds. We can stuff one side of ourselves in this room over here or lock something else in that other room a few doors down.

In the video for "Motel Chronicles," from their amazing Where Do We Go from Here, Lowlight give us a glimpse of some of the things that could be happening once the door of a motel room closes to the outside world. Those images are wrapped in the tale of an obsessed, alcoholic P.I. (Mike Petzinger) and his pursuit of a mysterious figure (Joe Galuppo).

It's a stunning clip directed by Dana Sellers and shot by Dana and director of photography Derril Sellers. It also includes appearances by Avery Mandeville, Dave Jones, Colin Ryan, Derril Sellers, Renee Maskin, Kika Von Kluck, and Shawn Butler.

Here's what director Dana Sellers had to say about the project:

"As I was writing the concept for the video, I had some very particular people in mind to play each role. Thankfully, all those people ended up saying "yes" to being a part of it. I remember when I asked fellow musician, Joe Galuppo, if he'd like to play the lead role of "the Birdman." His response was something like, "What, like Big Bird?" He was skeptical at first, but he totally nailed his performance, completely embracing his inner-bird. It was a real treat to work with such a creative and talented crew of friends. Everyone brought ideas, making it a true collaboration. 

The original concept was to actually shoot at one very specific retro motel location, having the characters occupy the room over different periods of time. It turns out that shooting in a motel at our scale and budget reads "porn." The woman at our first check in asked us if anything "funny" would be happening and if there would be "more men coming." We tried to pass it off as a student film project but were ultimately turned down at that location and had to pack up our shit and leave (right as Colin came from around the back of the building shouting "I found the Carcosa!"). So we had to re-direct a bit, but ultimately ended up with what I feel was a more compelling video — a tale of a man obsessed, in pursuit of a mysterious masked character. I wanted to impart something that I think is so intriguing about motel rooms: That living in an environment that is both private and temporary can incite some really strange behavior. 

The biggest takeaway from my first attempt at video-making is: Things are not going to go as planned, and it's easy to get attached to an idea, but you might end up with something better if you keep an open mind. After the "Bones" video shoot, I knew I wanted to try one of my own, and it was a great creative experience. Hopefully everyone enjoys watching this video as much as we enjoyed making it."

After all of that, you're probably saying, "OK. Where's the damn video?" It's right here. Enjoy.



Lowlight will be playing a party to benefit Planned Parenthood on May 26th at JC Underground in Jersey City along with Overlake, Foxanne, and The Penniless Loafers.