“The end result was so mesmerizing to watch. This video is like sitting down for a short movie.”
If you’re familiar with our playlist, you know Blood Handsome. His video for “Love Lost,” directed by Luke LeCount, is also one of the standout indie music videos of the past year.
Needless to say, when we heard that Luke and Blood Handsome would be teaming up again for “Give,” we knew we were in for a treat.
Of course, at Darkness Calling it’s not enough to just watch the video (as satisfying as it may be). We had to know more. Luckily, Blood Handsome was kind enough to chat with us about his gritty, new, neo-noir video. This time around, we also gained some interesting insights from director Luke LeCount.
Read on below.
DARKNESS CALLING: What was the writing and production process like on “Give,” and were there any real-life experiences that shaped the song?
BLOOD HANDSOME: Writing this song was challenging because the instrumentation is so different when compared to my usual sound. You can definitely tell that it’s still very much a Blood Handsome song, but it’s very different and stands out amongst the rest. I wanted to make something unique with this track. I understood not everyone was going to get it, or might be taken aback because it doesn’t sound like your typical Blood Handsome song. But I also think that’s why it’s such a strong track. This song has so much feeling and emotion behind it.
The song is about optimism even after failure. Remaining strong and staying true to yourself, despite failures. We have to keep going and giving it our all, time and time again.
“The song is about optimism even after failure. Remaining strong and staying true to yourself, despite failures. We have to keep going and giving it our all, time and time again.”
DARKNESS CALLING: Did your interpretation of the song influence the video, or did Luke take it and run with it?
BLOOD HANDSOME: Luke and I wanted to do something different for this video — make it its own thing outside of just what the song is about. Something cinematic. Luke and I had been bouncing around the idea of a video for this song for close to a year now. I’m a fan of letting a music video serve a second purpose and breathe new life into a song, so that’s what we did — tried to make the video its own thing completely. Luke and his team are such a creative force when it comes to making the visuals match the feel of a song. The end result was so mesmerizing to watch. This video is like sitting down for a short movie.
DARKNESS CALLING: Luke, what did you learn while making the “Love Lost” video that helped you make “Give,” or was it a different beast entirely?
LUKE LECOUNT: The creative energy that went into the making of the “Love Lost” video absolutely carried into the making of “Give.” I definitely thought of them as companion pieces, with some huge contrasts between the two — the stronger narrative aspect of “Give” being the major difference.
I shot “Love Lost” with a Panasonic Palmcorder that a friend of mine picked up for me at a flea market for $10. It was made in 2002 and shoots on VHS-C’s, which are just like little mini-VHS tapes. Looking at these pixelated, distorted images created by this old piece of junk totally mirrored the weirdo world that was the summer of 2020 in Coronavirus infested New York City. What I learned most from “Love Lost” that I brought into the making of “Give” was how I wanted to digitally capture and build upon the current environment of the greatest city on Earth.
“Give” had been more than a year in the making. Gerren (Blood Handsome) called me from Los Angeles in October of 2019 and told me about this video idea he had. We are always so creatively in-sync and I wanted to do it immediately, but unfortunately I had only recently moved to New York and hadn’t yet been here long enough to develop the relationships I needed to pull off something this ambitious. It continued to hang around in my brain though, and I was lucky enough to meet the people I needed to bring this into existence.
The thing that made “Give” so much different from “Love Lost” was the amount of collaboration (and luck) that needed to happen to bring it into fruition. Eight people worked on this music video, and that may not sound like much, but those eight people worked on something that was made with NO BUDGET.
“Give” is rougher around the edges than I wish it was, but I am so proud and grateful to everyone who gave me their time and energy.
DARKNESS CALLING: Do you and Blood Handsome go way back as friends, or did it begin as a professional relationship?
LUKE LECOUNT: Gerren and I met at one of his shows in 2016. He went on tour with a best friend of mine (Grey Gordon), who introduced us. I saw him perform and he fuckin’ blew me away. We became buddies after that, and I’ve been a huge fan of his, as well, ever since. I flew out to Los Angeles in February of 2019 to spend a week with him so we could make a music video for his song “Lasher.” That experience brought us a lot closer, and I now consider him one of my best friends.
He’s also one of my favorite musicians on the planet, and I feel so thankful that I get to work with him and add my own takes to the Blood Handsome Universe.
“I have almost grown to despise the way a pristine digital camera image looks. It doesn’t look or feel like real life to me in the way that actual film or shitty (older) digital formats do.”
DARKNESS CALLING: Can you tell us more about the film influences that shape your work and “Give” in particular?
LUKE LECOUNT: It’s cheesy and “uncool,” but truthfully, Martin Scorsese is the beginning and end of everything I love about film. Everything I make is probably because of him on some level, but I am definitely attracted to the more “ugly” side of things, visually.
“Give” was shot on a Panasonic MiniDV camera that was made in 2004. Like the VHS-C tapes that I used for shooting “Love Lost,” MiniDV’s have definitely lost their use to other “better” digital cameras. For better or for worse, I have almost grown to despise the way a pristine digital camera image looks. It doesn’t look or feel like real life to me in the way that actual film or shitty (older) digital formats do. Director Michael Mann’s digital work in the mid-2000’s on movies like Collateral or Miami Vice is brilliant to me. He doesn’t try to make the image simulate celluloid. He leans into the fact he’s shooting on digital and it’s its own beautiful thing. I wanted to show the fuzzy limitations of the MiniDV on “Give.”
I first became familiar with this format after watching Harmony Korine’s Julien Donkey-Boy years and years ago. Like every punk that’s into film, he’s a big influence for me — not only for his aesthetic choices, but his thematic ones, as well.
“Give” is very much a reflection of the types of crime films that I love, and more specifically, the grimy New York crime movies that I love. I’m a huge fan of cinematographer Sean Price Williams (Heaven Knows What, Jobe’z World) and I’ve luckily gotten to be friendly with him here in the city. He’s always generous with his advice and is a legend to me.
Additionally, “Give” was also somewhat of an exercise for a short film that I currently have in pre-production (that Blood Handsome is doing the music for). I learned so much from this experience, and it’s only going to make that project better.
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