After 2 months of editing behind the scenes in a small New York apartment, myself and director Thomas Ford Flynn are proud to present the "Take Care Of Yourself" music video.
Photo by Thomas Ford Flynn
We filmed this at a pretty legendary analog recording studio in upstate New York called Dreamland. The place is historical but far from dead: it is a converted church with a long list of icons in its credits. Everybody from the B-52s to Lake Street Dive, Bad Brains, The Misfits, Nick Cave, and The National has been here. And now we are a small footnote on that list...
The concept of this music video is meant to represent the process of making this EP as a whole. I leave a busy and crowded New York City while listening to a beat by naebird in my headphones, and my travels bring me to a scenic, secluded area of upstate New York where I return to my geographic and stylistic roots. It is a homecoming song for me, after what has felt like a long journey, so I tried to make it sound like the underground indie hip-hop songs I loved as a kid. The music video footage documents one long, wild recording session in the studio as myself and my band try to make one final track to close out the EP. In the end, I finally walk away with something I am proud of. And that’s the song Take Care Of Yourself.
The main floor of the converted church turned recording studio. What a vibe. Photo by Thomas Ford Flynn.
This production was a small and scrappy DIY one like all of my music videos are. Me and Thomas Ford Flynn sat together in my New York apartment for weeks calling recording studios to find a location, coordinating schedules among our cast, gathering props like the blank beats by naebird mixtape CD and the 90s walkman with orange headphones that match the color of orange on my Take Care Of Yourself nike dunks, and the list goes on. Producing a small music video is a magic trick that involves wearing a million different hats in order to cut costs and move as efficiently as possible behind the scenes.
After a whole lot of searching, we stumbled upon Dreamland Recording Studio. And we took the entire production to upstate New York — with Laeleand even flying out from Mississippi — to make it happen. My mom contributed bagels, we got two boxes of joe from Dunkin Donuts to keep the entire cast caffeinated for the marathon of a day, and we did a million performances to cover everything we might need in the editing room.
I am wildly proud of what we put together here & feel like it represents the mood of this outro song pretty perfectly.
Light pouring through the door as I enter the recording studio to make Take Care Of Yourself. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Director Thomas Ford Flynn on set. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Cinematographer Noah Chamis capturing my key performance shots. Photo by Chris Kelly.
"TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF" VIDEO CREDITS
DIRECTED BY THOMAS FORD FLYNN. CINEMATOGRAPHY BY NOAH CHAMIS. PRODUCED BY DYLAN OWEN & THOMAS FORD FLYNN. SUPER 8 - JOE PIETROPAOLO. PRODUCTION ASSISSTANT - JOHN PEIRGIORGI. BTS PHOTOGRAPHY - CHRIS KELLY. SHOT ON LOCATION AT DREAMLAND RECORDING STUDIOS IN HURLEY, NY. SUPER 8MM PROCESSED BY NEGATIVELAND. STARRING: DYLAN OWEN, LAELAND, AMIR ROYALE, JERICO ABREU, SKINNY ATLAS.
Outside on the steps of Dreamland Recording Studios. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Incense. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Laeland’s recording scenes. Photo by Thomas Ford Flynn.
Sound engineer in the Take Care Of Yourself studio session: Jerico Abreu. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Back in November when these sneakers had way less creases. Photo by Chris Kelly.
Lastly, we rented a super 8mm camera to capture grainy footage you see intercut with the high resolution footage from a nicer Sony camera. The choice of mixed media represents the passage of time in the studio during the making of this song and EP. I wanted to suggest that it took decades rather than just hours. But if we are being honest super 8mm also just looks cool.
Contest To Spread The Word
Photo by Chris Kelly
If you are reading this, how long have you been listening to my music? Leave your answer to that question in the comments of the new video here and I'll be choosing one person to win a free, hand-numbered zine (issue #45 to represent the 845 area where we filmed) as a surprise! This will help the video spread. The love you guys consistently show me moves mountains for an independent artist. Seriously. And this is the title track, so we need to do it big. If you win, I’ll reply back to your comment and ask for your mailing address. Let's go!!!
Church steps. Photo by Chris Kelly.
p.s. if you made it this far, you’re the first to know: take care of yourself bonus tracks are dropping soon. new music. let’s go!!!!