Videos by American Songwriter
Check out the brand new video for “Anywhere Now” from Brooklyn indie-folk outfit backwords.
The video was filmed in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park during a full-scale Larping invasion. The song hails from backwords’ upcoming album By The Neck, out March 6, 2012 on Campers’ Rule Records.
backwords guitarist/vocalist Brian Russ sets the scene:
On a particularly bright and sunny day about a year ago I happened to spy out of the corner of my little eye a group of medieval-clad lads and lasses battling it out, right smack in the open lawns of Prospect Park in Brooklyn. I instantly became mesmerized. I had to stop the stroll and watch these guys for a few minutes. I was really drawn to their intensity as they all battled hard but with smiles on their faces. There were old guys, high schoolers, Dungeons and Dragons-dudes, women, ex-cops, hippies, people of all races and cultures – New Yorkers- going at it – LARPING!
After witnessing one if their live-action battles an idea popped into my brain… We got to make a music video with these guys! So I approached the group and had a pleasant conversation with its organizer, Bruce Lindsay. He explained the deal. They call themselves “Dagor” and they meet in Prospect Park every second Saturday of the month. They make their own weapons, armor, cloaks and apparel. They script out battles, they ad-lib, they just get out there and have lots of fun.
They even let us battle with them. It was a beautiful combination of fighting yet making new friends – being violent with your body yet being peacefully open to the camaraderie of the group – “go attack that guy” and then laugh with him!
The concept of the video is kind of loose. But there we are in the very beginning, doing things that people do in the morning when they wake up – the daily routines of life -shaving, reading the paper (on the toilet? that remains unclear), doing yoga, and brewing up some coffee. The point it, the band is oblivious to their surroundings and it takes a magical spell (by Bruce himself) for us to wake up and snap out of it… We then become part of the crew – with our own Dagor personalities – and have a blast out there in battle. Sometimes you cruise by life without even realizing something amazing is happening right in front of your eyes – that’s the spirit of the song “Anywhere Now” and that’s the spirit of the video. What’s real – what’s a dream? What means the most in the long run?…
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