The video for ‘Mr Misery’ brings James’s vibrant energy and iconic look to life by giving a nod to anti-establishmentarianism and resistance in light of recent South African social injustice.x
Following the recent release of his EP ‘Renegade’ – which has already seen major support across some of South Africa’s main radio stations; 5FM, 947, KFM, Jacaranda FM and Algoa FM plus A&R Worldwide’s Passport Approved playlisting and Amazing Radio play in the UK, as well as support from streaming services across the board – South African alternative pop artist James Deacon reveals the official music video for his alt-rock banger ‘Mr Misery’.
The video is out today, July 8th, and sees James and his band mates teaming up with creative visionary and video director, Eric T Graham, who says “I was absolutely blown away when I heard the new music James has been putting out. It took no more than a few seconds of Mr Misery’s first listen before I was adamant on making a music video with these guys.
Eric explains the theme and concept for the video, saying “Being heavily restricted by lockdown, I knew I wanted to incorporate and use the restrictions as an advantage, rather than having the video postponed. I took an antagonistic approach towards the current circumstances and restrictions put in place by the overarching pandemic and the South African government’s response towards it.
The music video introduces us to the band wearing face masks, staying the appropriate distance from one another and applying hand sanitizer. Monitoring an empty street at night, the band addresses the situation head-on with withered statements on cardboard (all of which being segments from local headlines). The main theme would be questioning and confronting reality, authority and the layered response from our government.
After editing a preliminary video, we shot some silhouettes to mask over the main narrative and performance, to amplify the forms of deflection, masking and deception that this pandemic (and how the government is responding towards it) yields.
While being one of my proudest works, this was easily one of the most effortless music videos I’ve ever produced. James, Dan and Pierre were amazing to work with and never doubted or questioned my vision for this video.”
Speaking about the making of the video, James explains “Shooting ‘Mr Misery’ was a 3am decision!
I got a message from an old friend from my days playing guitar in a previous band, who turned out to be an amazing videographer! We literally decided to do the video and started filming 2 days later.
Eric T Graham was the Visionary behind the video and from moment 1 I knew that he was the perfect person to truly bring out the meaning of the song and make a statement at the same time.
From start to finish the entire project took only about 2 weeks and it flowed amazingly from phase to phase without any major issues, which is really rare with these things! It’s the kind of video that you will instantly want to re-watch.
Part of the video’s message is a statement on the current socio-political climate in South Africa.”
‘Mr Misery’ which was released on James’ ‘Renegade’ EP on June 12th through Bad Future Records is perhaps the genre-defying artist’s most alternative-rock offering to date. The song is a bluesy, rock infused sing-along anthem with sweeping distorted guitars, driving bass lines and a thumping beat topped off with infectious vocals and headbanging hooks.
When asked about the track’s narrative and lyrical content, James confesses: “I try to be a positive guy for the most part, but sometimes I have trouble with the cynical, negative Debbie-Downer side of myself. This song came about at around 4:00am, as I stumbled to the kitchen to get some water, the melody and chanted delivery of the opening line for the song came to me and it kinda developed from there.”
“It’s basically the dark side to my last single ‘Shine’, because as much as I believe that persistence and positivity are the keys to success, I think a healthy tolerance and understanding of the undesirable aspects of one’s mind is just as important. ‘Mr Misery’ is a metaphor for my bad side, and the song itself is a kind of resilient juxtaposition to “Shine”,
After his single ‘Son Of Apollo’ was selected to soundtrack HBO’s 8-week movie promo campaign in America, follow up singles ‘HERO aka Rich’ and ‘Reason’ both achieved stints at #1 on 5FM’s Indie Chart, and Deacon’s work has received online tastemaker support from Record Of The Day, Earmilk, Indie Shuffle and CLASH, to name but a few – this 23-year-old multi-instrumentalist is quickly becoming some of the hottest property in alternative music.
While most of us are ready to write off 2020, the lockdown has only reinforced James’ undeniable talent and there seems to be no end in sight to his musical prowess and fierce determination.
Listen to ‘Mr Misery’ HERE: https://ditto.fm/jd_renegade
James Deacon Links:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jimideacon
Twitter – https://twitter.com/deacon_official
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jamesdeaconofficial
Soundcloud – https://soundcloud.com/jamesdeaconmusic
Bandcamp – https://jamesdeacon.bandcamp.com/
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/c/JamesDeaconOfficial
