Singled Out: Witch Casket's Punishment

10-30-2018

Witch Casket recently released a new EP called "Punishment" and we thought an excellent way to celebrate the release and Halloween would be to ask Drogoth to tell us about the title song and video he directed for it. Here is the story:

So, we recently released a music video for the title track of our sophomore EP entitled "Punishment". As the band's vocalist AND a music video director, I'm constantly trying to come up with video concepts that separate us from the heard. I was trying to come up with an idea that didn't necessarily fit into the "Death Metal" box. So, I was relaxing with my girlfriend at her apartment in downtown LA one night, and she was playing oldies music, like old Motown R&B, and 50's and early 60's rock. I started thinking about the music scene back then, and about the different music showcase television shows they had, and I started thinking about what it would look like if a modern-day Death Metal band was featured on an old music showcase tv show.

From there, I started looking at reference videos from old shows, and thinking about how it should work. I found some clips of the Beatles appearing for the first time on American Television on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. I decided to use that as my visual target, and basically recreate that performance.

So, first I had to think about the cast. I have a good friend who's an actor, and is also English and has a great accent, so I thought it would be fun to switch the locations and have a US band visiting an English Pop TV show. I gave the show the name of "Pop Up Hits!" as an homage to the popular British music show "Top of the Pops". I also felt that in order to create the right amount of contrast, we should have a period-appropriate band finishing up and leaving the stage as the video opens, to punctuate the contrast between what is expected, and what is about to happen. Again, I elicited the help of some friends who are in a Rockabilly band called "So Cal Rocket Dynamics", and I gave them the appropriate name of "The 4 Squares".
The rest of the project was just building a set that was reminiscent of a 1960's television studio. I build a drum riser out of plywood and cut out some background signage out of foam core, and rented out a local white-screen studio to shoot the footage. We got the cast and crew together in one day with a solid script and just shot all day long. It was a ton of pre-production, but once everything was shot, the editing was easy. I cut in some footage of some screaming teenage girls, and we were all set!

Death Metal bands aren't usually known for their humorous side, so I thought this would be a fun contrast to a sometimes "too serious" scene. It was a lot of fun to work on, and I think the results speak for themselves. Check out the video at the link below if you're so inclined!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself right here!