Darren Hanlon

The new music video for Electric Skeleton has been chosen as “Indie clip of the Week” on Rage.

Conceived and Filmed in about 6 hrs by Natalie Van Den Dungen and her buddies in a Melbourne warehouse she’s just moved into that day.

Here’s what Nat had to say about it:

“This was rapid-fire video making. Darrens only instruction was that it needed to include an Electric Skeleton that zaps people when it touches them. I had a chance to listen to it the next day and before I knew it I had a team of 4, a location and an idea. So many ideas came from things that happened that day or we found, it was kind of like the Wombles making a video clip.

Currently in between houses I found myself residing, for one week only, in a residential warehouse space that is filled with props and gadgets just waiting to be included in some film – an obvious location choice.

A friend came round to help me shift my fridge that I was donating to the warehouse. Once we had picked it up we stopped for some food and went and collected our creative genius friend Celeste Potter (Ouch My Face)from her boredom, with the plan that she would be the skeleton and create the costume and anything else that required paint. It turned out this was a long standing dream of hers to play the role of a skeleton and she had already researched skeleton costumes. We returned to the warehouse and met up with Paul Edwards the resident mastermind of the place (and soon to be star), with the replacement fridge and Celeste (soon to be donned Skeleste).

When we took out the fridge we realised Celeste could fit inside it and the incubator idea was born. Paul had earlier that day turned his green screen walls into crazy silver walls as part of a recording he was doing, which added to this idea perfectly. Whilst loitering in the kitchen I picked up some kind of washing machine piping, white, which happened to look like hips and legs and that was how we came about making the skeleton out of kitchen utensils and other white household goodies.

Once we had the idea on paper we started building the sets and collecting items for the costumes. Celeste designed the skeleton and painted necessary skulls on fridges and masks. Steve helped gaffer tape on the skeleton parts after kindly going home to collect more goodies for the shoot. We started filming around 1am, but I can’t be sure, and went until 5:30am to the point where our brains started to melt.

We had a lot of fun making it and I hope you have as much watching it. Ohhhh.”

myspace.com/natvdd

Our dear little friend Electric Skeleton has been added to rotation on various radio stations around Australia. We’re very proud.

If you’re feeling motivated please vote for him on Triple J Super Request.

This is how: send a text message to: 1975 7 555 or call 1300 0555 36

…or email here

read it here:

www.acatonthewall.com/

The latest record is now available for you to buy and spin at will. Get it now from Flippin Yeah.

It’s $20 + postage and released in stores 16th March. For our International friends this is the only place to get it right now.

Here’s the official crackle:

Ironically for a writer who’s never put one on an album it was a cover song that inspired this musical career archive.

“I recorded a version of 80’s pop single ‘the Perfect Day’ (Fischer Z) and put it on side B of a very limited edition promo disc. It ended up getting a bit of airplay somehow and then the emails started flooding in asking where to find it” Hanlon says.

Not one for pouncing on an opportunity it’s taken him 4 years to finally release the song properly as part of the b-sides, rarities and unreleased song collection Pointing Ray Guns at Pagans.

A melange of disparate tracks cherry picked from the whole period of his 9-year career as a solo performer. Some of these have proven live favourites despite not ever being part of an official album.

“I finally felt there was enough content of unofficial material to constitute a descent body of work. I tend never to have much excess material but out of the 25 or so tracks I had lying around I narrowed it down to the best 15 so it wouldn’t be a kitchen sink glut. I would hope this album sounds as cohesive as any of the other ones.”

Entries include his first ever recorded song, ‘Funpark Fugitives’ to the most recent limited-edition single ‘Electric Skeleton’ as well as unreleased versions of ‘Pinball Millionaire’ and ‘Eli Wallach’ which has a surprise guest vocal from the Magnetic Fields Claudia Gonson.

I thought it prescient to let you know about the tour we’ll do in March/April where we’ll be demonstrating the songs from our new rarities album “Pointing Ray Guns at Pagans” live.

Although a short tour in duration we’re trying to pack in as many shows as possible. I’ll be bringing a small ensemble featuring Cory Gray from Portland OR and Evelyn Morris (otherwise known as Pikelet) from Melbourne.

All shows will be supported by the NYC anti-folk hero Jeffrey Lewis.

Details on the tour page

I’ve just escaped from Camp A Low Hum during which i played my first NZ shows ever. Many great bands discovered (the Broken Heartbreakers, the Teacups, Little Pictures) and reaffirmed (Pikelet, Alex and the Ramps, Crayon Fields). Such a bummer i missed the surprise performance of Neil Finn as I had to get the hire car to Auckland in time. I was instead trying to sleep in a haunted motel somewhere in the middle of the North Island where the old night manager brought 2 beers and potato chips to my door at midnight and asked if I wanted to watch ‘girly films’. I assume he wasn’t talking about Steel Magnolias.

I’ll be around for the rest of the week and have a few more shows on both islands, the details of which are in the gig guide section of this very site.

Here’s a couple of free shows I’m playing in New York this month if you’re around…

Jan 13th
Googie’s Lounge (above the Living Room)
154 Ludlow St
NYC
10:30
i’m doing a short set before Joe McGintys Keyboard Karaoke
www.livingroomny.com

Jan 14th
the Bell House (front bar)
149 7th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
Parkslope
with Graham Smith (Kleenex Girl Wonder)
8pm
www.thebellhouseny.com