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Vice Blog

SAN FRANCISCO - UNDERNEATH THE OCEAN


Vice Cooler fills us in on his latest video, in which he's tan as a rotisserie chicken, wandering through the outback, taunted by mirages of Kali on a hundred-dollar bill. And somehow it has to do with the sea…
As I've talked about before, last fall I was on a four-month tour. Mostly the trip was fun though often quite frustrating and gnarly, but one leg in particular offered a short glimpse into stardom. I was traveling with the Lollapalooza festival circa 1993 of Australian bogan culture, Parklife. Playing to 56,000 teenagers on too many drugs was amazing! In a chaotic last minute splurge on a rare morning off in Melbourne, Rhett and Antoung from Moop Jaw made a makeshift green screen out of paper in their kitchen, hired a make up artist, and invited me over for a video shoot.

I'd first heard of these kids when I saw the video for Catcall's "August," one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. I was instantly obsessed. It looks like it was made up on the spot, no planning, just a nice day and a pretty song and kids doing what seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Underneath The Ocean" was just as impulsive a recording as a video. The beat was made the day before Mary Pearson (from High Places) was staying at my house. She listened to it for one verse and then laid her part over it, almost improvising them. I wrote and recorded my vocals the next day, and by then it was pretty much mixed. And now here you go.

VICE COOLER