We’re not against the Neighbourhood Watch program per se. The idea of bored retirees calling the cops on kids pissing or spray-painting on their fences is all good, but when it starts to infringe on the endeavours of young creatives, it’s time the grey haired justice squad goes back to worrying about the bus timetable.So happened recently when young melodic hardcore band Ambleside filmed a video for their track “Dear Mother” in regional Victoria. Beautifully shot in one take, it features the heist of a Mildura art gallery that looks like a scene of Reservoir Dogs set in small town Australia.But the production was almost interrupted when police arrived on the scene after receiving calls about hooded men entering the gallery with baseball bats.The young Adelaide five-piece, who have proved themselves handy with the camcorders having already won an award for a previous video, are set to release an EP later this year.Having toured the country a handful of times, the band have caught the attention of hardcore fans, industry hot shots and in Mildura, the local constabulary.Watch the new video below and read our chat with the band’s guitarist Jackson Buckler.Noisey: The robbery scene is quite realistic, how do you go about having five masked men running around in public in broad daylight?
Jackson Buckler: We filmed in my hometown of Mildura, so word spreads quickly. Being aware of this, we shot the outside parts last, so no one got too worried. We’d just started packing up when eight cop cars rocked up and set up a perimeter around the venue. Three cops came in and asked, “Is this your van? We’ve had reports of people running around with guns and stuff” we just played it off real cool, like, “aw nah man we’re just filming a music video.” They were sort of disappointed that there was no action.The gallery you’re robbing looks beautiful, were there any other locations you had in mind?
I actually wrote the scene around that building. It used to be a bank but was converted into an art gallery. Three of us grew up in Mildura so we had spent a lot of time around the art vault. I knew it was quirky and it was an art gallery, which had these giant bank vaults in the back of it. I thought it was a cool contrast and always wanted it use it one day. I’m super glad we got to do it because this clip is a lot more self expressive and we got to be more creative with hidden meanings that are hints about the EP.Was there a thought process behind this video?
It was just like an idea that I wrote down. I wanted that sad love story but its just such a generic thing that I was trying to think of ways to make it feel a little more real to the audience. It was just so you felt a more connected to the character and it hits a little harder at the end.“Dear Mother” will appear on Ambleside's upcoming EP due later this year.Matt Pollock is a Melbourne writer. Follow him @MattPollock44
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Jackson Buckler: We filmed in my hometown of Mildura, so word spreads quickly. Being aware of this, we shot the outside parts last, so no one got too worried. We’d just started packing up when eight cop cars rocked up and set up a perimeter around the venue. Three cops came in and asked, “Is this your van? We’ve had reports of people running around with guns and stuff” we just played it off real cool, like, “aw nah man we’re just filming a music video.” They were sort of disappointed that there was no action.The gallery you’re robbing looks beautiful, were there any other locations you had in mind?
I actually wrote the scene around that building. It used to be a bank but was converted into an art gallery. Three of us grew up in Mildura so we had spent a lot of time around the art vault. I knew it was quirky and it was an art gallery, which had these giant bank vaults in the back of it. I thought it was a cool contrast and always wanted it use it one day. I’m super glad we got to do it because this clip is a lot more self expressive and we got to be more creative with hidden meanings that are hints about the EP.Was there a thought process behind this video?
It was just like an idea that I wrote down. I wanted that sad love story but its just such a generic thing that I was trying to think of ways to make it feel a little more real to the audience. It was just so you felt a more connected to the character and it hits a little harder at the end.“Dear Mother” will appear on Ambleside's upcoming EP due later this year.Matt Pollock is a Melbourne writer. Follow him @MattPollock44