Unquestionably one of the city’s most unique and musically interesting bands, Terra (formerly known as Temples) released a new video this week, for “Sundays” off their forthcoming album. The video — directed by Benjamin Noah — was one year in the making. The proof is in the appearance of all four seasons.
The concept for the video came from frontman Richard Seypka, Says Benjamin Noah. “He simply told me he had a dream about the song where a man went on a journey to find an arkenstone of sorts that held all the knowledge of another race. When he found it, it triggered an alien to meet him and unlock the knowledge of his race.”
That’s a concept as unique and ethereal as the song itself. “I then wrote a simple one page script and elaborated from there. I went and shot it on my own with meetings from time to time with Richard. I applied the imagery. It took a year because we wanted to incorporate many different locations of the NL landscape and help show the passing of time in a long quest.”
Benjamin says that for him, the video was more about a man’s quest for knowledge and riches and the extreme lengths he will go to find it. He adds that “It also shows that no matter how strong you are physically and mentally, no matter your stature, there is always something greater than you out there. That is why the man starts with a beard and is the typical hero, but ends without a beard looking child-like and fearful.”
Noah says there are many other ideas themes and symbols in there, “but we want to allow people to take from it what they will and I am not willing to explain them. It is very much open to interpretation. I took a harsher side to the approach from the alien and had to fight for it. I wanted it to be more horror Alien than say Sci fi Close Encounters of the third kind.”
It’s clearly a quality video, and more impressive given its small budget and team. Benjamin jokes that it was a near zero budget, made up of his bartending tips and a small fundraiser for the band. He’s quick to thank the team he worked with as well. “It wouldn’t have been made” without help from names like Greg Brown and David Porter, and cinematography from Troy Maher and Adam Penney. And Thomas J Jordan is responsible for the great makeup work.
As he speaks to us for this article, he’s running around Istanbul, mildly distracted and slightly lost. He’s there to work on a feature film script he plans to return home to shoot. “It is called The kidnapping. I want to make films in the heart of Newfoundland but for the world. This place needs to be put on the map in a big way. There are too many untapped young talents here that aren’t given a legitimate chance to be creative. I can give that to them. If I can shoot this for next to nothing, the sky is the limit when I have a budget. Ark Film is a collective of like minded individuals that will help me do this. We just need the proper funding.”
Terra’s new album will be available June 26th at Fred’s or on iTunes or Bandcamp. Don’t miss their album release show at the Rockhouse with slid Nixon on July 11th.
Hi Stan. Born and raised in Carbonear and loved the Land and Sea show. I have an old ringer washer…
We were confronted by a corner brook man in our own mainlander home in ontario recently. I was told by…
Had to write 1000 times we did. "I will not play Tidley in the school yard." Window got broke.
I had Mrs Brophy for music I grade 8 at Our Lady of Mercy in St John’s. I, along with…
I went to to St. John’s this September and tried Adelaide’s kimchi……. Ummm since then I have searched high and…