Pete Freedman
Premiere: Check Out Danny Diamond's Stop-Motion Video For His New, Summer-Indebted Single.
Denton musician Daniel Folmer is a known rabble-rouser, a miscreant whose reputation in the region — in certain circles, at least — surely precedes him. No need to go into exact details here, but let's suffice it to say that there's a good reason why Folmer, who in the past has released music under the Danny Rush, called his backing band “The Designated Drivers.”
For all that prior free-wheeling, though, recent times haven't been so jubilant for Folmer.
“Life was feeling hopeless and downtrodden,” Folmer says of the mindset he faced while putting together the songs for his latest release, which he'll put out next month under his new Danny Diamonds moniker. “Though some of the songs were written as far back as 2010, these recordings came to fruition in summer of 2013. During that recording process, there was an experience that brought death very close to my door, as well as the loss of a very close friend. All of these songs revolve around those topics.”
In turn, there's a sort of morose pop element to this self-titled batch of garage-tinged songs — kind of a Daniel Markham-like feel, if you will, which is fitting considering that Markham will join Folmer on the bill at the latter's album release show at J&J's Pizza in Denton on Friday, September 12.
But there's maybe another reason for the sonic development: After recording his last few efforts in Denton, Folmer came down to Dallas to record this new one, working with This Will Destroy You drummer Alex Bhore at Oak Cliff's Elmwood Recording.
“Bhore's production style lends itself to huge dynamic shifts, which the songs reflect,” Folmer says.
Turns out, though, Bhore wasn't the only Dallasite helping the Dentonite this time around, though: The music video for Danny Diamonds' lead single, “Hot Summer,” was shot and directed by Dallas-based writer and photographer Daniel Rodrigue, and edited by Rodrigue's wife-to-be, writer and photographer Catherine Downes.
Full disclosure: Daniel and Catherine are close friends of mine — but that doesn't make the resulting, still-photograph-compiling video they've produced here for Folmer, which the artist has been kind enough to pass along for us to premiere here on Central Track, any less of a stunning, impressive visual — not to mention one that pairs quite well with the obvious summer theme of the song. Check it out:
The video — shot at East Dallas' Fraternal Order of Eagles pool, at West Dallas' Chick Scratch and at various other spots around Oak Cliff — didn't come without ups-and-downs of its own, though.
Rodrigue shot each of the 1,000 photos used in the clip on an old, hand-cranked LomoKino Super 35 MovieMaker camera — one that crashed the first attempt at a shoot when it broke down after a single roll of film had been taken. After shooting the video a second time, Rodrigue's choice to use vibrant old Truvia film slide rolls proved to be a hurdle all its own when the camera store improperly processed his images. And so the video, which Folmer describes as his chance to “explore all of the glorious things that Dallas has to offer” and features area roller derby player Anita Riot as Folmer's short-lived love interest, had to be shot yet another time.
“The third time was literally the charm,” Rodrigue says.
And this, meanwhile, was before each of the almost 10 full rolls of film shot for the video were scanned for their eventual editing.
“It was a lot of work,” Rodrigue adds.
But in the end, it all appears to have been worth it. It's among the most charming clips we've seen all year long. And with summer coming to its end, its release comes at a perfect time, too.
Danny Diamonds performs Friday, September 12, at J&J's Pizza in Denton.
