The Making of the "Grey World" Music Video

Adam Rivera, rocking out

Back in August, Adam Rivera contacted me about creating a music video for "Grey World", a track from his latest album, Rorschach Radiowaves, the lyrics to which are cobbled together from various They Might Be Giants songs and song titles. He knew I was a huge fan and had seen my "Can't Keep Johnny Down" video and wanted "an early TMBG-esque video. A kind of a tribute. Maybe borrow some the elements from their work." 

Gigantic John Heads created by Christina Bryant

I sat with that for a few days and came up with the idea of Adam as Adam, a huge TMBG fan who is making this video as sort of a loving tribute to one of his favorite bands, seeking out and going to the locations of their early music videos and then recreating moments from them. What could be a more perfect expression of artistic adulation?

Linnell goes in the cage. Linnell...always goes in the cage

 But, as with most They Might Be Giants songs, the uptempo beat and jaunty instrumentation often belies a darker reality. We've all heard "Don't Let's Start", with John Linnell happily singing "no one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful / everybody dies, frustrated and sad, and that is beautiful".  So, I decided that Adam, in the true spirit of TMBG, should also, not ever get what he wants.


The idea was to go to the locations of four early They Might Be Giants videos, specifically  "Put Your Hand Inside The Puppet Head", "Don't Let's Start", "Ana Ng" and "They'll Need A Crane", and have Adam try and recreate these ideal, perfect moments from the past, but have each one ruined or interrupted, either by something mundane like a throng of uncaring tourists or a locked gate, or by something a bit more...dramatic. Also, the moments from the past were to be saturated with bright, vibrant colors while everything in the present would appear muted and washed out. 
I wanted this to reflect the feel of the band itself and their early work, but I also wanted to address how people are always striving for that idyllic, golden past, bemoaning the fact that "their new stuff isn't as good as their old stuff" and refusing to let go of how things were and focus on how things are and how to make things better. We're never going to get those moments back because we're no longer those people.
No one in the world ever gets what they want, and that is beautiful.

(from left to right) myself, Phil, and Adam at the Williamsburg Waterfront 

So, as I am just about as technically proficient as a dead cat missing a leg, I turned to Phil Maniaci, friend, collaborator, co-creator of the web series, Unker & Physia, and founder of Tofu Bandit Media, in order to make this dream a reality, and, as has always been the case when working with Phil, it turned out beautifully.
The three of us got together and shot for two days in October, the first in Central Park at the Bethesda Fountain and then at the site of the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing, New York, and, the second day, at the Williamsburg Waterfront.

"Death & The Johns"

I am very proud and happy with what we've all created and I hope you enjoy the fruits of our labors.

"Grey World" written and performed by Adam Rivera

Directed by Paul Guyet & Phil Maniaci

Prop Construction by Christina Bryant

Illustrations by Ethan Harper
Kraken Master - Bryan Rusch