Shuffle - Listen Love (Bloodlust)
By: Alex Lee Thomson
When we heard that electric jazz pioneers Shuffle were making a video for their new single 'Listen Love', and that it was going to be something of a grand affair (ambulances and nightclubs we were told), we thought we'd head along and hang out on set in the hope of getting pulled in for a cameo. We didn't, but heck, it was still an occasion.
We joined them towards the end of production; evidently missing the models, free drinks and nightclub action, but just about making the several hours of outdoor filming late at night at an abandoned warehouse in a dodgy part of London. Somewhere around 9pm the bands front man, the usually eccentric but now utterly ludicrous Seamus, emerged from hours of makeup in a complete tin-foil robot outfit that had nicely tucked away his modesty behind a codpiece while electrifying his now trademark pencil moustache with lightning bolts. He was indeed a sight, as were his band, the remaining six members of the Shuffle collective donning butcher-style paramedic outfits, all of whom had clambered into a fully working ambulance that sat outside what we'd realised was a storage space for stage equipment.
While five musicians, one enigmatic (and now possibly magnetic) lead singer and composer, a few camera men and a director filled into the back of the ambulance we went off to investigate. Now, if there's one thing weirder than getting lost in an endlessly labyrinth-like collection of underground storage rooms, it's being lost in such a place and stumbling across a crucifix with a headless scarecrow nailed to it... we jest not. Clean pants in tow we found an even more hidden room that was the setting for one the videos stranger shots. Monica, was stood atop a turntable that production staff whizzed around while she made a siren noise with her head wrapped in a sheet of blue plastic. We've seen some bizarre things in our time... some of which didn't even include Peter Doherty... but this, by far and beyond, was the strangest, most peculiar site I have ever seen in my life. Fact.
It's almost fitting that a band that almost defy the pigeonhole, and destroy the norm, create such an aura of anarchy wherever they go, be it a stage show or simple video shoot. They challenge ordinariness and God love 'em for it. If you'd like to download or take a gander at what is easily, and rightly so, their best video yet, just click below and take a look-see. Prepare your eyes and ears though!
Artists in this article: Shuffle