I sincerely hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and the spirit, hope, faith and love that you felt and showed yesterday carries forward the next weeks and months. I think we are going to need it.

So today, in lieu of my usual Saturday BIC Blog, I am going to continue with the ‘flashback’ I have been featuring. A look inside and and a look behind the scenes of all the BIC videos. As I dive into #6, you can see #1-#5 HERE.

As I have stated on numerous occasions, Marc Bolan is one of my guitar ‘heroes’, and I love ‘20th Century Boy’ - so much so that it is the only cover song BIC has recorded, to date. I had heard thru a friend that his son, Rolan, lived in Los Angeles and sometimes performed at a local open-mic night. I asked if he would make an introduction. I sent a text Rolan and he replied a few days later. We spoke on the phone and told him about my wish to do a bit more ‘traditional’ rendition of his father’s classic and if he would consider singing the song in the video. He agreed to meet me for lunch near his downtown LA loft. We hit it off and he agreed to come to our SAINTinLA studio to record the song. Michael Rozon and I had already begun recording a new version which I hoped to be on ‘beauty re-envisioned’. I was going for a mote ‘glam’ inspired version with a bit of New Orleans spice thrown in. We enlisted friends Zach and Calvin to add upright piano and sax. Former Mission / All About Eve’s Andy Cousin added bass. Wayne Hussey, being a massive T. Rex fan, jumped at the offer to add guitar and some very cool harmony vocals to Rolan’s lead. The end result was exactly what I had hoped for!

So on to the video ….

I had been speaking to Wayne about the possibility of traveling to LA to film a pair of videos. I think having Rolan being a part of the video made the decision easy for Mr. Hussey! I had the concept of recreating a late ‘70s ‘Top Of The Pops’ style performance. We even created a fictional show ‘Airwaves’ (well it was nicked from a short lived New Orleans show that my band The Models appeared on). Vicente Cordero was eager to help make this happen and we agreed that Tiger Lab would again be our place for visual mischief! My friend Dan from Prop Heaven helped out with all of the cool staging that really gives the video that ‘look’. Tish, Wayne and I did some clothes shopping the day prior to the shoot … a tad hungover from more that a few glasses of red wine at the previous night’s dinner. I think Wayne got the scarf, Tish got some boas and I got the jacket, shades and glam jacket!

With the staging and wardrobes set, the video was a go with Michael Rozon on the drums, Tish on bass and 33.3’s Tim Perry’s daughter Scarlett on keys! Rolan seemed a bit nervous and uneasy at first, but as soon as he saw the lights and staging, he began having a great time! After shooting a few full run throughs and individual shots., Wayne had the brilliant idea of switching instruments at the end! I really think that adds such a great element of fun to the end … leading up to the ‘confetti blast’ finale (which thankfully worked the first time as we only had one!!). Not to be totally outdone by Wayne’s idea … I set up an appearance by the ‘horse head guy’ … this time sauntering across the set in only bikini briefs at the end. The look of surprise and quite possibly horror on Rolan’s face when he sees the ‘‘horse head guy’ is utterly priceless!

I also thought it might be cool to have sort of an intro that you see on most TV music shows … so we used the lobby at Tiger Lab to set up as ‘back stage’. We got the lovely Anabel DFlux (who shoots most BIC photos) to be the host of our faux show. We shot it with her speaking English and then Russian, opting for the latter. A funny side note to this scene. At the above mentioned dinner, somehow Duran Duran was brought up. Tish was telling Wayne about her ‘crush’ on John Tayler … and how it was ‘crushed’ by seeing him scratch his are in his gold lame pants at a soundcheck we were attending many years earlier at the Forum. Wayne, being the consummate prankster, can be seen giving his ‘ode to JT’ as we head out the door to the ‘stage’. :)

This video was a blast to do… Having Rolan tell Wayne and I … ‘I think my Dad would have thought this was really cool’ said it all! And we ended the night having dinner and a bit less wine, as ‘The Long Goodbye’ video was on tap for the next day!

Check out the ‘20th Century Boy’ video and some behind the scenes pics below…

MC X

BIC FLASHBACK #7 - '20th Century Boy' ft. ROLAN BOLAN & WAYNE HUSSEY