Down Is Up discusses music that falls slightly under the radar of our usual coverage: demos and self-releases, as well as output from small or overlooked labels and communities. This week, Jenn Pelly talks to Olympia-bred rock band Milk Music about their new video for "No, Nothing, My Shelter", directed by Dylan Sharp of Gun Outfit.
Some of my favorite records of the year came from West Coast bands with ties to the subterranean Olympia rock scene, among them Milk Music's Cruise Your Illusion and Gun Outfit's Hard Coming Down. Today, Milk Music are sharing a homemade visual accompaninment to Cruise highlight "No, Nothing, My Shelter"—an endearing ode to Jimi and Elvis with a rock-as-saviour theme. The video was shot on Super 8 film in the desert outside of Joshua Tree, Calif., where Milk Music were living, and it was directed by Dylan Sharp of Gun Outfit. Milk Music's Alex Coxen plays a mystical joker figure alongside Gun Outfit's Carrie Keith, both of whom tip-toe through the desert and dance on a cliff among other curious ritualistic behaviors. The video has an analog grace and lawless outsider feel to it, much like these two bands themselves. I exchanged emails with Coxen and Sharp to talk about the video and why Milk Music are taking an indefinite hiatus from performing live.
Alex Coxen of Milk Music
Pitchfork: What inspired the video and its characters?
Dylan Sharp: I was inspired by the light of the desert. Thousands of films have tried to use it for psychological effect. That night we were out there, we watched that Leonard Cohen European tour documentary where he takes acid before a show in Italy and dramatically loses the vibe then goes backstage and dry shaves his face before returning triumphantly to the stage. Pasolini's Arabian Nightswas the film I watched right before we shot, which I took a lot of inspiration from. But the main inspiration was "shoot at sunset in the desert, can't go wrong."
I like that Pink Floyd "Echoes" show in the desert, and any part in a Werner Herzog movie where Popol Vuh is playing—not really music videos but performance/ritual in a natural setting. I like how humanizing music videos from the 80s are—seeing some people ham it up in their partially realized dream world and really getting an understanding of where they're coming from.
Pitchfork: Alex seems to play some kind of joker or magician. What about that imagery is interesting to you?
DS: For me, he's an ambiguous clown guy who possesses some marginal powers and just wants to groove. The musician as a performer is a fool, trotting out his personality for the pleasure of the king, but at least he gets to pleasure himself, too. A lot of the imagery was chosen for visual rather than symbolic effect.
AC: The joker dances while the world burns.
Pitchfork: Was there a specific feeling you wanted the desert setting to conjure?
DS: The setting is important because that's where Milk Music lived and wrote their new record. It's a pretty rare opportunity to be able to live in such a remote place with your friends and we wanted to document it. It was easy and fun.
AC: We're also operating on almost no budget, always, so the desert was a wonderful place to make something for cheap because the light is great and it's empty. No stupid looking people or cars to fuck up the shot.
Pitchfork: The video seems to emphasize the act of dancing—the close-ups of carefully moving feet, the images of Alex and Carrie dancing in front of the blue sky, etc. How important is dancing to you?
AC: I dance to stay alive.
Pitchfork: Carrie from Gun Outfit is in the video, and it was directed by Dylan. What's the history and relationship between Gun Outfit and Milk Music?
DS: We're all old friends. I've been playing in bands with Dave since 1999, most recently in White Boss. We've all got a lot of love and respect for each other.
AC: Love, Respect, Trust. Gun Outfit were an influence on us. That's a massive statement, even if it sounds ordinary. Still are an influence. We're lucky to have them as such dear friends.
Pitchfork: Is there any reason you chose this song from the LP for a video?
DS: Hendrix lives.
Pitchfork: Why is Milk Music ceasing to perform live? What do you plan to do with your free time?
AC: I just can't do it any longer. The music business is a bunch of jive bullshit and I don't want us to be available for the public to mutilate and misrepresent. I feel we can exist in more interesting ways while producing more interesting art. And our peers don't challenge the industry AT ALL, just complain to each other about "having" to play shows for bullshit sponsors. I think it's all a pathetic attempt for a current counterculture and I can't have anything to do with it. Life is too short and music is too important.
Pitchfork: What is the meaning behind the title of the next album, Mystic 100s?
AC: Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see. It's getting hard to be someone, but it all works out. It doesn't matter much to me.