Playlist: Trish Sie

Long-time OK Go collaborator and sister of lead singer; Damian Kulash, Trish Sie talks Spiderman background music, Peter Gabriel and her other inspirations in this latest part of our new Playlist feature.

What’s the best promo you’ve seen recently and why?

The Kills! Doing It To Death is so dark and sexy and stylish.

What’s the first promo you remember being impressed by?

The first music video I really got obsessed with was The Romantics, Talking In Your Sleep. I would video tape it on Friday Night Videos and watch it over and over again... so dangerous and sexy-seeming to me, back then, at the tender age of 13.

And what’s your all-time favourite music video?

I think my all-time favourite is Toe Jam, for its excellence in concept and execution:

What other directors/artists do you look to for inspirational?

As far as directors go, I always love the timeless brilliance of Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze. Also... Keith Schofield, Eric Wareheim, David Wilson.

I love the bold female voices in comedy these days-- they inspire me so much: Amy Schumer, Samantha Bee, Celeste Barber, Summer Ray, Anna Drezen, Maya Rudoplh so many others. I love funny women with strong viewpoints.

And I love seeing what kids make... young people on Snapchat, Vine, Instagram... so many youthful people who have such fluency in expressing themselves visually. I can lurk on social media for days at a time, admiring how creative so many people are.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I'm such a nerd. Most new music grates on my nerves right now. I'm really into 1960s and 1970s film and TV music: Henry Mancini and other swanky composers.... Nelson Riddle, Neal Hefti, Elmer Bernstein, the melodies are so rich and satisfying and nostalgic. The textures are so lush and well-balanced.

I love this collection of 1960s Spiderman cartoon background music

What’s your favourite bit of tech, whether for professional or personal use?

I love the handheld gimbal Steadicam rigs that let you make smooth camera moves when shooting run-n-gun style, using a small camera or even a phone. So liberating!

What artist(s) would you most like to work with and why?

I'd love to make a music video with the Scissor Sisters. They always make fantastic clips. I also adore M.I.A., Grimes, and Girl Band. 

How do you feel the promo industry has changed since you started in it?

Music videos were pretty much dead when I stumbled into this field. We made simple, dorky OK Go videos because there was no longer much interest or budget for big, slick productions. So it felt like we were engaged in this ridiculous, archaic and meaningless ritual-- like saying grace before meals long after you stopped believing in God.

At the time it seemed futile and kinda silly. But then YouTube happened. It's funny to me that music videos have had a comeback of sorts, although I doubt they'll ever return to the halcyon days of the 1980s and 1990s. But it's inspiring and exciting to see the creativity being invested in musical clips again. Of course, now people don't need to spend hours watching MTV in the hopes of MAYBE catching their favourite band or video; it's all at your fingertips, on demand, 24/7.

I think that's good for the art form-- it raises the bar. No one has to sit through your video, watching it even if it sucks, waiting for the next one. They have to choose to watch it; you have to earn their attention. At the same time, there's the "echo chamber" effect that we see everywhere now-- people listening to things they know and like, rarely being exposed to new material outside their comfort zone.

There's not really a "canon" of music videos anymore-- classics, like Sledgehammer and Rhythm Nation and Thriller and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, that we all know, a common language. It's a deep pool now. No one will ever be able to see or catalogue all the videos that are out there. It's limitless.

Music videos have had a resurgence of late; where do you see the industry being in five years’ time?

Now that more and more people use music videos almost like a personal radio station-- pulling up the video when they want to hear the song-- I think we'll see even more videos... and even better videos. The process of monetizing clips on YouTube or wherehaveyou has become less clunky and more successful. So maybe artists will see their music video budgets expand a bit. Videos are still a valuable tool. And I hope they continue to get more and more creative as it becomes ever more affordable to shoot beautiful stuff with not a lot of money or a huge crew.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people won’t know…

For a short time, I was in a rap band that rapped book reports of the great works of world literature.