Playlist: Tom Haines

Tom Haines, the director behind promos for the likes of Temper Trap, Unkle, Civil Wars, Jon Hopkins and recently New Order steps up for this week's Playlist.

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

I really enjoyed seeing Vince Haycock’s The Odyssey in the cinema, great to see a vision realised so completely in that way and all shot so beautifully by Steve Annis. It’s rare for a director to be able to have the complete faith of an artist, and at the same time produce incredible moments and visuals.

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

I always remember seeing Prefab Sprout’s The King of Rock N Roll when I was a child and wondering what all the strange imagery meant and why it made me feel so weird and yet also like I wanted to be there, by that pool, with a frog-headed waiter serving me colourful drinks.

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

The video that had the most profound affect on me when I saw it was Johnny Cash’s Hurt by Mark Romanek – It’s probably one of the last times I properly saw a video on TV too – I think it was when Channel 4 used to do special video premiers, and I found it so moving, genuine and powerful, may even have got a little dewy eyed over it.

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

I love 70s New Hollywood films, just saw The Gambler by James Toback, which is great, sleazy as hell but still so fresh. Flash forward to 2016, and I finally got around to seeing Mustang, the Turkish film, which was so good – when you see a film like that it’s a reminder of how important film is. I’d love to see something as vital come out of British Cinema, we’re still in debt to people like Ken Loach, who at 80 years old, is about the only filmmaker we have making headlines.

What are you listening to at the moment?

I rediscovered Madvillainy recently, which I slept on at the time and can’t quite believe how. I’m also writing quite a lot at the moment, so I listen to things that are quiet but nudge me along enough to keep going, Erased Tapes have some great artists, Allessandro Cortini is great, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtracks – stuff that’s inherently cinematic.

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

I use Spotify a lot, I think it’s my favourite app and I’m pretty fascinated with how spot on their ‘Discover Weekly’ thing nails my music tastes, and brings me weird new music as well as old. Am finding all kinds of nuggets through it. The machines are winning.

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

I’d love to work with someone who can light up a screen in an unmediated and fresh way – you don’t see it that often, the last video I saw like that was Panda by Desiigner, which made we want to do a proper balls-out performance video, something I’ve tippy-toed around.

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

I actually think it’s got better in some respects and worse in others. Better in that you see more work that’s big in scale or ideas, that shows off a director’s voice, that’s genuinely inspiring – and worse in that it’s just all a bit flakier, everyone passing the buck, and an increasing lack of respect for people working for free/peanuts.

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

I’d like to see more big video statements from artists, its interesting that the biggest names all still value music videos and know their potential, work like Beyonce’s Lemonade project, Florence’s The Odyssey – I hope they aren’t flukes but set a new standard for what’s possible if you think a bit bigger than the next single.

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

I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die.