Behind The Naked City Underground

The Naked City Underground came to me with songs off their album "Comic Book Heroes and Honky Tonk Zeros" and a simple question: what was my vision for them. So we sat down together and worked out the details. The questions I asked the band ended up doing the heavy lifting, because the answers told me what these songs were really about. That conversation is where the whole look started. As a Las Vegas music video director, that first sit-down matters more than any piece of gear.

The Band

The Naked City Underground is a Las Vegas original. Two world-class flair bartenders put the bottles down, picked up instruments, and started making music straight from their souls. They teamed up with some of Sin City's best recording and live players to build a sound you can't put in a box, somewhere between Waylon Jennings, Nirvana, and Sublime. They've been featured on KOMP 92.3's Homegrown Show, and the two tracks we shot, "Everything's Alright" and "Coming To Me," have pulled in a combined 74,000 plus plays on Spotify.

Building the Look for "Everything's Alright"

For "Everything's Alright," the band wanted a 90s vibe. I took inspiration from the U2 "Numb" video, one I've loved for years, and then we added our own elements on top of it. Crown, cup, confetti, the whole works. I had the band and my wife act out specific parts so we could build the effects we were after instead of faking them in post. It became its own thing fast, rooted in that 90s feel but unmistakably theirs.

The DIY Backdrop

The biggest piece of the puzzle was the black backdrop, and we built it by hand. My wife and I broke down cardboard boxes and drilled holes through them so light could shine through and give us the effect we wanted. It was about as low budget as it gets, and I still can't believe how good it turned out. That is the part I am most proud of. A real look does not always come from expensive gear. Sometimes it comes from a stack of cardboard and a drill.

The Gear and the Grade

We shot on the DJI Ronin 4D, the cinematic camera with the chicken head, on 35mm anamorphic lenses, then handled the color grade in house. The most surprising trick was speeding up the music so the band could perform to it, then slowing the footage back down. That single move did more for the final look than anything else. It gave the performances a heavy, dreamlike quality that fits the song.

The Result

When the band saw it, the response was "holy shit that's rad." We were thrilled with how it came out. "Everything's Alright" is still my favorite music video I've shot. It is proof of what happens when a band trusts the process and a director and cinematographer treats a music video like a short film instead of a quick shoot.