This is the second full-length music I’ve been asked to make for one of my truly favourite bands, Cornershop. I drew, photographed and animated every element of the video myself, just as I did with my previous collaboration with the band, Double Denim.
The joyful but controversially titled Everywhere That W*g Army Roam is a comment on institutionalised racism, with lyrics about groups of Asian people being followed by the police. Only the song is set to an upbeat ska rhythm, and the conclusion to the animation is a fantastical and happy one, with the police joining in with the group’s dancing.
The chief songwriter and lead singer Tjinder’s idea for the visuals were based on the classic cartoon superhero-style of reggae album cover artworks (like this one) … but with an Indian twist. Hence a superhero in a sari, a rebellious cricket player, and a girl riding a magic carpet! The video centres around a fictional album cover featuring the group of characters called the Jagir Singh Soundsystem. The album cover animates and we get to see each character’s backstory in turn.
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The video was achieved by creating a huge amount of drawings and illustrations - maybe 30 to 40. Each individual element was initially drawn by hand, photographed, then coloured and animated in Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. The backgrounds and textures are a mixture of stock videos and my own drawings.
And finally, Tjinder Singh of the band wrote a blog post about his thoughts on the video on his blog - read it here.