Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” became a massive hit, with the song remaining in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 after 91 weeks. But did you know the story behind the song’s video is just as interesting?
In the Vevo Footnotes for the song, Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley and director Colin Read reveal the creative process behind the making of the video. Shot during the lockdown in England, the video features Dave walking down an empty street in London, pulling a wagon filled with TV sets. The various shots of him were taken from different angles and heights, and all were crowdsourced from the people living on that street.
To achieve this, Bayley and his team distributed slips of paper in all of their neighbors’ mailboxes, requesting that they film him walking down the street at 7 pm on Wednesday and upload the videos to their Dropbox. Bayley reveals in a caption on the video, “We had no idea if it was actually going to work!”
Bayley also faced some challenges during filming, as he had to walk down the street a couple of times due to his glasses exploding, and one of his lenses kept falling out. Luckily, one of his neighbors threw him a cable tie to hold his glasses together, which is barely visible if you look closely.
The meaning behind the video is just as poignant. The song is about missing someone, but the band realized they could reinterpret the lyrics to be about togetherness and community during the lockdown. The clip ends with Bayley going into a theater and setting up the TVs onstage. Each member of Glass Animals appears on a different TV, and they “perform” the song together.
According to Read, the band knew they had to end up somewhere for Bayley to bring his bandmates ‘alive’ and play with them, since they couldn’t be together in person.
The story behind the making of Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves” video is a testament to the power of community and creative problem-solving in the face of adversity.
Location:
Beck Rd, Hackney, London E8 4RE
Google Maps Co-ordinates: 51.536853, -0.058023
Other music videos filmed in London: Spice Girls – Wannabe
Official Music Video
Release Date: June 2020
