b'Director Interviews UKtime Malcolms ever worn the schoolboyWhere did you shoot that?business was now an industry. The shes very good. imagery as we could. They were great.I was taken to dinner with the twooutfit. Im the only person who everIt was shot in a club, now its a club,challenges were really that everybody had To Be A Lover is a remake, too,Ann, was and is, brilliant. Shes got morebrothers, Angus and Malcolm, by theirpersuaded him to do it, because Brian hadit used to be a cinema called the Odeondone everything. All the ideas had been which Billy made his own, a song fromsoul in her little fingermy God, thatmanager, who was Stewart Young inmade such a twat of himself in the bath,Brixton. Its been all sorts of clubs in theused, and there were very few ideas left. the 1960s, I believe. Do you rememberwoman can sing. And a great sense ofthose days, unrelated. We started talking Malcolm thought he could get away withlast 30 years. Its huge. a 2000-plus seater,The big problem then was the need for how the ideas were flowing on that one?humor.And you gave her a big hammer.about this and that, and I started talkingthe schoolboy outfit. maybe more, with a very wide stage. Wesomeone to shoot properly live. At the A lot of flying camera, the crane got aWell, big girl, big hammer.Dont write thatabout comic books, and Angus is a reallyThe shots of the girl are great andconverted that, on the floor we built thosetime, rock and roll performance television real workout.down or shell kill me. (laugh) Ive alreadygood artist. Hes a comic book fan and shes on a mechanical bull at the end!cages, those things where the audiencewas crap, as you well know by looking You said its one of your favorites,been killed by her for saying big girl,collects comic books. In fact, we stillSure, why not? Its just everything thatsall were. at it. They didnt have enough cameras, what is it that you enjoyed about it?which I didnt.Ill just say big hammer.swap comic books to this day. And thensexy and funny, because thats what AC/ You refer back to some of yourthis, that, there was no cottage industry Billy. Im an Elvis and Jerry Lee fanatic,Your audience has all their handsI opened my big mouth, and we wereDC are all about. comic book imagery. There are a lot ofthat shot rock and roll for television. There and thats the closest Ive ever gotten to anout, all reaching forward. That shot istalking about people you hate, recordsThat seems to be the only characterthings going on simultaneously.were no cameramen, there were no Elvis or a Jerry Lee. And Steve Stevens asThats Nuremberg. Call it Triumph ofand artists you hate, and I said the mostoriented piece you did, and youve beenRight. Theyd been off the clock for alighting men, nothing. Everything was a well. Hes the great underappreciated one.the Will and youre okay, because thatsoffensive ghastly and horrible looking working with them ever since on livecouple of years, and I hadnt seen them forstruggle. You also directed Mistake No. 3 forwhat it was. Leni Rafenstahl. people had just done a stupid video ofconcerts.a couple of years. They came back, andYou know, during that time, the L.A. Culture Club. Whats with the audienceWow. And a lot of fire!some girl in a library taking her glassesWell that was it. Wed done a piss take,we thought, weve got to make the ultimatemetal scene had come up, and it seems full of dummies?Why not! And when in doubt, set itoff, and its called something like Tearsright? It was a huge hit, you cant keeprock and roll performance video beforelike Marty Callner and Wayne Isham are I dont remember any more about iton fire or throw it into some water. It willFor Fears. There was a terrible silencedoing it, wed done it. someone else does. That was how it sortdoing that on the west coast of the U.S. than that. always work.at the table because they were StewartTheyre not Madness.of came about. We thought we needed toWhat did you think of hard rock and Bringing on the Heartbreak for DefDid you see that as a go-to? RussellYoungs other client, and I had noWell thats exactly right. Theyre notgo crazy with it. heavy metal moving toward pop with Leppard seems to be the only time IveMulcahy said that if you have eitheridea.That was my big clanger of theMadness. By the time you are shooting thetheir work? ever seen choreographed forklifts.water or knocking over a table inweek. From that moment, Angus andFor Thunderstruck, you shotThunderstruck and Money TalksMarty Callner was doing Whitesnake, That was the one where I set him a driftslow motion, you can always get fourMalcolm and I got on well. Stewart YoungAnguss famous strut from underneath.videosin 1990, and music videoand they were using our girls, and it was on the boat. We went to a studio to look forseconds out of that. and I are still great friends to this day,Well it was just a silly thought, andproduction has developed into a full-onthe same, but he was doing it really well, I woods and didnt see anything we liked. IExactly. And if you slow it down a bithave lunch together and all that. In fact,it works. It might equally well not haveindustry. Were things different for you?thought. I thought he did it well. And when believe we built them. more, you can get six. the first AC/DC I did was Who Madeworked. Im glad to say that it did work. Suddenly, what had been a cottageI met him, he said, Thank you so much, I You shot three clips for KissWhoYou shot Mick Jagger and DavidWho, and it was Price Wormsleys ideareally used all your stuff, which I thought Wants To Be Lonely, Uh All Night andBowies now-infamous Dancing into make lots of little Anguses from a mold.was really nice of him. I thought he did it Tears Are Falling, and the latter, by thethe Streets. At the time, it was a hugeWe took the mold and made hundreds ofreally well, but it was in a different way. It way, is beautifully shot. What do you recalldeal, and later on, it became a bit ofgold Anguses. And we also have awas in an L.A. way. about working with Kiss?a strange pop-culture moment. Howthousand Anguses with cardboard cutoutWhat would you say is different I remember thinking that they didntdid the video come to land on yourguitars. But that was the beginning of thisabout the L.A. way? need me to add anything to them, becausedoorstep to direct?road that went between AC/DCs hardEverything looks healthy and bright they were what they were and had beenIt was logical, because I was probablyedged rock and roll, not heavy metal butin L.A., and in England, everything looks for years. It was only a matter of makingthe only one they both knew well, I wouldhard-edged rock and roll, and comedy.sleazy and dark. I mean, the women in my a video with Kiss performing or doingguess. David rang me up and said, ImAnd the next one we did, which is one ofthings were all real sleazebags, werent something. It wasnt a matter of startingnot telling you what the track is, weremy favorite videos that Ive ever made, isthey. They all look dirty. It looked naughty, again with their image like it was for Davidrecording it at six oclock, and well be inYou Shook Me All Night Long. you know what I mean? And all the ones Bowie or Billy Idol. I remember thinkingthe docklands by 8 or 9, and you can hearThey dont come off as Australianin the ZZ Top stuff and Marty Callner stuff, that what you get is what you get. On theit for the first time then. So I went, I heardwith the rows of houses and allthey all looked dancers from The Midnight billowing curtains, that was just a look,it, and I thought, well well come up withWell, they all live in England or EuropeSpecial, didnt they? Its a different vibe, you see, but you didnt mess with Kiss.some ideas while I spin the camera aroundnow, not really living around Australia quitea different look. And I watched it with Kiss was Kiss was Kiss. End of story.them. We laid down track and shot them,so much. Theres an English comic bookinterest, but it wasnt anything I could ever Theres only one way you can take Kiss,and figured, thatll use a minute, while wecharacter called Andy Capp. Well, hesdo, because I specialized in sleaze, if you and its a very fine line between comedythink of something else.Where was thisBrian the singer, isnt he?And I wantedknow what I mean.and something thats too heavy. If youshot? In the deserted docks in London.them in this little poor neighborhood, do something too comedic with Kiss, youAnd the very last shot of that, it wasyou know, two-up two-down houses, andscrew it up because their look is comedicsummer, and the dawn happened at aboutI wanted Andy Capp in his tin bath,anyway, and if you take the piss, it doesnt4 oclock in the morning, and we hadntscratching his back with a loofa. Of course, work. This was my opinion, when theydone the last shot. We took every car ofthen we thought, wouldnt it be funny if we came to me. And on the other side, if youevery crew member, every single car that did it in time to the music? So theres Brian do something too hardcore, theyre not aanybody owned, and we set them up withJohnson sitting in this bath. I had a hell of hardcore band. So I found that difficult,their headlights on full, shined them into thea job persuading him to do it in this I found it difficult to get it right. Theres alens so that made the sky look black so ithorrible old tin bath. But then of course, it balance.would match. Thats why you see a bunch went on from there. Its all English You directed What About Love forof headlights in that shot.They are two ofreferences, like the Fish-n-chip van, which Heart, and you used a lot of that metalthe greatest performers ever.It stands up is a big English thing, and the canal, which imagery. This was a turning point inbecause those two, nothing to do with me.is a big English thing. And the schoolboy their career because they were viewedThey were at their best and competing withoutfits. as a 70s act.each other. And David even choreographedHad they been doing that for a while At this point, they were effectivelya bit of it, the bit when they are popping intoby the time you shot this? a new band. I didnt say a new band,the camera a bit. Somewhere there is a picture of Angus I said effectively, and it would haveThen you began workinga lot withand Malcolm in schoolboy outfits, sticking been very easy to launch them as aAC/DC, a band that you still shootingtheir tongues out at me in a grotty"When in doubt, set it on firepictured above: The members of Queen on a soft band, because What About Lovevideos and live shows for to this day.Manchester street. Somewhere Ive got it,soundstage shooting "Radio Gaga" could be considered a ballad. Almost. SoWhat appealed to you about workingand its a very funny picture. Like twoor throw it into some water. we decided to do as much heavy metalwith them at the beginning? naughty schoolboys. And thats the onlypictured left: David Mallet (bottom left) directs It always works." - Mallet Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons during Kisss Tears are Falling video shoot50MVTMISSUE #1ISSUE #1MVTM51'