The members of Wilmington, Del.’s Spinto Band have been playing together since the mid-1990s, when they were still in high school. A decade and a half later finds Nick Krill (vocals/guitar), Thomas Hughes (bass/vocals), Jeffrey Hobson (drums), Sam Hughes (keyboards), Joey Hobson (guitar) perfecting pop sounds on the recent full-length, Shy Pursuit, in their newly built recording studio, scoring films, starting a record label and searching for the perfect cup of coffee. They will also be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with Krill.
Nick Krill interviews filmmaker, painter, and beekeeper Nate Johnson.
Krill: What led you to live video music videos?
Johnson: I saw Michael Penn’s “No Myth” video as a kid when it first occurred to me that most videos on MTV weren’t really performances. After that revelation, it’s not like I rejected traditional videos. I’ve always just enjoyed spotting music videos that contained real performances in their own right. It lets fans get an alternate, non-album take of the song, too, which I think adds value to the video. More recently, I think the brilliance of Chryde and Vincent Moon’s “Take Away Shows” really led me to the format. I watched his incredibly moving film An Island about the Danish band Efterklang—and I realized that this was the format for me.
The Spinto Band video is the second long-form live music video you have made. Has your process changed at all from the first to the second video? Did you learn anything from the first shoot that you applied to the second?
Yeah, I think that planning can really help to flesh out a foundation of what we want to happen on film, but that said, the true magic in the final product results from impromptu surprises, which you simply can’t plan for. As we continue to approach these projects, I try to allow some free, unplanned space for things to happen on their own and surprise everyone.
The footage looks amazing to me, and I was blown away to hear that you just learned how to do film lighting by watching youtube videos. Can you talk about this a bit? Do you have any tips for other people trying to learn skills online?
I’m no pro by any means, and I’ve learned the most from working with skilled collaborators (like filmmaker Ben Bloodwell) but yeah, the internet is definitely a great place to learn. YouTube and Vimeo have really changed my life in that way. I’ve also been getting excited about the site skillshare.com for this same reason. It connects instructors with various skills with eager class participants who are excited to grow their skillset, or just try out a new hobby without having to shell out tons of money.
Apart from being a cool filmmaker, you also build guitar amplifiers, are an amazing painter, brew beer, keep a bee hive on your roof and have a wood shop in your basement. I’m pretty much convinced that if you were alive 250 years ago you would be Benjamin Franklin. You are very skilled and do a ton of amazing things. Is there anything you will never attempt?
Good question! I probably need to make myself a list for the future. Hunting, quack new-age health crazes, pole dancing, mixed martial arts.
How do you get really well-fitting jeans?
Ha ha, this is easy, and good for all the weird body types out there: Buy yourself some raw, unwashed 501 jeans. Levis’ calls them “shrink to fit.” Get them one size too big in the waist, and two or three sizes too long. Draw yourself a hot bath, put the jeans on, and get in the bathtub for 10 to 15 minutes. Get out of the tub, pat your jeans down with a dark towel (so you don’t drip blue dye all over the house), and wear them until dry. Tah-dah! You now have some great jeans. You can repeat this process another time if you really want to.
Video after the jump.
