Photo Credits: Pamela Garcia
Huntington Beach locals, Tokyo Lucky Hole (TLH), recently released a music video for their song, ‘Mr. McQueen’. The short/music video was directed by Blaine Fuller, Clay Fuller’s older brother, and TLH’s frontman. The short was so beautifully made that I felt obligated to speak to Blaine regarding the creation of the video. Enjoy the conversation I had with Blaine and don’t forget to check out ‘Mr. McQueen’ out now!
I was first turned on to your work after seeing Tokyo Lucky Hole’s music video for their song, ‘Mr. McQueen’. Talk a little about how you came in contact with the band to shoot the music video?
Tokyo Lucky Hole’s guitar and lead vocalist is Clay Fuller, my kid brother. I was actually in Tokyo Lucky Hole in the first few months of its existence. I played bass guitar in the band. We played a few shows in Orange County, CA and I was much more interested in the performance part of the band than the music (I write all the lyrics for Tokyo Lucky Hole’s songs, however). I have always been a performer and it continues to be a big passion of mine. There is even a documentary I made with a friend of my exploitations as a performance artist in San Francisco and Tokyo. (Watch the trailer for it here.) So I stepped down as the bass player and turned my efforts back toward my love of filmmaking. I love to write the lyrics for TLH because it is very much like writing poetry, which I am not unfamiliar with. Check out my book of poetry, Puppeteering in the Modern World, on Amazon. I will continue my relationship with my brother’s band because I love him and I have a lot of fun working with them.
Who came up with the general concept of the music video? Or would you say it a group effort?
I came up with the concept around 2016. Originally, I imagined it as a television limited series about a band of heroin-addicted disco cowboys who are pursued by assassins in an acid western landscape. The Japanese tori gate is a portal that would have taken the pope to salaryman land. I lived in Tokyo for a year so Japanese culture has a big influence on my work. If the music video continued, we’d see the band have to battle a Texas Chainsaw Massacre serial killer, spend more time at the drag queen brothel, and get surrounded by the police at a desolate 7-11 (kind of like the Prada in Marfa, Texas).
Where was it shot and how long did it take to wrap production? How many hands did you have on set?
It was shot in Ye Rustic Inn in Los Feliz in Los Angeles and surrounding desert locations. It was a big debacle when we rode out to the dry lake bed, El Mirage, to find out they had closed it because it had rained 3 weeks earlier and the park attendants thought driving on the lake bed in that condition would damage the lake bed. So we scrambled a few hours away to Soggy Dry Lake and shot the first chase sequence there. It was a 5-day shoot and we had on average about 6 crew on set but the final shootout we had something like 15 people there for that. It was a hard day at Soggy Dry Lake with all the offroading, extreme heat and wind and location change. People were tired and frustrated. With one day of shooting left, I made the decision to change the location to someplace closer to LA to try to make everyone happy, but I didn’t have a location in mind yet. It was about 10 pm and Jeffrey Vincent Parise (the cowboy getting a pedicure on the phone) came to stay at a motel with the rest of the crew in order to not have an early morning drive to set. I agreed to go to the bar with him and my cousin, Ryan Fuller (the pink fur coat cowboy). My production designer Will Odonnell hadn’t slept in three days, but he said he was going to find me a location for our shoot in less than 10 hours on his laptop, but at about midnight and after 3 whiskey and sodas I got a call from him. “I quit! This is ridiculous! I can’t work like this!” so I slammed my drink on the bar and said to my cousin and Jeff that we’re out of there. I looked at the map on my phone and saw a very strange dirt crossroads just behind the bar and luckily my cousin was driving a 4×4 Jeep Wrangler so we offloaded up there. It was the perfect location. When we arrived in the morning we found out it was a crackhead encampment and extremely dangerous. I had to leave Donnie Hobbie, my camera operator, and grip, alone at in the middle of that crackhead danger zone to set up a dolly track while I went back to base camp at our motel so I left him with a can of mace. We only had one serious run-in with a junky at the very end of the day. She came out with a pack of vicious dogs wielding an aluminum baseball bat. She attempted to swing at Alaska Lynch (the Pope) but missed. I coaxed her to fuck off with $20 and that was that.
What gear did you use to shoot this video? Camera, lens, etc.
We used a Sony F55 and vintage Kowa anamorphic lenses.
Which part of the entire project would you say is your favorite? Pre, production, or post?
I love every part. I get so excited to have the freedom to use my imagination any which way I please with the writing. The preproduction I feel like a businessman, going for a big sale. The post-production is always a little boring for me, but I really do like deciding on the color and looking at the footage. My favorite part is produced. It is exhilarating. Much better than sex. Especially when you are very tired and a little hungry.
This short/music video seems to draw inspiration from the American Old Western genre, what enticed you to create this short/music video with those characteristics?
I looked more at spaghetti westerns than American westerns when I was looking for assistance in the creative process. I love cowboys. Clint Eastwood is a hero. But I think my affinity to cowboys is probably from being an American. Even though my relatives immigrated to America long after the cowboy scene, I feel my lineage is more cowboy than European. Something about the freedom cowboy evokes. Smashing stuff up then yelling “LETS RIDE!”
Compared to this particular short, how does the rest of your filmography compare?
The rest of it has been burned or in a vault. I am shooting a new short film in less than a week that is a period drama about two sons vying for their dying father’s inheritance. But they’re all experiencing some kind of psychedelic meltdown of the psyche. Visually it will be the opposite of Mr. McQueen, but the tone will be very similar.
When it comes to filmmaking, who would you consider your greatest inspiration?
I draw inspiration from clothing, from comic books, from music, and from beautiful women. But I suppose my biggest inspiration from another filmmaker would be Werner Herzog. He just seems to do whatever he feels like. Not only are the films good, but he seems to live an interesting life.
What are some of your upcoming releases we can keep an eye out for?
This past September we did a very big party we called Bam Bam Cabaret with over 350 attendees where we screened Mr. McQueen. There were goats, drag queens, Muay Thai boxing, kava, mariachi, solid gold Sea-Doos, tons of paintings in an art gallery, a couple bands played (including Tokyo Lucky Hole) and people can’t stop telling me about how it was the best party they had ever been to. I’m thinking we will do another Bam Bam Cabaret soon and screen my latest short there. Maybe in April. But with more surreal performances and hopefully, I will be able to impress myself this time. (Check out the teaser for Bam Bam Cabaret here.)
If you could recommend readers your top three must-watch films, which would they be and why?
I would recommend checking out my friend and peer, Weston Razooli. He has made some incredible short films that are really smart and fun.
Last words?
I’m really thankful I’ve got such an incredible group of friends and team behind me. Thank you to everyone and my mom.
For more on Blaine Fuller, check his website out here.
