The problem with success is that you create a precedent. Take, for instance, Wetaskiwin-based rockabilly band Punk Drunk Cabaret: In 2017, they took home Music Video of the Year at the Edmonton Music Awards for their “Beard of Bees” video. It wasn’t even something the band was aspiring toward—frontman Randy Bailer explains it was the videographer who submitted it in the first place—but after the win, there was added pressure to step it up a notch for the next video.
“When you’re being recognized for your work, certainly the next time out of the gate it has to be as good or better,” Bailer says. “The other pressure though has come from the fact that whenever we play new markets … we’re finding more and more people are finding out about us, coming to the shows, because of the videos.”
Punch Drunk Cabaret’s newest video is “Don’t Die Until You’re Dead”—the first single off This Is a Disturbance, which released in May. The video was shot over two days in late July, and was filmed in Wetaskiwin.
Bailer explains it’s usually easier to film in his hometown because he has more leads on locations. For the new video, the band put out a call on Facebook for a “disgusting” industrial basement and were contacted by the Wetaskiwin Theatre Society, which operates the Manluk Theatre—located in a former water works building and power plant.
“On the main floor they’ve built a state-of-the-art theatre, but I had never seen the bowels of the place … and it was just ideal. It was just exactly what we needed,” Bailer says. “Plus then upstairs there’s, like I say, an excellent stage and so on. So two-thirds of the video could be shot right in that building.”
The video also features numerous extras—many from Edmonton—and a couple of special guest stars. The first is fire performer Doug Thompson—a long-time fan of the band from Peace River, who attends their Grand Prairie shows.
“He would always come and after sets buy merchandise and so on, and that’s kind of how we got to know him—as a fan of the band—and then at some point, it was ‘And oh, by the way, here’s my card,’” Bailer says.
The band hoped to eventually collaborate with Thompson, whose talents include fire eating and fire-breathing, and when Bailer wrote the treatment for “Don’t Die Until You’re Dead” it was the perfect fit.
“When we kind of needed this devil character, we were just like ‘OK, we know the perfect person for this,’ and luckily Doug was available and into it, and then he kind of stole the show,” Bailer says.
The treatment also included the perfect part for Jim Gray—former frontman of Darkroom and the actor who played Lumpi on The Little Vampire in the 1980s. He was also a major inspiration for Bailer.
“In the mid-80s, Edmonton belonged to Jim; he was an absolute rock star,” he says. “When I was a teenager in my first band, seeing him play, you know … Jim was Edmonton’s answer to David Bowie. The star quality and charisma of this guy was unbelievable, and it was just so inspiring to me.”
The video was directed by Steve Vandiest from Ring Tail Productions and Ewen Clark was the director of photography. Bailer says Vandiest’s direction really added something, as the characters Bailer had written in the treatment were “a lot more flat than how they turned out.”
As an example, Vandiest worked with Gray—playing the undertaker—to achieve a really standout performance.
“That part was not written at all; it was all improvised on the spot,” Bailer says, “and again he was just another character that really kind of shone in that little production.”
“Don’t Die Until You’re Dead” is also the first video appearance for Punch Drunk Cabaret’s new bassist, Teddy Roy.
Bailer explains that though Roy was previously part of a successful country band, The Boom Chucka Boys, he hasn’t had a lot of experience being in music videos.
“He was thrilled that not only did he get to appear in the video as himself, playing bass, but I had written a part for him as a gravedigger, so he got to do a little bit of acting,” Bailer laughs.
He says Punch Drunk Cabaret wouldn’t normally have a video launch party, but so many people worked on the video over such a small period of time that the band wanted the opportunity for everyone to celebrate.
“To be able to bring everybody together and celebrate, and kind of unveil it, it’s pretty unique. It’s something we’ve never done before as a band,” Bailer says.
Thompson will also attend in “full Satanic regalia,” introducing the video and the band.
