Michael Upson's latest video for indie outfit Home Counties taps into a certain kind of Englishness in a very charming way, as the band encounter a group of indoor crown green bowlers on their own (artificial) turf.As with his video for the band's song Bethnal Green, for Meet Me On The Flat Roof Upson delivers some real people casting which sets the mood. And once we discover that this group of middle aged and elderly men are driven their common pursuit in an intriguing location, it sets the scene for a virtually unique band performance - on the indoor bowling green, with the men sending heavy bowls past (and occasionally through) them. As Michael Upson explains the location was adjacent to the songtitle, but more effective for not being too on the nose. And importantly, it also gave him the opportunity to address the stigma (or just old-fashioned snobbery) attached to people and places. "Initially the band had wanted to shoot in a flat roof pub, but those spaces can be notoriously expensive to shut down for an 11 hour shoot day," he says. "What I was inspired by though, was the song as a love letter to timeless spaces."Spaces like flat roof pubs and bowls clubs are getting quite a bad rep nowadays, associated with the alt right and old fashioned views. And whilst those views can breed in places like that, they're just as likely to crop up in an All Bar One full of suits or an axe-throwing space in Clapham."What flat roof pubs and bowls clubs provide is a sense of community for potentially lonely people that need it. They're working class, social spaces where people can gather and have fun. I liked this romantic view that the band were exploring with the song. That's what led us to indoor bowls clubs and to the tone of performance and togetherness that we wanted to get out the video."
David Knight - 10 days ago