Cult outsider pop label Blang Records has been home to many a Joyzine favourite over the years – David Cronenberg’s Wife, Sergeant Buzfuz and The Awkward Silences are just a few to have graced the independent imprint, and a new Blang release always causes a frisson of anticipation around Joyzine HQ. More often than not, that expectation is more than met, and the latest welcome addition to the Blang canon is ‘My Back Yard’, the new single from Trailer Crash.
Taken from the recent LP Slow Down Old Man, it’s a delight from start to finish – a garage folk track with a hint of warming psychedelia, romping along on a banjo riff with some excellent shout-along backing vocals and lyrics about the rough and ready charms of the corner of East London they call home as frontman JJ Crash reveals, “The song ‘My Back Yard’ is about when we first moved to Stratford in the 90s, which took us a while to acclimatise to.”
It comes backed with a gloriously DIY video, “It’s the first proper artistic collaboration between me and my wife, Frankie,” says Crash, “who came up with the “Magic Roundabout meets Pulp Fiction” concept and filmed it on my iPhone.” Featuring a guitar playing cartoon hedgehog alongside some genuine East London wildlife, it’s the perfect backing for the song and totally encapsulates the independent ethos that has been a hallmark of Blang recordings for more than a decade and a half.
“Stratford’s very different now so it wasn’t going to be possible to film anything on location,” JJ explains. “Frankie suggested making the whole set out of found objects and cardboard, and using the Boss Hog hedgehog character (originally created by Daisy Stimpson) from the album cover as a puppet. Once the road signs were made we realised this could actually work but we needed some actors with star quality. Our new backyard has plenty of frogs, snails and other insects – boom! Props include my Corgi Corvette Stingray and a lateral flow Covid test. The road surface is a bin liner with sticky address labels, a bit of sand and litter. With the right lighting it looks like CSI E15.“
We’re delighted to bring you the first chance to see the video, edited and brought to life by La Staunton, here on Joyzine today.
The album Slow Down Old Man is out now on Blang Records – order via Bandcamp
Read Joyzine’s review of the Blang Documentary 16 Years of Outsider Music
Article by Paul Maps
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