Interview with Catherine Lee of Video Vision
MVP: It's is March 29th, 2005 and we are in San Francisco, CA., and we are speaking with Catherine Lee from Video Vision. The show’s been on for quite some time, we'll find out just how long, and every Wednesday night at 9 pm people tune into channel 29 to see the show. Note this show is a little different because it really does feature the most engaging cutting edge indie rock that's being made into videos these days. Curious if it was always like that Catherine, and what inspired you to start the show and how long ago was it?
Catherine Lee: Actually, the creator of the show was Lee Evans - who decided he wanted to do something and how he got from doing something to doing something as cool as making your own video show, he just did - and that was in 1996. So we're almost at ten years at this point. Our focus when we started was small bands and local bands; and we figured that everybody had a new little digital video camera and we could have live performance videos. We could contribute to the local San Francisco music community by being a visual component of it. We tried a model called “profit”: we bought our (broadcast) time and we tried to sell ads. And we are not very good sales people - we're more music people. So we changed our model, not necessarily to “non-profit”, but to a “not-for-profit”, where the focus was making a good show, getting it on the air and not killing ourselves trying to sell ads ‘cause, like I said, we're not good at it. One day maybe we could find someone who is good at it and that would be fun.
MVP: There's a certain musical aesthetic that people see every week when they watch Video Vision, a certain style, a certain aesthetic to your music video show. Would you care to elaborate??
CL:I think that the San Francisco music and visual audience is unique. I think they're pretty sophisticated and pretty diverse. They want to hear and see something different, they don't necessarily want to see what's in the mainstream and they're open: so anything that's interesting, challenging, and eclectic... they can take all those things. So that's the programming style and there's styles that also do offend people just for the sake of shock value, and there's no need to do that. What people really want to do, if they're going to spend a half hour watching something, they want to be engaged and we want them to be engaged visually and musically, and we want them to be able to find out about cool new directors and cool new music acts; and then we want them to actually go out and see the bands. That's kind of the general idea - that there are things happening that look like a digital revolution. So we actually live in a place like that, so we should be part of that digital revolution. We try to think that even if something is, how do you say... we won’t put something on that's shocking just to put something on that's shocking, but then again if it's really interesting and shocking then maybe it really deserves to be put on (the show), because we're not trying to please 100 percent of the people, we're looking for the 20 percent of the people who are looking for something they haven't seen before.
MVP: What are the realistic odds of someone sending you a video that's a straight up live performance with no real narrative or meaningful story, are those kinds of videos passed by in the world of Video Vision?
CL: Absolutely not. We get submissions from people who just write to us on the internet and they submit (a video) and as long as the visual quality is clean, professional level and the sound is professional level we'll watch it and we'll consider it. In fact, at this point, we try and reserve the last video of the show for a live performance video. There were too many good bands who are making performance videos and I was taking them all out of my programming list and I didn't like that. So I said, okay, we'll leave the last slot as a performance video. Maybe somebody wants something just straight-forward after watching all this visual stuff. I think that the ethic we use is: it doesn't matter if someone is signed and it doesn't matter who you know (to get on the show).
MVP: Very interesting. Very Interesting! Okay, you're one of probably close to 60, 70 regional video programmers who request mini DVs for programming. I'm curious as a programmer what advice you can give to people who send you videos to make your life a little easier? Do you have any issues with the videos that are sent to you and is there any advice you can give?
CL: I would say any medium is worth reviewing whether it's VHS or mini DV or authored DVD - all different ranges of expertise. But I think the most important thing is writing something about what the band is trying to do and making sure there is good contact information. A video that comes in with no contact information, no paperwork, nothing about why I should watch this out of the 100's of videos we get, I might miss it. I might just put it to the side and say, oh, I'll see what this is later, and I might forget it. Be able to accept that the genre that you're playing (to) or your visuals fit “Somebody's Show” - and go for those shows... I will always try to respond back to people and suggest other shows in the area that will fit that musical genre (if it doesn’t fit Video Vision’s).
MVP: How important is it for you at Video Vision to get a CD along with the video so that you can listen to the rest of the songs on the bands repertoire?
CL: Again, weirdly enough, hugely important. Because I might not get to watching the video until my next programming cycle... so if I can just grab a CD out of the pack, and start listening to it, it brings the music and the band closer into my priority list, especially if I listen to the CD and I think, “wow, this is great” and it reminds me, oh yeah, I have to put that video on the top of my stack. Also, in another strange way, as soon as I start listening to a CD and I like it I have to start telling all my friends; and that reminds me as well, to go back and look at the video. If the CD is so good, and even if the visuals aren't as high quality or as visually engaging as I want them to be; if the CD is so good that I still have to give this person some help it will help program it. If that makes sense.
MVP: Another prized catch amongst labels and promoters is a Video Vision interview. You only do a limited amount each year but I'm curious what gets you to send off the emails that it's time that you just have to do an interview? Does it have to be a band that not only is someone who is making a buzz, but a band that you truly, truly love?
CL: I think that it has to be a band that I love; hopefully it's a band who has made a good visual video so we actually have something to talk about in terms of the visuals. The other component would be whether I have seen or read anything to do with the band that indicated any interest in art or culture or politics. Then I'm going to be much more inclined to actually want to talk to them and find out more about the band, because their music really speaks for itself. So it's really talking about what they are doing as artists in a larger context of what everybody is doing as artists or what everybody is doing culturally that makes it much more appealing to try and talk to them. Because I don't want to talk to them about who they're dating or something like that.
MVP: Okay, we're going to be finishing up here but a couple more questions for Catherine Lee. Curious if you would like to comment on what seems to be a true resurgence of independent labels coming to the forefront in ways that couldn't have been imagined a few years back. Have you felt it here in San Francisco and would you care to comment?
CL: I think that the faith in independent labels went out of everybody's sails for awhile and then suddenly! all the music and all the bands who had been part of the San Francisco culture were getting bigger and their shows were getting harder to get into all the sudden, shows that (previously) you could go buy the ticket that night. You'd go see a Death Cab show but it sold out 2 weeks ago and so you start seeing this thing - saying there's this kind of music being promoted and believed in by certain small labels that fits in with the San Francisco culture, and that culture is very much about the DIY aesthetic and the DIY, “work hard: do it because you love it” belief.
We have numerous instances of that around us, especially the Noise Pop Festival. People wanted to put on a show of independent bands, some signed and some not signed. To make the Noise Pop Festival actually a success, San Francisco and the labels and the bands had to believe in that festival from the very get go. It's a collusion as a community of artists that helps the independent labels, that helps independent music festivals, and that helps independent music video shows, that helps independent art magazines. All these things are rotating around each other trying to say we can make our own community and our own scene; maybe that's bad word. But we don't have to have the “majors” notice us and we can still have a vibrant culture. Independent labels here are part of that, are good examples... it's the Noise Pops, it's the Saddle Creeks that make people believe, okay, just work hard.
MVP: As someone who's been ensconced in the San Francisco scene for many years can you give our readers examples who have broken out of here and made San Francisco proud?
CL: I think that San Francisco has such a long tradition of music so it's hard to say... it's a little unfair (i.e. comparing contemporary bands’ success to Jefferson Airplane’s success). Everyone was really excited when Rogue Wave headed the Noise Pop Festival. Everybody was really excited when Rogue Wave got signed to Sub Pop: that meant somebody at Sub Pop actually knew who a San Francisco band is/was. And bands like Erase Errata have been coming to the forefront, they're a little too awkward for the mainstream but they've definitely had a space in the San Francisco sound. Bands like Rube Waddell. And then you know, even if we don't “like” them we're still proud of bands like Green Day or Train. I think in general everyone in San Francisco wants other artists to be excited, but of course you can piss and moan about it when they sell out. But hopefully they'll bring more A&R people back, but then there's always the idea that we don't need outside A&R people... as in “if they don't want us we'll still (be playing), we don't let the scene die”. Because even if the outsiders are not coming in and taking note, (San Franciscans will) play for ourselves and make it for ourselves, rather than waiting for someone to come in and give you the money as a reason to do it. Do it for our own community.
MVP: Any closing thoughts?
CL: I think the revolution is here: the digital revolution, the musical revolution, and I think there's plenty of good artists! It's fun to be part of the small community of music video programmers in the US, but it's lonely too. I think it's probably lonely for all the programmers who are just making their shows on their own, we don't have the benefit of a Nielsen rating system, we don't actually know how many people watch us. So my closing thoughts would be: if you ever watch an independent show or if you ever listen to an independent radio show, call them up, write them an email and tell them you're out there watching.
MVP: Nice, thank you