"So Many Stars" music video Q&A

Welcome to our second music video Q&A blog! This is a Q&A for our So Many Stars music video, filmed in Cleveland, OH.

Video details

Video: So Many Stars

Song producer: Andy "Dito!" Joseph

Song writers: Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker, Christopher "Leray" Roxas

Video director: Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker

Camera crew: Karena Maitland, Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker, Christopher "Leray" Roxas

Q: “So Many Stars” involved international collaboration. How did that work?

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: Matt was in a group prior to the two of us meeting. I believe it was through these industry connections that Matt met Andy “Dito” Joseph, who was the primary producer for Matt's group. Dito is a talented an upcoming producer in France! When Matt and I first started working, he let me hear demos of his previous work and immediately I was captivated by the music and the beats. Almost immediately, we contacted Dito to demo a good handful of his tracks. And almost immediately, Matt and I bounced ideas and recorded over most of these tracks. “So Many Stars” was one of the first tracks we had written to during our demo period with Dito, and our songwriting came almost naturally to this track. After letting Dito hear the demos, he pointed out that “So Many Stars” was one of his favorite of the batch…so, I think it only made sense that we included it in the album. It has a very modern crossover Euro sound that feels very appealing to the masses!

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: It was such a fun song to work on. Dito!, the producer of the song, lives in Paris, France and I connected with him a few years ago and he's been making some incredible beats out there. As soon as we had this album planned, I knew we had to collaborate with Dito!. At the time we were working on the song, Dito! produced the instrumental in Paris and sent it to me in Tampa, FL. I wrote and recorded the verses in Tampa and sent everything to Chris in Cleveland, OH where he wrote and recorded his lyrics. The song surely has some miles to it, the collaboration was a lot of fun!

Q: What was the inspiration behind the song?

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: When I first heard the track, Matt sent me the demo file and Dito named the file “So Many Stars I Can Fly.” Immediately, I started to fit the words of this title into the melody of the chorus and built the rest of the chorus around that. The music simply fit around the title and the title simply fit around the music. The vibe of the beat gave me a feeling of escape and floating around! So the simple inspiration behind the song initially was just the title it was originally given. After that, I feel like it develops a message about pure freedom and achieving your dreams after all the tears and struggles.

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: The lyrics in this song are about overcoming tough times to reach new heights. No matter what situation you're born into, thrown into or find yourself in, there's always a way to come out on top and turn it into a positive, and that's what this song is about to me. This idea is portrayed throughout the verses of the song. In the first verse, the female character makes a wish to escape hard times, which is granted to her. She is then open to live her dream. In the second verse, the imagery of being up in the stars shows the new heights after escaping tough times. Verse three shows the sustained positive experience and truly living the dream life you envisioned.

Q: Where was this video filmed?

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: The majority of the video was filmed at the old Warner and Swasey factory in Cleveland, OH. The factory has been abandoned since 1985. The building was built in the early 1900s and has such a cool feeling to it. Warner and Swasey was a company that built huge telescopes, there is still some of the old machinery in the building. When I was scouting locations for the video, we wanted something very industrial where there would be skyline views, and this fit the bill perfectly. A few scenes were filmed in an alleyway near University Hospitals Case Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

Q: How do you continue to come up with new concepts for music videos?

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: I think for the most part, we’ve basically just let each song and video concept happen, and if one of us has an idea we just run with it! I really enjoy just playing off of Matt’s ideas in this particular video. A lot of it is on-the-fly creativity because of budget, time management, and deadlines.

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: It's a lot of talking through ideas together and really developing a theme and letting creativity take over and more detailed ideas just begin flowing. One thing I loved with this video is the on the fly decisions Chris mentioned, it's so much fun to come up with ideas as you're filming. I look at it similarly to a game plan for a football game, you go in with the general game plan, but depending on how things unfold, you make adjustments and changes throughout, and that's exactly how we film. That feeling of spontaneity really makes the experience so much more fun and interactive.

Q: The video has a more personal/intimate feeling versus a story. Tell us about that.

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: I think a lot of that feeling comes through lyrically, that feeling of overcoming challenges and hardships is something everyone can relate to. We all deal with hard times in our lives, but it's what we make of them and how we overcome them that matters. The abandoned building was used as imagery for this idea.

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: I think because it was set in an abandoned building, it created a sense of loneliness and bewilderment which is a contrast to the meaning of the song. I feel like it created somewhat of a dreamlike atmosphere and a sense of wanting to escape and float away.

Q: Where was the idea to use a post industrial setting for the video inspired?

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: Chris came up with the first concept for the video and talked about a very industrial scene and we ran with the idea. The Urban Exploration (urbex) movement fascinates me and the building is a very popular urbex location in Cleveland, which made scouting and filming a lot of fun!

Q: How did you manage to give the video the grungy industrial look you wanted?

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: Once again, this was another one of Matt’s genius visions, so I’ll let him speak about it!

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: We filmed the entire video using natural lighting and I think that added so much to the video. There are some post production effects that give the colors a more grungy feel as well.

Q: What is your favorite/most memorable part of the video?

Christopher "Leray" Roxas: I really like the part in the beginning of the video when Matt starts the first verse and we’re both in the middle of the abandoned building leaning on the pillar. There was an element of perfection with the background, the scenery, and the camera angle that made it all fit! I have to give Karena (camera crew) sooooooo much credit, cause she filmed that particular sequence…and she’s damn good at it! What I also really like is how Matt edited in the parts that make me look really cool (hee hee)! For example, I like the part where I’m on top of the building with my back facing the camera and I’m just ‘flying’. Also, I like the parts where I’m singing the chorus and it’s my silhouette on the left and a view of downtown Cleveland through the old window opening in the background. The whole building just makes for great scenery. I almost didn’t have to do much except be present and the imagery spoke for itself!

Matthew "Clarendon" Strohhacker: One of my favorite aspects is showcasing the architecture of the building, the surroundings and the art/graffiti. The history behind the Warner and Swasey building is just amazing and I'm glad we got to showcase it in this video. I also loved our wardrobe for the video, I think it fit the atmosphere well. I loved filming the parts just interacting and walking around with Chris singing and rapping the song! This was such a fun video to film and I hope you all like it!

Check out the full music video for So Many Stars!

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