Artist Research: Moose Blood

The Background

Moose Blood are a self-proclaimed Emo-Punk band formed in Canterbury, Kent in 2012. In many of their songs they reference inspirations such as Brand New - a band that were 'big' in the Pop-Punk scene in the 90's and early 2000's. Also in their first album there were more references to other bands that influenced them in the 2000's such as Saves the Day and Say Anything.

When they formed in 2012 they released a demo for the song 'Bukowski' which became one of their most popular songs even currently.

After this, they worked on an EP named 'Moving Home', this contained: an instrumental that opened the EP called 'My Own Boat', 'Evening Coffee', the title track 'Moving Home', 'Carbis Bay', 'Drive' and finally the reworked version of 'Bukowski'. Their sound in this EP is very raw and is not altered much in post-production. Shortly after this, they also released two songs as singles 'Boston' and 'Orlando'.

                                       

November 2013, they collaborated with another small band 'Departures' to make a second EP, 'Departures/Moose Blood Split EP'. The only two songs from Moose Blood are 'Stay Here' and 'Girl'.

In 2014 they signed to No Sleep Records, a record company that many large punk bands such as Blink-182 have been signed to at some point in their careers. At the end of 2014 they went to the base of No Sleep in LA released their first album 'I'll Keep You In Mind From Time to Time'. It was well received in the US, it came in at number 9 on Rock Sound's 'Top 50 Albums of the Year' list and 45 in the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums.

More recently in 2016 they announced that they had signed to Hopeless Records for their new album. Their second album, titles 'Blush' is much less raw as they have a higher budget, this also means that the chances are that budget would also reflect in their music video productions but I do not have that budget as an A Level student.

Marketing

Moose Blood often use social media to market their products to their audience and also attempt to reach a wider audience, as they are still a new 'up and coming' band in the punk scene. They market from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Moose Blood Marketing on Facebook

Moose Blood Marketing on Twitter

Moose Blood Marketing on Instagram

Previous Music Videos

Gum

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• Narrative storyline that does not directly link to the lyrics.
• Artist is included in the video, live performance.
• A few of the shots relate to the lyrics but for the majority it is concept.
• Within the video there are links to the band's own merchandise but other than that, there don't seem to be other intertextual links.
• Throughout the video, there are no attempts to interact with the audience.
• The actors in the video aren't famous but are still the centre of the shots, the band feature for approximately 31 shots in the whole video.
• The video is of a medium pace, the average shot length is around 4 seconds in the first section. But after the first chorus, the shots shortened to an average of 2 seconds.

The elements I will most likely take from this is the idea of a narrative, however my narrative will almost entirely directly link to the lyrics. Also, the ratio of the narrative to the performance on screen.

Cheek

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• The video is entirely concept and only contains live performance, this is similar to other videos of theirs, such as Swim Down, Bukowski and Boston.
• All of the video is revolved around the artist being the centre of each shot.
• Because the video is a concept live performance, the visuals don't at all connect to the lyrics.

Artist Research: The 1975

The Background

The 1975, formerly known under the names: Me and You Versus Them, Forever Enjoying Sex, Talkhouse, The Slowdown, Bigsleep and Drive Like I do, formed in 2002, Cheshire, England. They formed when they were 13 at their local school. Now they are around 27 years old - which is older than the majority of their fans. When they first begun under the name of The 1975 they were first described as being an Indie Rock band. But throughout the 14 years they have been together they have produced music progressing from Indie Rock to Electro Pop to Alternative Rock. Their first EP 'Facedown' was released in 2012 by the record company Dirty Hit, containing the songs Facedown, The City, Antichrist and Woman. This EP has a melancholic feel to it with the songs heavily referencing religion and relationships. Later that year they released the 'Sex' EP, this was the EP that started their rise in popularity in the music industry as the Alternative Rock song 'Sex' supported by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe and pushed them towards a UK and Ireland tour. The following year saw the release of their third EP 'Music For Cars' this is where their mainstream success and potential became apparent. The song 'Chocolate' reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart. Also in 2013, was their second EP of the year and fourth EP altogether 'IV'. 'IV' had a new version of a popular song 'The City'. This emphasises the band's awareness of the demand from their fans while also defining the creativity that they are still known for today.  The track charted in the UK and had airtime in many other countries. However this was their last EP before the release of their self titled debut album 'The 1975'. The album was released on the 2nd of September 2013, the re-worked lead single 'Sex' from the previous EP was released a week before as part of the hype for the album. The song was an instant hit and again was supported by Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe, furthermore the band's first music video was released on the 26th of July for 'Sex'. Their debut album reached number 1 in the UK Album Charts. The album was very much Indie Rock/Alternative Rock and had a lack of Pop influences.

Marketing

'I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It' Album Marketing

'Somebody Else' Single Marketing

'This Must Be My Dream' Album Marketing

'UGH!' Single Marketing

Obviously I do not have the budget or the time to get any actual neon lighting as marketing for my music video but I could at least take advantage of the natural locations in my town and take a high quality photo on the Cow and Calf or on the moors. With this I can then add neon text to attempt to replicate a similar style to this.

When I create the CD case I should also attempt to take inspiration from their single and album covers.

'Facedown' EP

'Sex' EP

'Music For Cars' EP

'IV' EP

'Medicine' Single EP

'The 1975' Album Cover

'ILIWYS' Album Cover

My CD case is going to be similar to the most recent album cover (the bottom one) in the sense that its going to be all white but I want it to feature a male defying stereotypes. Possibly sticking with the pink theme. But most importantly, I will feature the famous rectangle in the centre of the shot.

Official Hoodie

Official T-Shirt

Official Vests

A reoccurring theme of their merchandise as well as album covers are the rectangles again but also the font of their band name. This could be used within my CD cover as well.