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Such Beautiful Flowers release new single and video, "I Wanna Be Your Dog" (The Stooges cover)
Such Beautiful Flowers new single and video covering The stooges
Such Beautiful Flowers releases new single, "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Along with the single, the Belgium based project unveils a beautiful video, using footage from the 1980, "Cruising" movie, written and directed by William Friedkin.
Such Beautiful Flowers are the Belgium one-man project of Donny Woestenborghs. Formed recently, Such Beautiful Flowers have already released an EP, "NEON GLOOM", out in October 2019, via WOOL-E Discs. An exceptional debut EP, creating dark tunes and cold ambience. Deep and emotional vocals, along with dark electro wave synths and post-punk influences.
On March 15th, the cold/dark wave project returns with a beautiful cover of a classic song from Iggy Pop and The Stooges, "I Wanna Be Your Dog". Giving a darkest sense in The Stooges's classic, using also electro parts and elements, Donny stays focused on what this song represents and expresses. After all, Donny has been "a part of the DIY punk scene for 25 years now and when tracing back the roots of that scene I always end up at the Stooges debut record". The single comes with a beautiful video using scenes from a movie that was received negatively at its time, from critics and even the community, but has been reassessed in the future.
Watch and listen the new video, single from Such Beautiful Flowers. Read below what Donny comments on "I Wanna Be Your Dog" cover and the concept behind the video.
The Song
The idea of Such Beautiful Flowers grew from a longing of independence, unrestricted by other voices than my own, something I could do on my own terms in my own way. I released the NEON GLOOM ep on WOOL-E Discs after recording it at MuchLuv Studio and letting Audiosiege take care of the mastering. For my next step I wanted to see if I could cut myself off even further from outside influence, taking full control of the process from start to finish, recording, mixing and mastering it at my home studio and just release it online through the various streaming options provided today.
In a recent review about my precious work a journalist remarked that contrast was the driving factor throughout my creative process. I never really thought of it like that myself, but I could definitely understand his perspective and it influenced my choice to do a cover. Take full ownership in creating something that clearly isn’t mine.
I remembered an interview with Iggy Pop where he declared his distaste for electronic music so this definitely triggered a drive to work one of his songs. At the same time I’ve been a part of the DIY punk scene for 25 years now and when tracing back the roots of that scene I always end up at the Stooges debut record. Independence and contrast once again encompassed in the same idea.
The Video
I wanted to continue this thought process in working on the video clip and create something new based on something already in existence. Using footage from William Friedkin’s Cruising became an obvious choice for different reasons. Aesthetically it fit with the song and the theme’s explored in the movie are riddled with independence and contrast. Based on true events the story dives into the hidden world of bdsm and gay culture of the 80’s.
When the movie came out it was applauded for its boldness but also critiqued for misrepresenting the gay community, although almost all the people you see in the movie were part of that same scene and were happy to contribute. Such contrasts always bring forward interesting discussions on the freedom of art and the responsibilities of the artist. Should the artist mind his audience and should the audience mind it's artist? Friedkin always expressed that he didn’t feel like he was portraying gay culture at the time, but more so the bdsm world where these murders took place.
So how does context influence opinion here? Definitely in times of woke, outcry and cancel culture these topics matter. We’ve seen public opinion do a lot of good work bringing many horrible hidden truths to the surface, but we’ve also seen the flip side of the coin, where which hunts are held to vilify anyone not fitting a rigorous set of rules. We crucify some and forgive or neglect others, how long must people be punished and can or should they ever be forgiven?
Contrast and independence everywhere.
Info:
https://www.facebook.com/suchbeautifulflowers/
