Illegal backstreet driving, hilarious fish-fetish escapades, sleazeball P.I’s for hire – is this some Roger Corman film plot from 1973? Not at all. It’s the hilarious behind-the-scences account of the “Right In Your I” music video shoot, direct from band leader Gregory Jiritano himself.
See what’s involved in the music video that Tattoo Magazine calls:
“A Work Of Art.”
Okay, okay, cats out of the bag… rabbits out of the hat… or whatever. I play the Bunny. I didn’t want to get credit for it so we made up a fake name. I felt it would seem more “professional” if it appeared that we used hired actors, and in fact, everyone else was a hired actor, and all the names listed in the video credits are their real names.
Since it was difficult to get a few of the guys back more than a few times we used one of the guys, Rick Spero, to play the Rooster and the Giraffe when needed. His main role was the Fish who got hung in the Motel.
He also plays the headless “Rooster” in the final Supper Scene. Yes there’s a real guy in there. He sat still and didn’t say a word for over an hour. He’s some kind of Zen master…it did seem odd after a while… he just would not say a word. Those masks are very uncomfortable, sweaty, and difficult to see out of, so we assumed he’d lost his mind and the power to speak.
“A fresh take on modern day garage rock. Not an ounce of compromise.”
– Joe Hughes, Alternative Nation
The Turtle was also played by two people in case you didn’t notice the size difference between the drummer and the Bully who knocks me off the bike and then gets strangled by my Stratocaster E String. Nick the Turtle Drummer is a real drummer, and Tony is not, so we had Nick play the drums… we wanted to give Nick a new different animal mask because of their size difference, but Nick wouldn’t hear of it as Turtles are his Spirit animal and he raises them as well, and so we couldn’t deny him his dream to perform as his good friends the Turtles.
“A blast of smooth distortion.”
– Joshua Macala, Raised By Gypsies
None of the musicians who performed as musicians in the video are actual members of the band, that’s why I had Ben add the names of the real band members on the recording listed in the credits. I just couldn’t get everyone from the band together at once to film the scene and I wouldn’t have wanted to put masks on my band either, that would have felt odd.
All the musicians in the video are also musicians, but much more conveniently herded. It was all a bit out of sync because the Turtle drummer played so loud nobody could hear the play back recording. But we just jumped and flailed and faked our way through the chords listening to the drums. He had to stop often as well because even he couldn’t hear the playback he was playing so loudly.
“Jiritano’s gruff but always fitting vocals are comparable to The Clash’s Joe Strummer.”
– Jamie Parmenter, Vinyl Chapters
We shot the entire video in only 3 locations. All the interior scenes were shot in Ben’s Production Studio in Jersey City, and thats also where the ‘band performance’ scenes were shot as well. We made it look like a garage.
The exterior scenes were all shot in North Bergen New Jersey, only a few miles away from Bens Film Studio. The streets were easy to find, because there are a lot of bleak, industrial dead end streets, just around the corner from some suburban looking houses that made it all the more convenient. It’s also very desolate so we could guerrilla shoot the entire exteriors (film without a permit), as nobody would really know what the hell we were doing and not make a fuss of it as an upper class neighbourhood might.
“A fun opening track that’s indicative of an album with exhilarating potential
– Mike Mineo, Obscure Sound
I was only a little nervous driving around with a camera mount on my truck facing inside the windshield with my sorry ass in a bunny mask. I thought a cop wouldn’t think any of it was very funny. Nor was it funny that you can’t see shit with those masks on, so driving was a bit treacherous. And as is always the case when filming, only 4 seconds of a 40 minute scene was used any way.
“Has a cool, swaggering and gritty streetwise vibe.”
– Bill Kopp, Musoscribe Music Magazine
Really the funniest days of shooting were the days filming at the Skyway Motel. That place is so old school sleazy. It is so skanky you don’t want to put anything down in the room. Ben swore he caught Legionnaire’s Disease in there, as he was sick for 3 days after the shoot. Its a place where so many illicit activities take place that no one asks any questions of anyone. You pay by the 3 hours. It advertises $50 for 3 hours but that’s for the really nasty rooms. I had to pay $55. The really funny thing is that it’s directly next door to Ben’s Film and Production Studio…conveniently, and the guys who run it know Ben by face as he walks by all the time to grab some food at the convenience store/gas station just next door past them. There are cameras monitoring every square millimeter of that place with guys in the office staring at cameras all day. So I walk in there and request a very particular room that we could shoot not only inside but across the parking lot from the roof of Ben’s property to get a wide shot of the Fish entering the room that had a clear view of one side of the entire motel. I luckily get that room. I get into the room and now we’ve got to get Ben in there and the Fish knowing they’re monitoring everyone going in and out of the room.
It’s now pretty funny because I’m a solo guy in the room and now Ben’s sneaking in with a suitcase, and the Fish is also sneaking in there. I’m not sure what they thought 3 guys were doing in that room but they knew Ben, and now perhaps they think they know him better. Of course the Fish was wearing a mask walking in and out of the room. That’s some strange, particular fetish shit going on. We also needed to film the wide shot, the exterior of the Fish walking along the exterior walkway to the door So we set the camera up on the roof across the parking lot.
“A victorious artistic statement directed by BD Pironti.”
– Dope Cause We Said Magazine
So there we were Ben and I on the roof pointing a very large camera on its tripod filming the goings on of very dubious activities that most people want to do very discreetly. There would be a guy leaving a room and getting into his car and taking off and then a few minutes later a lady would leave the same room. I kept imagining if one of those guys spotted us with a film camera pointing down on their asses what they would be thinking and subsequently do to us…imagining perhaps that his wife had hired private investigators to capture him in the act of some unchristian like activity. I dropped off the keys and paid the bill with a very straight face. No questions asked no words spoken.
That was some funny times.
Hear it first!
Purchase ‘Right In Your I” on Bandcamp to immediately receive all 10 tracks.
[…] PS: Enjoy a Behind the Scenes look at the music video by clicking HERE. […]