Captain Squeegee is all about fully unique, massive productions. The band boasts a claymation, a cartoon and a circus-themed music video. They want to film a virtual reality 360 music video. They want to make Squeegee goggles. In their latest music video, vocalist Danny Torgersen is literally fighting evil.
Released Sept. 21, “Dually Noted” is a production that proves Captain Squeegee’s ability to take music to a cinematic level. While the concept — a parody of talent shows — is simple, the direction of Electric Legend Pictures’ founder Freddie Paull allows the video to quickly take a dark twist as Torgersen’s audition leads him to a netherworld battle against Baphomet, an evil figure with the head of a goat.
“I actually auditioned for American Idol years ago,” Torgersen said. “It was a horrible experience … We really wanted to play on that and make fun of the entire concept … That’s why I find the devil and battle him with my band.”
The creation of the video took nearly seven months of effort. After a day of prep and three days of filming at the Mesa Community College Performing Arts Center and long months of negotiation, the band was finally able to film otherworldly underground sequences in a Tucson mineshaft.
While it was a somewhat difficult process — Torgersen describes how everyone on the cast and crew hit their hard hats on razor-edged rocks and metal pieces at least once — the character of the location largely affected the brilliant outcome of “Dually Noted.”
“Just going down in the 18th century mineshaft is unreal, even without filming the video,” Torgersen said. “It is dark and dusty. Luckily, they had electricity down there, but not a lot. We all had to wear hard hats, so that was very surreal. That was unlike the first part of the video, so it really felt epic. It felt as epic as it looked.”
The result of this effort is astonishing. Four hours of work by artist Brandon McGill transformed an actor into a terrifying Baphomet. It tells a never-ending story with creative angles and thoroughness. The stacked cast not only features local musicians and other friends of Captain Squeegee, but includes 90s one-hit wonder Candyman, as well.
“It’s unlike anything that Arizona has seen, at least,” Torgersen said. “I’d say just in the scope of music videos, it’s not every day that we go so above and deep in the earth to create these modern myths, these cinema experiences.”
While the style of the “Dually Noted” music video isn’t necessarily what Captain Squeegee will be aiming for in the future — the band values uniqueness as highly as creativity — the eclectic atmosphere is something that will not disappear so easily.
“I like to think that the things we make have a lot of trip-out value, a lot of mind-blowing value and a lot of replay value,” Torgersen said. “If you’re into Squeegee, you’re really into Squeegee, so I think there’s something about the energy of the stuff we’re making that’s getting people freaked out, making people question reality and think about their lives for an extra five minutes a day.”
Captain Squeegee will be wrapping up their next album in November with a goal of making a music video for every song.
Contact the columnist at emily.liu@asu.edu
