Swansea’s surreal mischief makers Rainyday Rainbow have combined forces with creative visionary and video veteran Jamie Panton, to bring you an appropriately surreal and mischievous video for ‘Masters of the Cosmos’.
The seven minute-long unsettling psychedelic Beefheartean avant-garde epic adventure is illustrated by Panton using a montage of wild, full-on technicolour visuals.
Rainyday Rainbow met Jamie when filming promotional material for their gig at Swansea Arena earlier this year. ‘Intrigued and entertained as to why Egg was wearing a Baby mask, Jamie seemed very keen to work with us from the offset,’ the band’s guitarist Blind Captain Williams said.‘We were already aware of his work with Windshake, but he seemed like a like-minded individual when we spoke to him. We were chatting about all sorts of cosmic horror, old Italian horror such as Suspiria, a 1977 Japanese film called House, and even a film called Fried Barry. I recommend watching House; Egg probably recommends watching Fried Barry.’
Jamie took the challenge of making a video for the seven-minute song; it gave him room and freedoms to experiment. The video is a kaleidoscope of mixed media. Animation, live action, concert footage, horror aesthetics; a universe of imagery from roosters to giant donuts and UFOs. And the scary Rainyday Rainbow Baby has – it seems – escaped from the basement, and is now to be found coyly swooning onstage at the Bunkhouse in Swansea.
‘Specifically to this video, it wasn’t so much film I was thinking of, but Adult Swim style content, especially their mixed media style stuff. They did a show called Off the Air which is as avant-garde as TV can get. It’s bonkers. I wanted to do something a bit like that, but with a kinda bit of a narrative you can follow through. Sort of,’ he said.
‘Masters of the Cosmos’ holds sentimental significance for singer and songwriter Egg Spectrum. Lyrically, it reflects on a period of change and realisation in Egg’s life.
‘It’s about where the ambitions of taking over the world as a fresh faced and eager musician now meet the harsher realities of life, and yet the perseverance and tenacity required to be creative in an economically centric society continues. As daily tasks grind on, having goals and inner drive bring purpose and colour to an otherwise grey existence.’
‘One of the things I wanted to add to this music video was who are the Masters of the Cosmos, really? To me DNA is the Master, once it fully realises itself through the evolution of biology and consciousness. Somewhat early on in the video we get cameos from Aleister Crowley, Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson. Why these dudes? I’ll direct you to the Eight Circuit Model of Human Consciousness and leave you to work out the rest,’ said Jamie.
Rainyday Rainbow are: Egg Spectrum, Roland Stone whose frenetic, energetic, and manic drums drive the heart and linework of the song, Blind Captain Williams on guitar and bassist Biscuit Based who brings a veneer and polish to the recording process, mixing and mastering the creation himself, with tracking efforts also covered by Roland Stone.
In short, Masters Of The Cosmos embodies and encapsulates this stage of Rainyday Rainbow, and the accompanying video seeks to embellish this sentiment within a flurry of visual chaos.
