February 9, 2025 • 9 mins
In 1984, industrial music legends Cabaret Voltaire released Sensoria on the Some Bizarre record label, the first single from their sixth album, Micro-Phonies. The song mixed driving beats and multicultural rhythms over a winding soundtrack and a hypnotic vocal.
The Cabs, as they were known, never sought fame in the traditional sense; instead, they just thought it was important for you to listen. For them how things were presented was just as important - believing it was about your takeaway from the experience, as a whole, that mattered most.
Peter Care, a pioneering filmmaker from southwest England, had been making films for the band since the 70s, yet the music video he made for Sensoria was one of the most requested videos on the MTV video charts for seven months and was subsequently procured by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It was also voted the Best Video of the Year in 1985 by the LA Times and is considered the greatest “underground” music video of all time.
In this special episode of Destroy!" called Scene x Scene, we talk to film director, Peter Care, the "up and over" camera rig designer, Tony Hill, and Cabaret Voltaire cofounder Stephen Mallinder, about how the video was made.
-
#sexpistols #anarchy #1976 #destroy #destroypunkpodcast #punk #cabaretvoltaire
-
Follow us on Instagram @destroypunkpodcast for the latest updates.
Or visit us online: https://destroypunkpodcast.com for transcripts, show notes, and more.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
In 1984, industrial music legends Cabaret Voltaire really
sensor rear on the Sun Bizarre record label.
It was their first single from their sixth album, Microphonies.
The song mixed driving beats andmulticultural rhythms over a
winding soundtrack and a hypnotic vocal.
The cabs, as they were known, never looked for fame in the
traditional sense. Instead, they just thought it
(00:28):
was important for you to listen for them.
How things were presented was just as important, believing it
was about your take away from the experience as a whole that
mattered most. Peter Kerr, a pioneering film
maker from southwest England, had been making films for the
band since the 70s. Yep, the music video he made for
Sensorio went on to be recognized as one of the most
(00:49):
important music videos of all time.
In a special episode of Destroy called Scene by Scene, we talk
to film director Peter Kerr, theup and over camera rig designer
Tony Hill and Cabaret Voltaire Co founder Stephen Mallander
about how the video was made. Thanks everybody for joining
(01:16):
today. It's amazing to have you all
here. Let's begin with where the
storyline or the idea came from.Maybe Mao, you want to start?
For us, we were coming from a world of cuts up, so it was very
brilliant. Boroughs.
What we were doing with film wastrying to mirror what we were
doing with sound, which was the idea of looping and processing
(01:37):
and repeating. Right, Peter, what do you think?
The thought process was, what did I think Sensorio meant?
And I just thought it feels likeit's kind of, you know, you're a
bit disorientated or discombobulated, but it's a fun
place to be in. The words were about extremes
and about sort of hedonism, but also about dealing with the
(02:01):
times that we were in. So it was about that
juxtaposition of Northern lives and tough urban lives along with
this idea of pushing our senses and idea of indulgences.
But also I wanted to experiment with editing, where the editing
would be almost part of the percussion of this music.
(02:22):
And I wanted a mixture of weirdness coming from a guy's
body language, but also there's a bit of humour in there and I
wanted to to put those two things together.
What about the famous up and over crane or camera rig A.
Few weeks before Mum and Richardgave me the track, I'd seen
Tony's exhibit at the Salter Lane campus in Sheffield and the
(02:47):
thing that struck me was his up and over machine.
Tony, why don't you just explaina little bit how this camera
rig, this crane came about? Yeah, I made a film called
Downside Up. It's a sort of a movie in a way.
And I made a falling over slowlymachine and I was filming
(03:08):
somebody on this and turning thecamera sideways.
So that led me to make a very crude version of of the crane.
And then I filmed a few shots with that and going right the
way over that 180° move and it appeared to go through the
ground and I thought this is interesting, I should do
(03:31):
something with it. So I then made downside up.
And I thought it was just marvellous.
But to put it into an industrialsetting with hard rhythmic music
would be really interesting. That whole idea of flipping from
one world to another and disorientation, that effect
worked very well in terms of eyeing parts of it together.
(03:54):
The other thing that I thought was really amazing was the rig
itself. It's very low tech and people
here in LA are still trying to figure out how to make that
move. I still keep getting asked by
people how it was done. Something that makes this video
really unique for me is the camera work.
Music, of course, repetition seems to be absolutely vital.
(04:16):
And so there's bits in this animation where we repeated
shots just to fill that particular phrase in the music,
right? And there was always a thing
rattling around my head. How much do you emphasize the
dance element to the music? And so I thought it was really
important to show that you can actually dance to a Cubri
Voltaire record. Then it went on.
So now we should show the band dancing too.
(04:39):
Shown Ball and Richard dancing. There's a.
Gilbert and George vibe to it where we become these marionette
puppets. Slightly awkward, slightly self
deprecating as well. What I love is that
cinematically it touches on a lot of references.
You know, in some respects, so I'm quite happy people taking
taking what they want from it. Some of the things that were
(05:00):
there were obviously very much part of us.
It's very Sheffield, it's metallic thing, it's got the
famous Tinsley cooling towers. It's an urban thing, but it's
also got the mad African party vibe, people dancing to Wise
Blood and the preacher and Knight of the Hunter and all
those things. So it was a dark gothic
(05:21):
symbolism that was also thrown into that mix.
So it was very pretty much of the time us to use those things
to have OT who is the the mad priest in it like a strange
Americanism overlaid into this research thing.
It's beautifully multicultural. But if we didn't go out to go
let's make a really ground breaking weird video.
Let's do something we really want and we don't really care
(05:42):
how people. Take it.
So what about the production? There's there seemed to be a lot
of different locations. Was this all planned out?
We had a guerrilla approach to filming and.
That sometimes it was just me and like, camera, it was the
process of just seeing how much variety was needed.
It was just a matter of like, well, OK, so you've got the old
(06:05):
power plant, you've got the cooling towers, the preacher
healing, the guy that was just throwing the corner from my
house. I drove by this other place
that's just like a bland industrial warehouse thing.
So let's shoot something outsideof that.
Everything was like the reactionto what you just did the day
before. And there was a fantastic shot
that we didn't put in of the guyplaying the preacher.
(06:27):
He he walked up and down the street where I lived just
shouting random stuff within thelittle girl with a sign.
About 10 kids came out and started a skip and follow him
around. This is.
The bit bit for me that's so important is it's just
absolutely chock a block and rippled with the cultural
references. So I remember a lot of the
interiors were shot at the RoyalInfirmary Hospital which is in
(06:50):
Sheffield, which in decommissioned and being knocked
down. More significantly, it had just
been used for the BBC drama series Threads, where a nuclear
bomb landed on Sheffield. I can't remember where
individual bits of this reshot footage came from, but we were
always constantly filming from TV.
(07:12):
Richard and myself particularly were were always saw ourselves
as children, you know, of the television generation.
So right, there's always that idea of viewing from the
outside. Right.
I love that. It's very Marshall Mcluhan I.
Mean, I would imagine a record company person or someone who's
choosing videos for Top of Pops would look at this thing and go,
that's not even a music video, but me.
(07:34):
It was great to start introducing these different
elements into the music video industry.
So let's talk about MTV and the reaction to the video in
America. The main television show is in
England. At the time, they just weren't
interested in this music video or Cavrie Voltaire as musicians.
Meanwhile, in America for MTV, it was in their top 20 requests
(07:59):
for seven months. America Kids and MTV were really
embracing it. It was just marvelous.
We never thought about it in terms of British TV, we just
thought about something that we wanted to make films.
We never really knew what the response was going to be like.
But for us, we loved the form, the idea of putting music and
(08:20):
film together. Those were our two great love.
So we just love the form and we wanted to do something that
wasn't traditional and we just thought if you just do something
that you want to do and stick with it, eventually people
recognise it. I'm amazed that it's had this
life, have a new life. Is that Rocky and the one for
the fashion house? The rag and bone sake wrote it
(08:42):
back into people's conscious. I guess the testament to it is
that people make pilgrimages nowto that church to see where
Santeria was filmed because it'sstill there.
So people actually go to that church to go, Oh my God.
Oh. My gosh, that's brilliant.
I love that. What a great way to end gents.
Thank you. You can listen to the latest
(09:05):
podcast episode of Destroy the Influence of Punk with video
director Peter Kerr. Wherever you listen and
download. And don't forget to follow us on
YouTube and Instagram at DestroyPunk Podcast.
In 1984, industrial music legends Cabaret Voltaire really
sensor rear on the Sun Bizarre record label.
It was their first single from their sixth album, Microphonies.
The song mixed driving beats andmulticultural rhythms over a
winding soundtrack and a hypnotic vocal.
The cabs, as they were known, never looked for fame in the
traditional sense. Instead, they just thought it
(00:28):
was important for you to listen for them.
How things were presented was just as important, believing it
was about your take away from the experience as a whole that
mattered most. Peter Kerr, a pioneering film
maker from southwest England, had been making films for the
band since the 70s. Yep, the music video he made for
Sensorio went on to be recognized as one of the most
(00:49):
important music videos of all time.
In a special episode of Destroy called Scene by Scene, we talk
to film director Peter Kerr, theup and over camera rig designer
Tony Hill and Cabaret Voltaire Co founder Stephen Mallander
about how the video was made. Thanks everybody for joining
(01:16):
today. It's amazing to have you all
here. Let's begin with where the
storyline or the idea came from.Maybe Mao, you want to start?
For us, we were coming from a world of cuts up, so it was very
brilliant. Boroughs.
What we were doing with film wastrying to mirror what we were
doing with sound, which was the idea of looping and processing
(01:37):
and repeating. Right, Peter, what do you think?
The thought process was, what did I think Sensorio meant?
And I just thought it feels likeit's kind of, you know, you're a
bit disorientated or discombobulated, but it's a fun
place to be in. The words were about extremes
and about sort of hedonism, but also about dealing with the
(02:01):
times that we were in. So it was about that
juxtaposition of Northern lives and tough urban lives along with
this idea of pushing our senses and idea of indulgences.
But also I wanted to experiment with editing, where the editing
would be almost part of the percussion of this music.
(02:22):
And I wanted a mixture of weirdness coming from a guy's
body language, but also there's a bit of humour in there and I
wanted to to put those two things together.
What about the famous up and over crane or camera rig A.
Few weeks before Mum and Richardgave me the track, I'd seen
Tony's exhibit at the Salter Lane campus in Sheffield and the
(02:47):
thing that struck me was his up and over machine.
Tony, why don't you just explaina little bit how this camera
rig, this crane came about? Yeah, I made a film called
Downside Up. It's a sort of a movie in a way.
And I made a falling over slowlymachine and I was filming
(03:08):
somebody on this and turning thecamera sideways.
So that led me to make a very crude version of of the crane.
And then I filmed a few shots with that and going right the
way over that 180° move and it appeared to go through the
ground and I thought this is interesting, I should do
(03:31):
something with it. So I then made downside up.
And I thought it was just marvellous.
But to put it into an industrialsetting with hard rhythmic music
would be really interesting. That whole idea of flipping from
one world to another and disorientation, that effect
worked very well in terms of eyeing parts of it together.
(03:54):
The other thing that I thought was really amazing was the rig
itself. It's very low tech and people
here in LA are still trying to figure out how to make that
move. I still keep getting asked by
people how it was done. Something that makes this video
really unique for me is the camera work.
Music, of course, repetition seems to be absolutely vital.
(04:16):
And so there's bits in this animation where we repeated
shots just to fill that particular phrase in the music,
right? And there was always a thing
rattling around my head. How much do you emphasize the
dance element to the music? And so I thought it was really
important to show that you can actually dance to a Cubri
Voltaire record. Then it went on.
So now we should show the band dancing too.
(04:39):
Shown Ball and Richard dancing. There's a.
Gilbert and George vibe to it where we become these marionette
puppets. Slightly awkward, slightly self
deprecating as well. What I love is that
cinematically it touches on a lot of references.
You know, in some respects, so I'm quite happy people taking
taking what they want from it. Some of the things that were
(05:00):
there were obviously very much part of us.
It's very Sheffield, it's metallic thing, it's got the
famous Tinsley cooling towers. It's an urban thing, but it's
also got the mad African party vibe, people dancing to Wise
Blood and the preacher and Knight of the Hunter and all
those things. So it was a dark gothic
(05:21):
symbolism that was also thrown into that mix.
So it was very pretty much of the time us to use those things
to have OT who is the the mad priest in it like a strange
Americanism overlaid into this research thing.
It's beautifully multicultural. But if we didn't go out to go
let's make a really ground breaking weird video.
Let's do something we really want and we don't really care
(05:42):
how people. Take it.
So what about the production? There's there seemed to be a lot
of different locations. Was this all planned out?
We had a guerrilla approach to filming and.
That sometimes it was just me and like, camera, it was the
process of just seeing how much variety was needed.
It was just a matter of like, well, OK, so you've got the old
(06:05):
power plant, you've got the cooling towers, the preacher
healing, the guy that was just throwing the corner from my
house. I drove by this other place
that's just like a bland industrial warehouse thing.
So let's shoot something outsideof that.
Everything was like the reactionto what you just did the day
before. And there was a fantastic shot
that we didn't put in of the guyplaying the preacher.
(06:27):
He he walked up and down the street where I lived just
shouting random stuff within thelittle girl with a sign.
About 10 kids came out and started a skip and follow him
around. This is.
The bit bit for me that's so important is it's just
absolutely chock a block and rippled with the cultural
references. So I remember a lot of the
interiors were shot at the RoyalInfirmary Hospital which is in
(06:50):
Sheffield, which in decommissioned and being knocked
down. More significantly, it had just
been used for the BBC drama series Threads, where a nuclear
bomb landed on Sheffield. I can't remember where
individual bits of this reshot footage came from, but we were
always constantly filming from TV.
(07:12):
Richard and myself particularly were were always saw ourselves
as children, you know, of the television generation.
So right, there's always that idea of viewing from the
outside. Right.
I love that. It's very Marshall Mcluhan I.
Mean, I would imagine a record company person or someone who's
choosing videos for Top of Pops would look at this thing and go,
that's not even a music video, but me.
(07:34):
It was great to start introducing these different
elements into the music video industry.
So let's talk about MTV and the reaction to the video in
America. The main television show is in
England. At the time, they just weren't
interested in this music video or Cavrie Voltaire as musicians.
Meanwhile, in America for MTV, it was in their top 20 requests
(07:59):
for seven months. America Kids and MTV were really
embracing it. It was just marvelous.
We never thought about it in terms of British TV, we just
thought about something that we wanted to make films.
We never really knew what the response was going to be like.
But for us, we loved the form, the idea of putting music and
(08:20):
film together. Those were our two great love.
So we just love the form and we wanted to do something that
wasn't traditional and we just thought if you just do something
that you want to do and stick with it, eventually people
recognise it. I'm amazed that it's had this
life, have a new life. Is that Rocky and the one for
the fashion house? The rag and bone sake wrote it
(08:42):
back into people's conscious. I guess the testament to it is
that people make pilgrimages nowto that church to see where
Santeria was filmed because it'sstill there.
So people actually go to that church to go, Oh my God.
Oh. My gosh, that's brilliant.
I love that. What a great way to end gents.
Thank you. You can listen to the latest
(09:05):
podcast episode of Destroy the Influence of Punk with video
director Peter Kerr. Wherever you listen and
download. And don't forget to follow us on
YouTube and Instagram at DestroyPunk Podcast.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.