The Making of Nocona’s “Brimstone” Video

Nocona’s high-energy  is infectious and they are one of the few Americana acts in LA that can keep an audience wide awake, captivated and on their feet at 1am.  Made up of  members of Paladino (Chris Isom, Adrienne Isom, Annie Rothschild) and Old Californio (Justin Smith), Nocona stand out from the rest with a perfect mix of punk rock attitude, solid technical skills, fine tuned dynamics and seasoned songwriting chops. They marry together the rootsier side of the Stones along with touches of The Velvet Underground, California twang and The White Stripes, giving them a diverse, original sound that secures their place as one of LA’s most exciting artists to watch in 2013.

“Brimstone” is the first video by Nocona and is the first single from their forthcoming debut self-titled album on Henrietta Records. The album will be out this summer(The Grand Ole Echo in Echo Park on June 30 will be their album release show). The video was directed, edited, and photographed by Jonathan Nowak (http://jonathannowak.tv/work/) and the director of photography was Daron Keet. The video was shot in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena, CA.

Q&A with Chris and Adrienne Isom on the making of Nocona’s “Brimstone Video”

Song Meaning:

Adrienne: The truth of a perfectly healthy 20 year relationship.

Chris: I woke up one morning and started playing “Nothing in This World Can Stop Me Worryin’ ‘Bout That Girl” by the Kinks, and then just came up with the song

Video inspiration:

A: Our neighbor/the director Jonathan Nowak who knows us and our music pretty well was inspired these were the first words attached to the treatment he sent me:

JN: “Here’s something obvious: this is a storytelling song. Why the hell does that matter? Glad you asked. Cause it seems to me that this video should be more like a short film than just a performance. These lyrics are dripping with epic images of love, fighting, sex… I mean shit –love is war. Brimstone is a love story wrought with chaos, disaster, and longing – like any good relationship. This song is a story about two lovers who stoke their passion with fury – it’s a take no prisoners kind of emotional grudge match between them. It’s this harmonious battle between desire and violence that drives the core of this song – at least that’s my interpretation.”

Filming location:

A: Alta Dena, San Gabriel Mountains

C: Jonathan Nowak came up with the whole vision for the video. Originally it was meant to be shot in a mansion but we couldn’t find one so we shot it at our bass player’s house and in the San Gabriel mountains. He was worried about retaining the integrity of his original vision but I think the video turned out better as a result of our limitations.

Filming Experience:

A: We spent the day in the most beautiful locations. this made it easy and made us feel comfortable and made it fun. shooting a video or not we would have spent the day in those locations doing all of those things — Hiking on the river, hanging out on the lookout, building a fire. its all very California…something we wanted to capture. Chris and I bickered as usual while protecting each other from falling off cliffs or in the river. It’s always a strange thing to “act out” make a video, but we were so comfortable in the locations and with the story we had a really good time.

C: Fortunately, the whole shoot was an easy experience. Adrienne, Jonathan and Annie had scouted all the locations before hand and we just went out and played the song a bunch of times at the different locations and walked around the woods. We ended up in Annie’s backyard at the end and just sort of finished off the day with the bonfire scene, it was a blast.

For more information on Nocona, visit: www.noconamusic.com

Upcoming Nocona Shows:

04/13/2013, Los Angeles, CA, Villains Tavern, US
04/20/2013, Goleta, CA, Mercury Lounge, US
05/09/2013, Los Angeles, CA, Harvard & Stone, US
06/30/2013, Los Angeles, CA, The Grand Ole Echo, US(record release party)