Hoop
In the spirit of today’s Friday the thirteenth date we deliver an art pop suspense film sent from some of the PNW’s most innovative minds & talents. Originally featured on Seattle band Hoop’s revered Super Genuine album—Caitlin Roberts presents the world premiere of the double-feature “Not by Care // Void Touch”—directed by So Pitted’s Ziam Downey, filmed by Ben Schauland and Tyler Fiala. The northwestern prolific titans together create something that seeks that elusive allure & hold that the greater Washington State scene has on the rest of the world by honing in on the spaces & states of the strange, wondrous & all around surreal.
Caitlin shared a little about the mind & world expanding video:
It’s set in rural and suburban Washington to reflect the lyrical content of the songs, which deal with the feeling of isolation and emotional gaps that can’t be filled simply by living in a beautiful place.
We took bird’s-eye footage of an abandoned house and an abandoned nuclear power plant and the woods, using a drone. I’m in there too.
It’s directed and edited by Ziam Downey of So Pitted and shot by Ben Schauland and Tyler Fiala (the drone people).
Hoop’s dual video showcase begins with the Washington suburb spinning views that make up the perceptive lens for “Not By Care”. The camera flies all around the neighborhood & circles around Caitlin amid the lush, green & bucolic setting. From here the camera & Roberts take us deep into the trails populated by Douglas Firs & sycamore trees that are host to a world of lost artifacts & abandoned abodes. The song’s own psychic tense whisper style adds to the states of suspense that veer off the conventional trails & into derelict cottages before encircling the unfinished yet extensive Satsop Nuclear Power Plant.
The haunted qualities of the Hoop audio aesthetic moves from environments that span from the familiar courses of home to the forgotten areas that house discarded refuges & points of potential power generators that push the limits of imagination. Ziam Downey & crew move the camera vantage points from the up-close views of perception to vast zoomed-out macro views of a significantly larger picture. The intuitive aspects of doting upon items of absentia heard on “Void Touch” is met with camera motions that cover the deep verde hues of the local infinite landscapes of forestry along with even larger long view glances of the surrounding lay of the land. The audience witnesses the vast expanses of the power-plant itself & the even greater extents of landscapes that house the hollow cooling towers. The introspective & atmospheric Hoop aesthetic embraces their environments while pondering visually how a nuclear power would alter their holistic & mystic corner of natural splendor & endless wonders.
We had a chance to catch up with Hoop’s Caitlin Roberts & So Pitted’s Ziam Downey in the following interview session.
First off, tell us about making of the evocative visuals for “Not By Care + Void Touch” that showcases fascinating sides of the Washington landscape.
Cait: My intention for the video was to evoke hollowness and abandonment, so we drove around Washington seeking out abandoned human-made structures. One day we drove around the entire perimeter of a lake looking for scraggly houses and didn’t really find anything except a mossy trail. The unfinished nuclear power plant was a high-risk place to fly a drone. The site, which is near Aberdeen, is now used as a military training base—the army was running drills right next to the towers. We were concerned that the drone would be shot down. But it wasn’t. They didn’t notice our drone flying directly above the cooling tower. I was full of adrenaline. Maybe I shouldn’t say this publicly?
Close to the power plant, we found the perfect decrepit house to trespass. There were some kids riding ATVs who wanted to know what we were doing and a dog who barked at the drone a lot but other than that nobody bothered us. “Not by Care” is about feeling emotionally wrecked and grasping, while living in a beautiful place—it’s about learning that pretty surroundings can’t substitute for substantial relationships. The wrecked house is a projection of my inner state at the time the song was written. The new-growth forest, which for me calls up the words scrambling, surviving, confusing, developing, mirrors my personal chaos.
What is it about the mystical draw of the PNW for so many where there is both this ambiance of ever-lasting melancholy & the chance for magic?
Cait: It’s possible for people to come to the northwest and feel nothing. Others have a really hard time leaving because it feels good, whether or not they feel trapped. The grey season makes me feel comfortable, like I don’t have to squint to see my friends’ faces…I think the lack of an overbearing sun gives me one less thing to be distracted by and I can focus better on my work and notice the details and depth of my surroundings.
Ziam: It’s strange, the power plant we filmed was never actually active, and rightfully so, as it was in the middle of a forest and a meltdown would have destroyed it all. The forest was a stupid location for a power plant, just like the location of the entire city of Seattle, or at least the Boeing facility, which is responsible for killing whales in the Puget Sound by contaminating the Duwamish River with toxic PCBs. It’s great that the nuclear facility was never activated and now serves as a sort of commercial playground. I wish the same would be done to Boeing. I think the indigenous people in Washington State are terribly ignored when it comes to matters of environmental issues. I feel that the rest of the population is actually blind to the ancient mystical area we live in and easily forget how precious it is. I think the power plant hints at the hope that does exist for a more environmentally conscious future and the avoidance of a possible future catastrophe by not completing it. The point is the indigenous people around here know what’s best for us and they should be listened to because they are more aware of the environment and are more in tune with it than everyone else. I think the clash between nature and colonization in Washington is very sad but at times very prolific and magically epic.
How do you all feel personally & creatively inspired by the state of Washington yourselves?
Cait: I really like blues and greys and greens with the interplay of dark and light, and this area is made of that. The palette makes me feel energized and calm. My writing has been more peace-infused since I moved here ten years ago, but it’s still full of quiet frustration and anger. I like to channel anger into songs but say it really gently. And the birds of prey and orcas, bats, wolves, bears, and cougars are really cool—I like predators. This is a great place for animal lovers. I’m generally inspired by biology and this area is full of bizarre animal and plant life.
Ziam: The best part about Washington State is that it is an experimental biodome for extraterrestrials and humans working together. They have a plan for this area. The state has all these spiritual vortex points everywhere making it a super mystical place that too many people live in, and they easily forget what is around them. It is part of an ongoing inoculation. I mean it’s obvious, we are the only place in America with every type of climate. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Especially since it’s so far removed from the rest of the country. The isolation seems too perfect for ongoing experimentations. Bigfoot, Maury Island, the Oakville blobs, the Rutter alien incident, and a lot of experimental military activity around here. I think about that kind of stuff a lot and it influences a lot of my work.
What can you all tell us about what’s next for both Hoop & So Pitted respectively?
Cait: There’s going to be another Hoop record, just need to save some money for studio time and a tour van…
Ziam: So Pitted is conceptualizing demos for our next record and hopefully will be touring later in 2018 and all of 2019.
How do you all find ways to cater & nurture your own various generative musical visions?
Ziam: Lately we have garnered a really great team of people who want to be part of different creative projects, this project was a team effort and could not have been completed without Caitlin, Ben, Tyler, and my brother Sean. Each of us were simply interested in keeping our creative minds active in seeing the end result of a project. Basically we are all bored enough to just garner what resources we have and do it. It’s great, it’s so much fun to just show up to random projects and see how it turns out. Usually an individual has the vision and the rest are there to have a ball and not be lonely. I like to think of it as having more than one brain in a room being a supercomputer or the equivalent to adding more RAM to a computer to make it run better. Things are just more fun and can go faster with more people there to help. I like how different people can make sense of different subjects to different people that might not make sense on your own. Community is great!
Cait: It’s important for me to take time away from social stimuli and be with my thoughts and breathe. The last Hoop record was written while I was living in Anacortes, which is a small coastal town in Washington. As douchey as it sounds, I’m responding to these questions from a small town by the Irish Sea in South Wales where I’m living for a month with my mom and my guitar, and my creative mind has room to relax and explore itself. Being by the water brings up a lot of feeling and critical thinking for me. And the music comes a lot easier. My mom doesn’t listen to music regularly so there’s a lot of silence, and I fill in the gaps with melodies in my head. She doesn’t really take pictures either, so that reminds me to be present.
Alright, dumb question, but what’s everyone listening to right now?
Ziam: Jane Child, Janet Jackson, Rush, Visible Targets, Pataphysics, Slugbug, Macula Dog, Kittie, the Thompson Twins. Naomi Punk’s album Yellow is in my car CD player right now…I think Yellow is their best record. I will always be listening to P-Model and The Plastics until I die. Oh also Hoop’s Super Genuine is a great record. Also the newest Polysics record has this song called “Crazy My Bone“—it makes you think.
Cait: I have been craving lots of melodic hardcore and also jangle pop, [laughs]. Albums I am currently into: Bricks Are Heavy by L7, Stoosh by Skunk Anansie, Love Is Love by Code Orange, Mint 400 by Ammonia, The Fight of Our Lives by Straight Line Stitch, Reading Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays, All of Our Gods Have Abandoned Us by Architects, Sandy by Sandy Denny, Ultu Ulla by Rings of Saturn, Delaware by Drop Nineteens, The Lambs by Jucifer, Disintegration by The Cure.
Best things in terms of film, shows, online serials & so forth that you all have seen lately?
Ziam: I just watched Meet the Hollowheads for the first time, what a trip. I had fun watching Mindhunter. I was really upset with the new Power Rangers movie like devastated but I will watch the next one if they actually make it.
Cait: I just saw Erin Brockovich for the first time on an airplane and I loved it…mostly I just watch music videos and interviews, historical and political short documentaries, nature and science videos on YouTube. And if I start a Bob Ross episode, I will watch it until the end every time. I watched every episode of “Transparent”. There is this BBC series called “Poldark” that me and my mom are watching and I love it. It’s about tin miners in Cornwall in the 1700s and their relationship drama.
What do you all feel that we need more of in 2018?
Ziam: Virtual reality and holographic Pokemon battles in arcades. More funding for artists venues and spaces rather than criminalizing them.
Cait: I don’t think there’s any one thing that will be good for every individual in the world…I want to see more inclusive venues and art spaces in my city.
What do you all feel that we need less of in 2018?
Cait: Anything that distracts us from being liberated and accountable beings.
Ziam: Capitalism, CEOs, racism, sexism, all of the above that falls under cruel. What Caitlyn said.
Parting reflections & words of wisdom?
Cait: Make sure to be good to the people that care about you because they’re the most important thing in the world. Not your career, not art, not music, not money, not your politics, nothing else is as important in the big picture—tend to your best friends, family and people who have been loyal to you, people who make you feel like you, people who make you laugh and who get you. We all mess up badly, but put energy towards not messing up. Sometimes the easiest thing is to be selfish but resist being selfish if you’re about to badly affect someone’s day. And be open to new friendships and new dynamics within an old relationship. Sometimes a new dynamic will allow an old relationship to grow into something healthier. And don’t be afraid to let go when you’re hurting more than you’re exalted. The lyrics of “Not by Care” and “Void Touch” speak to those concepts—recognizing when you’re sad and when you need more support than you’re getting. So try to give support when you can because it will come back to you, and everyone will feel a bit lighter :｡･:*:･ﾟ’★,｡･:*:♪･ﾟ’☆
Hoop’s album Super Genuine is available now via Decency Den/Lost Sound Tapes.
