Australia’s politicians may be in the middle of a heated election campaign but leaders and party representatives from all corners have temporarily put aside their differences for the sake of rock, giving it their best punk spirit and attitude for an award-winning band from the Australian Capital Territory.
Canberra slacker punk trio Super Best Friends, who won big at the inaugural MusicACT Awards this year, are responsible for the rare feat of getting a who who’s of Australia’s politics to star in the music video for their song ‘Round and Round’.
There’s no cheeky editing tricks or video manipulation here – though cleverly, as the video begins, you might think so. The ‘Round and Round’ clip features honest to goodness cameos from Australian politics, and the journalists that cover them, singing, (poorly) dancing, and miming along to the fuzz punk song.
There’s an impressive roll-call of stars: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd gives some signature dance moves, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott spins the wheels, Bob Katter shows he’s not quite the cowboy he thinks he is. Rob Oakeshott irons his dacks, Senator Nick Xenophon rocks bass atop a desk, while there’s also appearances from Greens Leader Christine Milne, Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Deputy Leader of the Nationals Barnaby Joyce, and more.
A number of high profile political journalists make appearances as well, including Chris Uhlmann of The 7.30 Report and ABC‘s Mark Simkin, Channel Ten’s Hugh Riminton and Paul Bongiorno, Channel 7’s Mark Riley, Sky News’ Kieren Gilbert, 7 News Political Editor Mark Riley, as FasterLouder points out.
The clip is all the more remarkable considering the song’s lyrical skewering of the media circus that is Australian politics; “messages well rehearsed… it’s news but not really,” sing the punk trio.
After turning up online on Monday evening the clip is on track to become a viral hit. Currently sitting at 34,000 views on YouTube and counting, it also saw Super Best Friends begin trending on Twitter as people began sharing the video over social media.
So how did a Canberra punk trio manage to get Australia’s busy political figures to take time out of their busy schedules in the lead-up to this September’s election? Chiefly thanks to Super Best Friends bassist Matt Roberts, whose day job is as a cameraman and sound operator in the halls of Parliament House for ABC. When asked on Twitter how he convinced them to appear in the video, he replied simply: “I asked them”.
Sadly, the only glaring omissions from the surreal political karaoke party of ‘Round and Round’ are Craig ‘Whyalla Wipeout’ Emerson, former Oils singer/Education Minister Peter Garrett and the Nickelback loving Joe Hockey. In fact, in an interview with the bassist and music video director, Roberts tells Tone Deaf that all were on the cards but politely declined.
“I tried to select my targets but I did have some noticeable knockbacks,” reveals Roberts. “Obviously the Honourable Peter Garrett would have been a fantastic addition… but he was pretty abrupt that he didn’t want to be a part of it which is fair enough because he’s a big rock god and we’re not.”
“That was a bit disappointing… we also had knockbacks from Joe Hockey, Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne, Stephen Conroy, but in saying that – Tony Abbott was the last guy we shot so if they knew he was going to do it maybe they would have agreed to have done it as well.”
