Video Dronez: The Inadvertant Art of Lost VHS Footage

Hello there children of the night. First, let me say that I am neither dead, nor staggering amongst the undead. Rather, trying to completely shift the paradigm of one’s life proves to be an Atlasean task once again. None the less…… I am back to say a very proud happy one year to Cvlt Nation, who’s midnight musings are still some of the best in the web. Hopefully this post is worthy amongst those sharp quills.

When I was growing up, there was no youtube, no vimeo, no redtube, and the internet was still some sort of futuristic wizardy, merely hinted at in the folds of “Wargames.” But we did have VHS tapes, and in these bits of chocolate ribbon, we found any hope of ever catching glimpses of far away or far gone groups. However, unlike their digital grandchildren, these tangible treasures could only be experienced with actual possession. For our purposes, this rarely meant the original copy, but instead some ill-gotten dub (of which, some were the stuff legends were made of). The problem there was the same incurred with an interbred society, very soon down the line, the degradation was beyond markedly noticeable. So, instead of crisp clear picture, what you viewed, instead, was ethereally other-dimensional being, bathed in warbles, blips, and all manner of snow. More often than not, this was a completely acceptable price to pay to steal a glimpse of your favorite group, from Canada, (or Mars for all you knew), but looking back on this footage today, I find an unintentional artform rises out of the analogue. Now, even if I can find perfectly crystal footage of band I’m after, I also dig for this long lost VHS footage, in hopes of a view to that other world. Here are some examples I’ve conjured. Think less about the fact that this is such and such band, and instead, with that in the back of you mind, let yourself get lost in this happenstantial aesthetic.

I was riveted to this Mayhem footage from the late 80’s, beyond the interesting peek into how different both the band and the scene were at this time, not to mention the Venom and Celtic Frost covers, the inadvertent movement of the images in this near basement found footage are mesmerizing.

More vidz after the jump.

Going back even earlier, but still in that same vein, take a moment to experience this amazing footage of Meryiful Fate. While there may be some sort of completely re-mastered HD quality version of this footage, this is what I want to see. It’s color, but between the wear of the film, and the quality of the original footage, everything bathes in its own eerie glow. I can’t imagine King Diamond would have wanted it any other way.

Sometimes I feel that, for the sake of real metal, technology’s progression has almost been a wooden stake of sorts. I don’t know how many times I’ve watched this footage of Sarcofago, but if I had to visualize what their music should look like, well, this is it. The intro looks like a terrorist transmission, and even once the band takes the screen the world stays murky and grim beyond description.

In the same stride, this early Amebix footage, could at times, almost appear as war footage from some post-apocalytpic past. Warped and warbled, and as rough around the edges as the band, this is an arthouse film, from the very blue-screened beginning.

But I leave you with this, one of the segments from may favorite bits of inadvertent other worldly footage. I can’t think of another band so interested in creating an ambient and all encompassing realm for their music than Beherit. This footage, murky, often indiscernible are the ultimate expressions from a group that brought you Drawing Down the Moon. I think what I love most is that you are trapped in this foggy place for almost three minutes before an actual song kicks in. Perfect.

While today, anyone can whip out a phone and take movie quality images of any group in a basement, what I like most about these was the distance they created. When metal was a strange hybrid of moribund ideals matched with an epic fantasy. That for some people, these dark waving lines would be the only real moving images of these groups that they would ever see, and that somehow that made the experience better. I hope you feel I have not wasted your time with this post, but do me a favor, let go of where you are, and, better still, all you know, and experience these great videos for the unique archive they are.