“All of My Loving” is directed Dave & Rory of Mekanism, the same duo who created the popular Rembrandt spot “Kiss,” which also puts a unique spin on erotica. The video features the lovelorn Valley Lodge front man and well-known NYC comedian, Dave Hill, unwinding in an awkwardly erotic environment chock full of naked furniture including a tub made of hunky muscular boys.
The video was produced by Margaux Ravis via Yard Sale Productions. Ravis saw some David Blázquez photos on the Internet, which inspired the music video’s naked furniture motif. Already a fan of the band, Ravis connected Valley Lodge publisher Primary Wave Music and directors Dave & Rory to create a video that highlighted Hill’s quirky personality with the great hooks of the song. “We thought the photos were amazing,” Dave & Rory relate. “Ripe and ready for parody. So we thought, “Why not us and why not now?”
“All of My Loving’s” vignettes are crosscut with the band crooning in the living room. While all of the supporting actors are in the nude, the seasoned players wear their usual fare, appearing effortlessly chic in suits adorned with big bright corsages, and colorful shirts and ties. Phil Costello plays lead guitar, Eddie Eyeball, bass, and Rob Pfeiffer, drums, while Hill plays rhythm guitar and sings. (Although not featured in the video, John Kimbrough plays guitar on the record.) Classically trained dancers were chosen to play the role of the “Hot Pieces of Furniture.”
“We were lucky enough to have access to Tavi Stutz to help us with the ‘furniture making,’” Ravis relates. “Tavi has performed with Cirque du Soleil as well as the newer Cirque Bezerk and has such a great understanding of the human body. Together with yogi Aaron Berk, he really opened up our world to what was possible.”
The video’s story plays into Hill’s own persona. “Dave Hill is shy,” say Dave & Rory. “We noticed it when we saw him perform at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade where we got his sense of comedic timing. We decided to put him into uncomfortable situations, so he could totally play into his character and the story’s situations. We played with him in a fun and non intimidating way—so in his own insecure mind, he couldn’t fuck up the video.”
Although Hill is no stranger to the spotlight—he starred in The King of Miami with band-mate Costello, appears regularly as a correspondent on HBO and Cinemax, and recently landed on Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” list—he is surprisingly unassuming. Of his starring role in the video a skeptic Hill joked that his presence might hurt the song’s chances of taking off. “Dave & Rory’s treatment is creatively and artistically interesting,” Hill says. “And I find the whole homoerotic angle entertaining, too, because I’m juvenile.” According to Hill the song wasn’t written for anyone in particular. “Usually with songs, they come to me in a sort of blast,” Hill explains. “The lyrics of ‘All of My Loving’ are abstract. They’re about general notions of love.”
That didn’t stop Dave & Rory from making it personal. “We set in our own minds that Hill broke up with his girlfriend and here he was in his apartment in purgatory, but he finally escapes at the end,” Dave & Rory say.
