Human Drama has today premiered their new video for the track titled ‘I’m Looking’, from their album ‘Blurred Images’ out now.
Human Drama, and in particular Johnny Indovina, has that vivid artistic talent to encapsulate that feeling or meaning that the song is trying to convey beyond the lyrics. A combination of learned wisdom and fed creativity and imagination are what culminates into Human Drama. And, isn’t that the point of all great music? To invoke a feeling? It asserts the individuality in all of us. It inspires us and binds us closer to our own creative freedom. That is what I get when I listen to Human Drama. It makes me a better musician. It shows me places that I have never been to artistically.
The video for ‘I’m Looking’ is the perfect canvas for the song in that it shows Human Drama in it’s own element. People playing music in their natural surroundings in NYC, regardless of where it was shot. Simple and elegant with a flow that matches the music, the video for ‘I’m Looking’ gives a simple cinematic style to an already endearing track.
‘Blurred Images’ is out now (buy links below) via Sunset Blvd. Records.
Check out our other features with Human Drama HERE.
Paying homage to New York was Human Drama’s inspiration for “Blurred Images”. Paying homage to “My Band”, as a lifelong fan firstly and lastly, was my inspiration for “I’m Looking”. Like a cat with nine lives, this version was the 9th edit. Johnny and Garrett indulged me with saintly patience. I hope the video shows how caring so much can make you act a little crazy, but isn’t that what Human Drama’s music is all about?
Gabriel Vazquez, Director
After listening to the song, both Gabriel and I knew we wanted to go with vintage anamorphic‘s from the start, even before we had discussed it with each other.
It just had that classic feel and character that matched the song so well. Beyond that though, we wanted to have a simple and clean aesthetic that reflected the 70s style that the band had worked so hard to perfect.
Garrett Stotko: Cinematographer
The video for our song “I ‘m looking“ is the creation of our Director Gabriel Vazquez. We spoke about what we would like to achieve, and after reviewing our video for “into our escape” and “February 10th” , we thought a more raw white room approach would suit the song, while paying homage to the album cover art and New York City (even though we shot in Los Angeles).
We liked the performance video aspect for the first three videos for the album, instead of “theme/story“ videos at this point. Gabriel Vazquez, and his cinematographer Garrett Stotko did a wonderful job of achieving what we all wanted. It is also very nice that this video features a special guest appearance by our original guitarist Michael Ciravolo. We certainly hope that we get another chance to work with Gabriel and Garrett.
Johnny Indovina, Songwriter
About Human Drama & ‘Blurred Images’
Human Drama is a band that has endured and ultimately triumphed. Musical troubadours who have weathered countless storms, both personal and professional, while continuing to create their unique brand of music.
Their latest offering is Blurred Images, ten songs that were written and released as stand-alone singles, now gathered together into one collection by Los Angeles based Sunset Blvd. Records.
The album documents the latest musical offerings of singer/songwriter/guitarist Johnny Indovina, reflections of both his life and the world around him. It’s the latest of Human Drama’s concept albums (The World Inside, Songs of Betrayal, Broken Songs for Broken People) created by a band and a songwriter that prefer to work in this genre. Joining Indovina on Blurred Images are original band members Mark Balderas on keyboards and Steve Fuxan on bass guitar, along with guitarist Timothy Grove and drummer Greg Collister. Also appearing on the album is original Human Drama guitarist Michael Ciravolo, Pinky Turzo on backing vocals, Christie Guerrero on backing vocals and Gerardo Pozos on violin.
Indovina describes the origins of Blurred Images:
“It was a section of my life that I tried to forget. Then one day I heard a piece of music. I started to speak over this music. ‘I dreamed of the mountains’, I said. Two minutes later I realized that I had said goodbye to something that I hardly ever (maybe never) had consciously let surface. So had I brought something to a final resting place? No… I finally fully admitted that it had been lying beside every moment of my life since 1996. It kind of sat there adjusting things, so to speak. So, I looked it in the eye, and said ‘Farewell’. But it couldn’t simply end there. It was now time to allow every aspect of that period of my life – all the little moments that contributed to the monumental event that would guide my life from far beneath the surface – to emerge to the surface.
So, I strategically sang next about a beautiful night on Delaney Street in 1993. Beautiful. Look what I found. Something beautiful and miles away from my ability to feel. Then it got dark. No surprise. I was ready for it, and the conversation was easier this time. I guess this story may make a cohesive piece of music…another concept album. So, I continued the story. “King of Kings”, “One More Time Around the Lake”, “Into Our Escape”, “Another Crash”, “Let the Memories Live Here”, “Sometimes”, “I’m Looking”, and “February 10th”. All pieces of a whole. There are many layers of responsibility in most situations, and layers of responsibility for the damages suffered. My goal was for this album to be an examination of a relationship on all of its levels”.
Human Drama grew out of the new wave/rock band The Models, which formed in New Orleans in 1980, and included Indovina, guitarist Michael Ciravolo, bassist Steve Fuxan, and drummer Charlie Bouis. The band relocated to Los Angeles in 1985, added keyboardist Mark Balderas, changed their name to Human Drama, and soon became an integral part of the legendary “Scream Scene” – a handful of bands including Jane’s Addiction and Guns ‘n Roses that regularly performed at the infamous downtown Scream club. Human Drama signed to RCA Records and released their debut EP, Hopes, Prayers, Dreams, Heart, Soul, Mind, Love, Life, Death, followed by Feel in 1989, both produced by Ian Broudie (Echo and the Bunnymen, The Fall, The Lightning Seeds). Feel is an edgy, viscerally emotional collection of alternative rock with strong melodic hooks, deeply introspective lyrics, sweltering guitar and vocals ranging from tortured whispers to throat-shredding howls.
Unfortunately, Feel was a victim of label mishandling and did not approach its commercial potential. Tracks like “Death of An Angel”, “I Could Be a Killer”, and “Heaven on Earth”, could have been major hits on alternative radio, but the album went largely unnoticed. Undeterred by their disappointing experience with a major label, Human Drama chose the independent route for their next album, and despite working with a fraction of the budget, the result was their masterpiece, 1992’s The World Inside. Human Drama set aside the searing rock of Feel for a more acoustic-based sound made magical by dazzling strings and Indovina’s powerfully resonant voice. Brilliant from start to finish, standouts include the single “Fascination and Fear,” the melodic folk-rock gem “Tears”, and the propulsive rocker “Look into a Stranger’s Eyes”. The album was showered with critical acclaim, and although commercial success remained elusive, Indovina and Human Drama had found their path for success.
The 1993 covers album Pin Ups, an homage to David Bowie’s 1973 classic of the same name, has Indovina taking on songs by Bowie as well as Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed, The Rolling Stones, and Tom Waits, and features a breathtaking reimagining of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart”. A year later the band released the Human Drama EP including the newly arranged version of their epic “The Waiting Hour” utilizing only piano, strings and flute. In 1995 Human Drama unveiled Songs of Betrayal, a 25 track master class in songwriting with tense and raucous electric guitar-driven tracks like “Another Fifty Miles” and “It Is Fear”, and piercingly beautiful ballads like “Blue” and “This Forgotten Love”. The album was reissued four years later as two separate discs with the addition of several bonus tracks.
Human Drama’s blistering 1996 live album Fourteen Thousand Three Hundred Eighty Four Days Later, which refers to the exact number of days Indovina had been alive up until the date of the recording, then captured the full power of the band’s electrifying live performances. Particular highlights are a white-hot rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Who by Fire”, and a fervid take on their own early gem “Wave of Darkness”. Another studio album followed, 1999’s Solemn Sun Setting, a deep, diverse collection, ranging from the exquisite ballads “Single White Rose” and “Love’s Way”, to the expansive and dramatic “March On”, to the deliciously eerie psychedelia of “My Denial”. Human Drama’s intended farewell album arrived in 2002 with Cause and Effect, where they set the strings aside and came out with guitars blazing on feverish rockers like “Goodbye Sweetheart” and “I Am Not Here”. However, Indovina did not abandon his gift for stunning balladry, and “Lonely”, swirling with sumptuous piano, is one of the finest of his career.
Human Drama then disbanded, and Indovina pursued a side project, Sound of the Blue Heart, with whom he released two albums: Beauty?… and Wind of Change. Indovina finally released his first solo album in 2014, Trials of the Writer, an intimate and deeply personal look at the intense emotional connection between the songwriter and the soul-bearing compositions that document his life with honesty, poignancy, and sometimes heartbreak.
But Human Drama’s fanatical following would not let their band die. Their relentless encouragement brought the band back together for two triumphant performances. The first was in August 2012 at El Plaza Condesa in Mexico City, and then again three years later, when the band marked their 30th anniversary by delivering a marathon performance on Halloween night at the Circo Volador in Mexico City. Forty two songs were played that night, concluding with the first new Human Drama track in 13 years, “The Liar Inside”.
The fans enthusiasm and the successful recording of “The Liar Inside” led Indovina into an intensive period of songwriting, which resulted in Broken Songs for Broken People, their 2017 release which delivers the essence of Human Drama – songs of both delicate beauty and aching pain.
An important moment in Johnny’s career was then captured in the 2020 documentary film Seven Days in Mexico. The film follows Johnny’s journey into rediscovering his musical purpose after years of feeling his creatively slowly drained by the music industry. A special bonus disc containing music from the film will be packaged along with Blurred Images to complete the two CD set.
LINKS:
https://www.humandrama.net
https://humandrama.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/johnny.indovina.7
https://twitter.com/JohnnyIndovina
https://instagram.com/johnnyindovina
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZF4F-IRFJXU5GJeQDfr4cg/featured
http://sevendaysinmexico.com/
