I first heard this band whilst holidaying in Blackpool with a friend. It was August but because the weather in the UK is pretty diabolical (and because we actually live much further south it was a lot colder at Blackpool than it was back home.) we were reluctant to leave the house and we ended up watching a lot of TV and Music Channels and The Vamps Can we Dance was played an awful lot.
Me and my friend fell in love with this band, my friend really likes boy bands like OneDirection anyway, she likes lots of different genres too but Boy bands aren't usually my thing but then again are The Vamps technically a Boy Band?
I think I like the fact that they are a band and not just a Boy Band, they have a lead singer, a Bass guitarist, a drummer, a regular guitarist etc opposed to just a group of singers.
Another thing I like about this band is that the boys are around my age, this doesn't happen very often even OneDirection are a little bit older than me, the youngest member of OneDirection is a year older than me and the youngest member of The Vamps is a year younger than me, I also think they sound pretty good.
The Video for Wild Heart was uploaded to YouTube on the 3rd of December 2013 and is their second single.
This Music Video is pretty straight forward and not too complicated. (I've Blogged about OneRepublic and Fall Out Boy Music Videos before and they can be quite complicated.)
Music Videos can either follow a narrative or just explore a concept and just because a certain video follows a narrative doesn't mean it's going to have any less or any more meaning and symbolism than a more conceptual Video, for example The Music Video for Single Ladies by Beyonce doesn't follow a narrative but there isn't as much symbolism as the Music Video for telephone by Lady Gaga ft Beyonce.
(I might explain this concept in greater detail .at a later date.)
Any way my point is that this video has a story and it starts at an old petrol station, (or a gas station, depends where you're from) the petrol station looks like it's in a dessert and I presume that the dessert is some where in the US, they use a Wide Pan shot moving from a shot of the dessert to a shot of the petrol station to establish the setting.
A bell hanging from the porch rings in the wind and you can hear the sound of an engine starting, I think they use the bell to show that the petrol station is some where really remote; the sound of the bell is very clear and if it had been some where busy you would be able to hear other noises like people talking and cars driving past so the fact the bell sounds clear indicates they are some where really quiet.
The sound of the engine shows (obviously) that some one is there and they are either visiting or leaving the petrol station, a man in dirty overalls sits on a chair on the porch.
The mans appearance and attitude implies that he doesn't get visitors often as he doesn't have much money and doesn't really know how to react to costumers also implying that the video is set some where really remote.
The sound of the engine starts and the bands drummer Tristan runs out of the shop with food, you can hear the sound of the vehicle leaving and Tristan calls for the vehicle implying he got left behind.
He calls them "guys" so that implies that he is talking to the other band members, he drops the food and runs after it.
The vehicle is revealed to be a bus and the band are on board.
I'm not sure why they decided to not show the bus or the band from the beginning, I guess it adds a level of mystery to the video but I'm not to sure why you would want mystery to begin with.
As the band perform on the bus they come across 3 people by the roadside trying to fix a car, pretty teenage girl who looks a little fed up , a teenage boy sitting back in the car relaxing (possibly the girls boyfriend, maybe her brother) and a middle aged man who's trying to fix the car (he could a dad to one or both the of the teens.)
The band invite her on the bus and she leaves her boyfriend/brother father/boyfriends father at the road side.
Even if she had fallen out with the people she was traveling with doesn't necessarily mean you should just go and leave them for a group of strangers, surely they were heading somewhere in particular any way so why would you go off with some one going some where else? besides I presume she had a home to go back to and if she went off with some strangers in the middle of no where how is she going to get back home?
I don't suppose you're meant to think about the video quite like that, I guess the main point is that the girl was fed up with who she was with and decided to go off with people who seemed more fun, this is kind of the message in the lyrics too
"She needs a wild heart,
I got a wild heart"
The lyrics would imply that the people in the car didn't have a "wild heart" like the girl, I guess having "wild heart" could mean she likes excitement and that the band can supply her with excitement.
I do feel a little bad for the people left by the road side however.The band (now traveling with the girl) come a cross a boy and a girl at the roadside trying to hitch a ride in which the band let them on, the video cuts to the band performing at night at the petrol station, the people they have picked up can be seen dancing.
Back on the bus they begin to mess around and throw things at each other, I'm a teenage girl and I can honestly say that I know tons of people my age who throw things at one another, this is something I don't understand but none the less I think they are just being themselves and goofing around.
If the girl left the people she was with to have more fun with The Vamps I guess she got her wish.
I noticed that the girl isn't really taking part in the hitting the band with pillows or jumping around although I'm not sure I would enjoy watching boys hitting each other either but you would think she would look a little more involved considering she choose to join the bus and left her old group because they were supposedly uninteresting.
It must be awkward sitting on a bus with people you don't know especially when they all seem really close, maybe she doesn't want to throw things at people or jump around a bus because she's more mature or something.
The bus is now being followed by a red car with two girls in it, as the video has progressed they have gained more and more people, there were already a few in the bus with the band to begin with, then the girl joined them, then the couple and now the two girls in the car.
There is a slightly weird scene in which the band get off the bus. To pee. Together.
I accept that if you were on a long road trip you would need to pee at some point but why would you all need to pee at the same time?
And what about the girls on the bus? Where do they pee?
I guess it shows that they are relaxed and comfortable enough to pee together.
But even so it is a little bit weird especially for a music video.
The number of people dancing at the petrol station gig has increased, It's a little bit like the bus.
As the music video progresses more people join or follow the bus and as the video progresses more people turn up to the gig.
It's interesting to note that during both the gig and on the bus the lead singer (Brad) directs his attention to the first girl they picked up by the road side whilst the rest of the band don't, each member does have a girl dancing by them but they aren't really paying any attention to them while brad is singing directly to his girl, maybe it's because it's hard to concentrate on a person and play an instrument at the same time.
The video ends with the video cutting between the petrol station performance and the band running off into the dessert.
I think the ending is a little odd, there's no climax. The video started with the band was leaving a petrol station, they give the impression that they are heading some where, they picked up some people on the way only to go back at night to the petrol station they left earlier for a late night gig.
I don't know what I was expecting, I guess I was hoping that they would find a city or town and have a gig there instead.
I think the video started really well but I didn't like the end. Sorry.
I just think they could've had more a more definite ending, it just felt like the video could just keep on going and it didn't feel like it had a proper ending.
I really like this song and this band, I'm just not keen on the video.
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