Barking mad new music video

Nick Hayes – art director at Identikal – has given a whole new meaning to the term police dogs. He's the director behind the music video for Australian band DZ Deathrays' new single Cop Capacity. We caught up with him to find out more:

Computer Arts (CA): Mad, violent dog-cops: what's the story?

Nick Hayes (NH): "The story is in the lyrics. In Australia two police officers gatecrashed a house party and got up to all kinds of no-good. We felt by adding the twist of a K-9 unit, and basing it in New York City – where some of the best cop shows are based – that this would add a surreal edge to the story."

CA: How did you get involved with the band and what did they make of the video?

NH: "We met the band at one of their shows around two years ago and have been good friends ever since. When the opportunity came to shoot a video, we couldn't resist. The guys were involved in the video from day one, and made a detour in their US tour to film one of the scenes. The whole team including the band love it."

CA: How long did it take to make and where was it shot?

NH: "The video was shot over a 14-hour day, to mimic a 'day in the life' or as we like to say a 'dogumentary'. The edit took 8-10 days in all. The locations were based across Dumbo, Brooklyn; Downtown Brooklyn and various areas of Manhattan including China Town, the Financial District and the Manhattan Bridge. Due to weather, we missed out on shooting a scene in Times Square, but the bridge shots made up for it."

CA: Who were the dog-cops?

NH: "I played one of the officers and actor Joe Vollen played the other. We had a script and set up scenes. we acted as a typical dog would, taking advantage of humans and misbehaving. It was very hot in those suits, but worth every second. We had crowds watching at every scene and got asked for photographs with fans young and old in between takes.

CA: The video reminded me of the Beastie's video for Sabotage. Was that an influence? What else inspired the video?

NH: "Sabotage was definitely an influence. There is a dark humorous feel to the video as a whole. We also watched a lot of '70s cop shows and documentaries about police officers also helped. The aim of the video was to capture the look and feel of spoofs and mockumentaries, like Spinal Tap."

CA: Have you ever committed any crimes?

NH: "Not that I know of. With all of these new data laws, transport laws and other silly things, it's very hard not to break the law nowadays."

CA: If you were a criminal approached by a mad, violent dog-cop, how would you respond?

NH: "These mad dog-cops would be great to hang out with and they seem to like criminals. If I was with a girl, I would walk the other way though. In fact, I'd run!"

Watch DZ Deathrays' Cop Capacity music video