Halifax based punk-rock band Gun Jr pulled a hard Jeph Loeb with their number music video, ‘Wolf,’ from their October, 2017 release, The Shakes. The first single from the album is packed with epilepsy-inducing graphics, cheesy acting, and a werewolf. Special effects budget and DIY punk-aesthetic aside, the song digs into more serious matters, and some predatory elements of Halifax living.
The video was shot and directed by all members of the band and edited by band member Jordan Doucet.
Rather than a celebration of all things #TeamJacob, Doucet explains that the video was inspired by his own firsthand experiences with a series of muggings in Halifax.
“Over the course of my time living in Halifax I’ve had a few run-ins. Got chased by a dude with a golf club and had to fight a couple other crackheads on occasion.”
Doucet says he was fortunate to walk away from those incidents unscathed, but that wasn’t always the case. In 2013 Doucet was attacked by an assailant wielding a brick. The incident left him with a broken jaw.
“I guess these things happen. Things have cleaned up around North End Halifax in the last few years.”
Though Doucet’s message gets buried in the medium of trashy horror flicks, there’s still a sense of inescapable danger as the omnipresent werewolf takes up residence in the living room. His attentions aren’t necessarily directed at anyone, but you don’t turn your back on a werewolf.
Despite the heavy meaning behind the video, the band still had fun producing it.
“Our special effects budget for this one was pretty low, so we had to substitute the film-grade blood we had originally planned on using in some of the scenes for a bottle of ketchup we had in the fridge,” notes bassist Greg Toole, “I think Jordan was pretty over eating ketchup for a few days after the shoot.”