Depp soars with Babybird in music video directorial debut

by Andrea DeCosta

Honours go to actor, musician, and now, music director, Johnny Depp for reviving the iconoclastic and mostly dormant UK band, Babybird.

Lead singer and long time front man, Stephen Jones reflects back to when he was “summoned to…meet” Depp during the filming of Finding Neverland in 2003. England’s Islington Tribune reports Jones’ first encounter with Depp’s backside, as the start of making beautiful music together.

Working to promote the band’s newest offering, “Ex-Maniac”, Jones recently dished the details for reporter, Roisin Gadelrab - including acknowledging that there had not been another studio session planned when Depp stepped into the mix.

As if invoking the magic of the legendary playwright James M. Barrie, the musician in Depp appears to have found renewed inspiration and purpose: breathing life back into a deflated Babybird.

The finale and resulting music video have proven bittersweet, as Depp’s creative impression netted the band critical acclaim, as well as a slogging by both conservative cable and music industry operators. More than the music itself, controversy over the graphic ending to Depp’s direction landed their first single, “Unloveable”, on a list of content banned overseas, and mostly shunned by large outlets like MTV.

Two months after the release of “Unloveable”, Jones displayed his irritation with the hypocrisy of the music industry, lamenting to reporter Daniel Cairns in an April 2010 interview. “Nazi-esque performers like Lady Gaga can hang themselves in videos and say MOTHERFUCKER on their records, but only because they have enormous aid from overspending rollercoaster fascist conservative records companies,” decried Jones, “Sadly, I’m only a minnow”.

Perhaps the saving grace for the musical launch came in the ability to post the full, uncut, original version of the video using YouTube - replete with intense lyricism and imagery. Depp, no stranger to the strange, shows an artful hand through the masterful use of color, melody, and subtext…all intended to provoke an emotional response from the audience.

Having watched the video (more than once) I can attest to the odd appeal of the ending and the emotive quality of the overall product. Bravo to Depp for helping this Babybird take flight once again.