Although previously outspoken about his disdain for music videos, Noel Gallagher is featured in the clip for his Johnny Marr-featuring track "Ballad of The Mighty I" from his band High Flying Birds. A bit self-aware, the clip features an annoying director who acts self-important and takes a selfie with the singer.
Gallagher then takes a stroll along a beak canal before finding a man with a guitar on the street. He picks up the guitar and is followed into a building by another mysterious man. He checks in on the post-production of his video before launching into a live performance with his band. After finishing the first take of the video, he storms off as the director yells, "Chris Martin did ten takes. Someone get me a latte."
"I f**king hate videos," Gallagher once said during DVD commentary about Oasis' videos (via The Guardian). "I hate the fact they cost a fortune. I hate the fact you've got to be there at 8 in the morning. I hate the fact you don't leave until 8 the next morning. I don't like the fact that the people who're making them think they're making Apocalypse Now and everything is the most important - 'this the really important shot' - f**king bollocks."
The video for "Ballad of The Mighty I" seems to echo those sentiments. If he has to make a video, he's going to show the absurdity of them.
Gallagher called the track "one of the best songs I've ever written" and thanked Marr for the "burst of energy" the track needed.
"He just arrived with two guitars and a bag of effects pedals," he told The Guardian of the former Smiths guitarist's decision to record his part without having heard it prior. "And I have to say, he's unbelievable. He's way up there, on another level to the rest of us."
"Ballad of The Mighty I" is the second single off Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' sophomore album Chasing Yesterday, which is due out March 2 via Sour Mash Records. It was preceded by the lead single "In The Heat of the Moment."
Check out the video for yourself below, and let us know what you think in the comments section!
