Funk supergroup release music video filmed on Leith boat Ocean Mist

A new Scottish funk ‘n’ soul supergroup have released a music video filmed on a Leith boat using cutting edge drone cameras.

Barry Gordon, leader of The Tomorrow Band

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Filmed on the newly refurbished Ocean Mist the video features large projected images splashed onto the side of the ship and aerial shots of the area from the sky, filmed with new DJI drone cameras.

The video for The Tomorrow Band’s second single ‘Flipside’ by director Tommy Slack was shot ahead of the release of the band’s debut album, produced by Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart.

Formed during lockdown last year, The Tomorrow Band is a collective made up of 13 musicians mostly from Edinburgh from established groups James Brown Is Annie, Blue Rose Code, Horse, Das Contras, and the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.

Leith-based songwriter and guitarist Barry Gordon said the idea for filming the video on the ship, set to relaunch itself as a floating hotel within the next few months, was inspired by lockdown.

He said: “During lockdown, we were all in the same boat where Covid was concerned. It seemed apt to shoot the video on a moored ship.

“Symbolically, the weather surrounding the ship is meant to epitomise our lockdown emotions. Whereas the water is meant to represent our thoughts during the pandemic: sometimes muddy, sometimes beautiful, sometimes scary.

Musicians from music collective The Tomorrow Band aboard the Ocean Mist

"It's been a long time since musicians have been able to get together, so we made the most of being able to have some fun on the ship. To give the video its slow-motion effect, we had to mime along to the song at double speed. It didn't take long for passers by, somewhat confused by what they were seeing, to point at one another and ask why a bunch of musicians were playing what sounded like music by the Chipmunks.

"When I first moved to Leith in the mid-1990s, I often saw jazz groups playing on the top deck of Ocean Mist. All these years later, it's great to actually be in one, on that very same ship."

The Tomorrow Band’s debut album, Inside/Outside launches at the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival in July. Flipside single is now available on all usual streaming platforms.

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