Chilean movie composer-turned-producer Lainus has an eye—as well as an ear—for music. The videos for his songs are like another instrument, and nowhere is this clearer than in his new creation, “Suplementos.” Set in an old boxing gym in Santiago, the video is an awesome visual contrast to its ethereal pop soundtrack.
Lainus is just one of many great pop artists to come out of Chile, which seems to be the country with the pop gifts that keep on giving. We asked Lainus a few questions about “Suplementos” and about where he saw his music going in the future.
The video for “Suplementos” seems to be a revenge of the underdogs–where the real ass-kickers and heroes are not your stereotypical Rockys. Were you thinking of a specific film or a director as your visual inspiration?
The idea came from Rodrigo Bravo of Rinoceronte, the agency that made the video. It’s based on these two film characters, Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill, whose movies were really popular in Chile in the 80s. TV was censored during the dictatorship at that time, and I suppose these types of funny, quirky movies were considered okay. So the video is a play on the suplemento/complemento lyrics in the chorus– these characters being the fat and skinny, love/hate, black/white, etc.
Musically, “Suplementos” is very ethereal – and visually, the video is very concrete –a story with a beginning, middle and end. What are you hoping people get from this contrast?
Yeah, you’re right. I had completely different ideas for the video because the lyrics actually speak about abstract places and sensations; being connected to your subconscious in the desert, fluorescent lights and walls fading away…
But then Rinoceronte came to me with such a different approach to the song, and I immediately fell in love with the idea. To be quite honest, I was a bit tired of the current hype with music videos being set in forests and surreal landscapes, with obscure masks, VHS-style, etc., if you know what I mean. So this was something different.
Which other musicians (or sounds) inspire or influence your work?
I know it sounds cliché, but everything inspires me– the good music and the bad.
I’ve been listening to a lot of minimal stuff like Villalobos and old Plastikman albums, and the new Atom™ (HD album) sounds incredible. In the pop genre, I really like the album Screens by the Mint Chicks—their guitar player founded Unknown Mortal Orchestra; Kindness, and Connan and the Mockasins, who I, funnily enough, sold a guitar to when worked in a music shop in Wellington, NZ.
What’s the importance to you of setting the video in the Club Deportivo Mexico?
First of all, it’s aesthetically just an amazing place, a beautiful old gymnasium. Then, there’s its history: it was one of the first gyms in Santiago where boxers were trained to be professional, so to set the fight scenes in a place with such a rich boxing history was really special.
The Mexican aspect is also important to me. The gym was actually built with funds provided by the Chilean and Mexican governments under a reconstruction program established after the huge earthquake that devastated Chile in 1960, and it was inaugurated by Chilean President Jorge Alessandri Rodríguez. I’ve traveled a lot in Mexico and I worked in Cozumel for six months, so I’d love to go back there and show my music.
What else should listeners be expecting from Lainus? What’s in the future for you?
“Suplementos” is kind of re-launching me back into the music scene, as I released the video of my single “Montañitas” well over a year ago. I’ve been busy working on music projects for film, documentary and TV that have absorbed a lot of my time, and while they’ve been really interesting, fun projects, I’d like to focus more on Lainus. So I’ve been setting immediate and concrete goals, with the first being to launch this video. Then, I’ll start recording a new album in May and aim to release the first single around October. After that, I’ll put my energy into playing live in Chile and hopefully start touring in Latin America and the US.