Kelowna band and videographer collaborate on series of music videos

A number of talented locals have teamed up on a series of music videos for a Kelowna band.

Friday morning, the first of four music videos for Kelowna band Nightshades has been released on YouTube, showcasing the band's new song The Out.

The video series came about as a collaboration between the band and local videographer Harrison Mendel, along with a number of others who donated their time to the project. They were all filmed over one long day at the Kelowna Film Studios in Rutland.

“We filmed four songs over the course of 12 hours, it was a very long day, but it was a blast,” said Nightshades member Nathanael Sherman.

Raised in Kelowna, Mendel has been producing films in the Okanagan for many years, working with brands like Red Bull, Shimano, Specialized and the Canadian Cancer Society. And when he offered to produce something for the Nightshades boys, they jumped at the opportunity.

“Harrison's idea was to have it be one take ... capturing the experience of us playing live,” Sherman said. “We love putting out albums but first and foremost we just love playing live and we love playing together as a band, and we wanted to capture that.”

Along with Mendel, a number of other talented locals volunteered their time, including James Alton, Noah Dorsey, Jaden Reid, Ben Armstrong, Alex Botton and Aiden McLane. Additionally, Jackie McLaughlin at Jam Florals donated the floral arrangements for the shoot.

“Just an amazing film crew of people who wanted to get together and make something weird,” Sherman said.

Nightshades was formed a year ago, but members Sherman, Andrew Judah, Caleb McAlpine and Dylan Ranney have been playing together in one way or another for many years. They've released two EPs over the past year, and they're gearing up to release their first full-length album later this year.

“Over the last six months we've been recording for a full length that we're going to be putting out later this year,” Sherman said.

“We love being able to have this first year playing together as a band, releasing a couple little EPs, but also playing a lot of live shows over the past summer. We were really enjoying the way the songs were sounding live and we wanted to capture that.”

The other three videos will be released over the coming months, leading up to the album release.

Those wanting to see Nightshades do their thing in person can see them play at Red Bird Brewing on Feb. 24. Tickets can be found here.