It has been almost a year since the release of their City Friends EP, but Man Feeling is releasing their first music video for the song, Modest Spouse.
“It seemed to be the right thing to do,” says Paul Gabrylewicz, who goes by Gabby.
“We had talked about making a video for quite some time, and with all the restrictions that had been in place, it gave us the inspiration and time to do it.”
In addition to Gabby on guitar, the band is rounded out by lead vocalist and bass player Tyler Willson, drummer John De Lorenzi, and keyboardist BJ Swire.
The guitarist notes that song and video themes aren’t necessarily connected thematically, but work together well.
“Perhaps we did this backwards, but we first came up with the idea for the video and then picked the song that best fit it,” says Gabby.
“Modest Spouse had the right tempo and build-up for the video ideas that we were exploring.”
In the video, the band’s instruments are sabotaged.
“We used the same collaborative approach of all band members, as we do with writing our songs,” says Gabby.
“Creatively, we all work well together. We wanted the video to be light-hearted and humorous, so it’s kind of about us pranking each other and not taking ourselves too seriously, set against a backdrop of Northern Ontario scenery.”
The band has had a solid response to the EP but hopes the video connects with a wider audience.
“The response to our EP has been good,” says Gabby.
“It seems that music videos are almost as important as the songs themselves, so we are hoping that our video will help take our music to the next level.”
For this video, other than a short cameo by lead singer Tyler Willson’s spouse Kendra and their dog Ollie, the band members served as its actors.
“It was kind of a way to put the face of our band to our music.”
The video was self-directed by the band with guidance from videographer and producer, Justine Chalykoff of Chalykoff Studios.
“We decided to step out of our comfort zone, but we couldn’t have done it without Justine,” he says
“She was instrumental in the making of our video and would love to work with her again in the future.”
The band definitely feels that there is another music video in their future and they would like to potentially work with our local acting and theatre arts community.
Man Feelings will be holding their official CD and video release party at Soo Blaster on Friday, May 6.
“There is nothing like performing live in front of an audience,” says Gabby.
“It will always be a part of who we are as a band. Fundamentally though, we are composers and songwriters at heart, so recording goes hand-in-hand.”
City Friends is available on streaming sites like Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, and Apple Music.
You can find out more about Man Feelings and their music from their Facebook, Instagram or Bandcamp pages
Tickets are $10 in advance and can be acquired from the band directly, at the door, or online here.
The band encourages people to reach out to them directly at: [email protected].