This three-part video series will take a look at how established creative force Warren Fischer of Fischerspooner fame, collaborates with musicians and film directors. We’ll get a glimpse at Fischer’s methodology for uniting artists from different backgrounds through his collaborative work and take a look at his directorial work for emerging musicians CREEP, the last twelve years he’s shared making music with Casey Spooner, and his current involvement in independent filmmaking alongside notable young director Ry Russo-Young.
From Director & Producer Thalia Mavros:
Among artists and creative-minded people worldwide, New York City is often cutthroat and competitive. In turn this fosters a creative environment that challenges these people to excel, often at the expense of their sanity. It’s no surprise that for every joyous success story we hear about being an artist in this town, we hear at least 20 others, in that incessant post-Seinfeldian tone, about how awful it is. But how often do we hear people extol the virtues of the support system and quality of collaboration this city provides?
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When we first started discussing shooting Creators documentaries that highlighted creative collaborations, Warren Fischer’s name immediately found its way to the top of our list. After we caught a sneak peek of his new music video for Brooklyn’s CREEP, his involvement became absolutely necessary. The video is stunning and sensual, the music dark and captivating, and the vocals were all too familiar (the track features Romy Madley Croft from The xx). It had all the makings of a hit and a great story about collaboration, in NYC of all places.
What we ended up with is a three part video series chronicling Warren’s many and diverse creative projects. So, how to break down this story of collaboration in a simple way? Perhaps starting with a quick description of the episodes will help.
Most of us know Warren as the musical mastermind behind Fischerspooner, the duo that transformed the musical and artistic landscape of NYC (and subsequently, the world) in the early 2000s with their intellectualized dance pop debauchery (some of you may remember electroclash) and their mesmerizing, extravagant live performances that merged equal parts music, art, theater and fashion. But Warren’s talents and interests are so diverse; years ago we bonded over fanatical discussions about ’80s Midwestern hardcore bands Die Kreuzen and Mecht Mensch, and his inability to get his math rock band Table signed to Touch & Go Records. He’s also a talented director responsible for the majority of Fischerspooner music videos as well as commercial work thorough Bunker, his production company.
So, our first episode focuses on Warren’s collaboration with CREEP‘s Lauren Flax and Lauren Dillard, giving us behind-the-scenes insights and a sneak peek at the music video Warren just directed for their first single, “Days” (to be released by Young Turks on January 20th, 2011 — you can listen here).
The second episode dives deeply into Warren’s on-going collaboration with the charming and talented visual and performance artist Casey Spooner, discussing both the romance and the turmoil of their creative partnership over the course of 12 years.
And the third episode focuses on the Fischerspooner MoMA Performance as a culmination of their music/art project, as well as Warren’s current foray into the indie film world through a two-way mentoring relationship with the talented young NY director Ry Russo-Young.
Having worked with Warren professionally, we knew that his vision, openness, unwavering commitment and sense of purposefulness in the creative process would all make for an insightful interview. Above all, a great collaborator must know how to choose the best creative partners. Here are some details on the collaborators in this documentary (and links to find out more about their work):
CREEP is currently working on their full-length album due out in 2011 (look out for a collaboration with Nina Sky and a series of talented vocalists). The “Days” video is set to premiere on January 10th, 2011 and the single hits on January 20th. You can pre-order “Days” here.
Casey Spooner has released his solo album entitled Adult Contemporary and is also part of the prestigious NYC-based experimental theatrical company The Wooster Group (especially enjoyable for theater-lovers is Casey’s commenting in the chat box during rehearsals).
Ry Russo-Young just premiered her latest film You Won’t Miss Me starring Stella Schnabel (Julian‘s daughter) in NYC on December 10th to great reviews. Her upcoming film, Nobody Walks written with Lena Dunham (of Tiny Furniture fame) and produced in part by Warren Fischer is scheduled to shoot in 2011.
