A rock band of three young kids has taken social media by storm after an X user posted a clip of their DIY music video filmed using a Ring doorbell camera. The video opens with one of the kids asking his mom if they can use the Ring camera to make a music video. Mom enthusiastically replies, “Heck yeah.”
But this isn’t just a group of neighborhood boys messing around on hand-me-down guitars. This is Luminati Suns, three young brothers, the sons of Gianni Nicassio and Sarah Blackwood. Nicassio and Blackwood are members of the Canadian band Walk off the Earth, which had several viral moments around 2012. The band has seen its fair share of controversy and lineup changes, but has recently returned to the music industry.
Meanwhile, Luminati Suns dropped this cool music video, harkening back to the days of 90s and 2000s alt-rock. Taking advantage of the Ring cam’s fisheye lens, the kids tapped into a bygone method of filmmaking. The wholesomely homemade feel of the whole thing, not to mention the kids shredding pretty hard, captured hearts on social media.
Did Luminati Suns Take Music Video Inspiration From Australian Band Maple’s Pet Dinosaur?
The overwhelming response to Luminati Suns and their DIY music video was positive and encouraging. Many people expressed the notion that “maybe the kids are alright after all,” while others called for this style of video to return to the mainstream. In the comments on Instagram, one user wrote, “Close enough, welcome back Sum 41,” a particularly poignant statement considering Sum 41 officially broke up this January.
Meanwhile, the song is a reworked cover of “note to self” by Gabriela Bee and was released in October alongside a lyric video. It has since racked up 86K views on YouTube. In a similar vein, Australian indie band Maple’s Pet Dinosaur made a DIY Ring cam music video as well, promoting their new single “lego.”
In the video, 15-year-old vocalist Maple asks for permission to use her neighbor’s doorbell camera to shoot a music video. The neighbor allows this, although somewhat reluctantly at first. Notably, Maple isn’t wearing shoes as she jumps around the front porch, where her bandmates stand with guitars and amps. This important detail will make sense in a bit.
Maple’s Pet Dinosaur dropped the single and video back in August. When Luminati Suns released their Ring cam video, Maple responded to the hype, claiming she’s been tagged in reposts of the video “like 100 times.”
In a mainstream case, it sounds like grounds for copyright infringement. But these are bands of kids and teenagers. And anyway, Maple’s reply summed it up pretty well.
“It looks like they might have copied my homework,” Maple said, playing the videos side-by-side. Then she stated, “Do I care though? No. F*** it, kids are making music again. The only thing I’m a bit disappointed by is all their band members are wearing shoes.”
It’s nice to see where the priorities are. Truly, it looks like the kids will be fine.
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/ImageDirect
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