San Diego pop-twang purveyor Josh Damigo has a new album out. “I Will Be There” dropped from Randm Records early October, landing at the No. 8 spot on the iTunes singer/songwriter charts. And now SoundDiego has the exclusive on his music video for the lead track, “Just Give Me a Call” -- even before Damigo shares it at the release party at Lestat’s on Friday.
The video, filmed right here in SD -- and featuring cameos by North Park and Julian, with some epic shots made possible by, oh yeah, a drone! -- comes by way of the Rowlbertos gang, who are behind the Trolley Show vids. It’s a production of firsts, “Just Give Me a Call” being their first video and also lead actress Monique Michaud’s.
Without further ado, the video -- and a chat with the music-maker himself.
Hannah Lott-Schwartz: What’s behind “Just Give Me a Call”?
Josh Damigo: I had a friend who was going thru a lot of stuff, and I was super moved by the Robin Williams suicide -- that was something that really bothered me. And I had written a song for this friend, and it was also a cry to let people know that you don’t have to go through things alone. That’s what the song is really about to me -- that you’re here, and you’re available, and you want to help if you can. That really was the biggest part of the whole creative process for me, and we decided to make that the single because that was the strongest message that was recurring throughout the album.
HLS: It’s funny, because in the music video the actress is on her phone all the time, and then once she drops it and leaves it behind, that’s when her world starts opening up. But the whole comfort you offer in this song is “just give me a call.”
JD: It’s funny. When they told me that was the idea of the video, I thought that was hilarious. The whole thing was that she couldn’t give me a call because she didn’t have her phone on her. What I liked about it was that when we were kids, it was all about the prince coming in to save the day -- and I don’t like that. I like being able to fix your own problems, and that to me is the stronger message, that she fixed it herself instead of leaning on me. So the fact that she couldn’t call me meant that she had to fix it herself.
HLS: Any favorite moments?
JD: My favorite scene is when she’s dancing to the guy with the guitar -- that’s the most comforting part of the video to me. He’s not an actor. He was just out there, and she got into it. That was the actress’s -- her name is Monique -- it was her first music video. To me it was really cool because I was barely in the video, and to me this is something that was very San Diego. Everyone who worked on it is from here, and it’s all their first swing at it. I’m really proud of the way it turned out. I think it’s a really cool video not just for us but for San Diego as well.
Josh Damigo plays a set alongside the video release on Friday, Nov. 14, at Lestat’s, 9 p.m.
Hannah Lott-Schwartz, a San Diego native, moved back to the area after working the magazine-publishing scene in Boston. Now she’s straight trolling SD for all the music she missed while away. Want to help? Hit her up with just about anything at all over on Twitter, where -- though not always work-appropriate -- she means well.
