Premiere: Willaris. K and WaveIQ - "Chapel"
The video was directed by Mortis Studio, the creatives behind music videos from Tame Impala, Earl Sweatshirt, and Siifu. Mortis Studio had this to say on WaveIQ and the making of “Chapel”:
“We had so much fun basically sitting in an empty studio with Wave and letting his energy do all the work. Dude was an unmatched pro and we probably could have walked away after the first run, but we sat around and played with ideas together and were able to catch some incredible moments. In post, we got to experiment with GAN computer learning for a few shots as well as play with some of our favorite FX. The song is fast and catchy so in the edit we tried to match the energy.”
The song erupted from an all-night session at legendary producer Rick Ruben’s “Shangri-La” studio in Malibu, the birthplace of many musical triumphs. The monstrous bass was provided by Passion Pit’s Nate Donmoyer and commanded in production perfection by Tim Anderson. The song, the video, and the vision, truly, is nothing short of a fixed moment in music history.
office sat down with Willaris. K and WaveIQ to speak on the experience and give us insight into what it was like to be a part of such a momentous occasion.
Left — Courtesy of WaveIQ
Right — Photo by Joshua Camp
I wanted to get right into it, what was the process behind devising this video?
Willaris. K—Well the song itself is different from anything I’d released before so I just wanted to do something completely different visually from what I'd done with past videos. All of the visuals for my LUSTRE EP were black and white and digital so I wanted this to juxtapose that and capture the rawness of ‘Chapel.’
WaveIQ—Mainly, I just wanted to make the visual a full energy blast as far as my performance. Going all in and being as energetic as the song itself.
What inspirations did you want to draw from?
Willaris. K—I used to watch Rage here in Australia every Saturday morning and loved the videos of the late 90s, early 2000s. But the main inspiration for me was wanting to incorporate color into the video to match the energy of the track.
WaveIQ—I really wanted to captivate those super energetic underground New York rap videos of the 90s, and really position my energy into it as if everything we were doing was as gritty and raw as that era.
What were the visual and written messages in the video getting at?
Willaris. K—The lyrics.
WaveIQ—Definitely the lyrics.
I also wanted to say congrats to Wave on the new album, I’ve been listening to it pretty nonstop. How has the reception been? I’m from the DMV myself so it’s nice to see one of our own popping off.
WaveIQ—I appreciate that man! It’s been insane. I literally just decided to release the album independently to showcase some of this music I had been harvesting for about four or five years, and the reactions from people have honestly blown me away. I never thought so many people would connect to what I create at this level.
You helped produce SYRE by Jaden, what was it like on an album that has been mythicized by Gen Zs?
WaveIQ—Jaden was honestly one of the first artists to ever reach out to me to work on stuff and I definitely appreciate all of the knowledge and things he taught me about being a part of the industry. It’s crazy because it seems so long ago but I look back on it and it’s also like every year since I had produced ‘Fallen’ for him and worked on that album, something major has happened in my career that constantly accelerates and adds to my story. It’s amazing.
What it was like to produce the track at Rick Rubin's Shangri-La?
It was amazing! Shangri-La is an incredible studio to work out of and it really helped build the energy of the song.
I also wanted to know a little about your process Willaris, how do you go about connecting the audio to the visual in your representations?
Willaris. K—The only idea I had coming into "Chapel" is that I wanted it to be colorful, twisted, aggressive, etc. to match the songs. I wanted it to represent the creative process behind the music which was basically a rave itself.
Now I wanted to ask you both about working with Mortis. A lot of greats have gone through that agency, what was the creative process like?
Willaris. K—Fast and efficient. They captured what "Chapel" is perfectly. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to meet them as I’m locked down in Melbourne but they nailed it!
WaveIQ—Working with them was sick, we were able to really create and work together to master what I believed Willaris really wanted as far as the video goes. Since he was in Australia and we shot it here in California, I really wanted to make sure everything was lined up to the point that when Willaris saw the video he saw the song come to life in the best way possible. I think Mortis did an incredible job with everything and it was a joy shooting with them.
How does it feel to be recognized by a studio that is so passionate about their projects?
Willaris. K—It’s amazing. I was a fan of their work before without realizing because I’d seen a video they’d done for Earl. When they came through with the treatment I was so psyched. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out.
WaveIQ—They are definitely super hands-on and creativity friendly. We played around with hundreds of ideas and ways of doing different shots, all for it to come out incredible!
Anything else y’all wanted to say?
Willaris. K—Thank you, stay safe, love.
WaveIQ—Let Go. Beat Hit The Tempo.
