Alice in Chains, ‘Your Decision’ (Making of) — Exclusive Video
The video for Alice in Chains' delightfully glum 'Your Decision,' easily one of the most high-impact songs of their revitalized career, is quite of the flesh. It features characters in the thick of hedonistic pursuits, such as fetish sex, where someone brandishes an S&M whip, men gorging on big banquets of food with a beautiful woman as the table's centerpiece and masked characters. It's also about making choices to follow something that intrigues you. The 'making of' companion to the video is a stark contrast to the video's serious tone, with the Alice members trying to enjoy the act of making a video.
In the 'making of' clip, drummer Sean Kinney makes no bones about the drummer having the hardest job in a video featuring performance footage, as well as his own disdain for being in the spotlight. "I am nice and blurry," the sarcastic and hilarious drummer told Noisecreep. "I am like a ficus plant or a set piece. The drummer is always blurry in the background, and the other guys are the 'glamor shots.' I am OK with that."
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Kinney continued, "They shoot everyone else first, but you, as the drummer, play longer. If they do individual shots, you have to be in the background, playing behind each guy for continuity. Then they do your closeups and while they spend an hour on the other guys, they shoot the drummer for 10 minutes. I am like, 'Cool, great, let's get out of here.' You work five times harder, and you're never in the video, unless you're Tommy Lee with a spinning drum set."
Kinney said that even after shooting around 20 videos through the course of his band's career, he's still not a fan of the rigamarole. "It's not a natural process. It's interesting, all the work, but starring in it doesn't do anything for me. I'm not the 'look at me' guy," Kinney said.
The video was filmed at his beach house, which he claims saved on production costs. He said, "I don't even use that house much!" Wow, must be a nice problem to have, as the house is an eye-catcher. Kinney acknowledged, "It looks nice to some, but it's a fixer-upper." With a sarcastic huff, he also said, "The crew scuffed up my floors, which I just had redone." He didn't seem seriously bothered by this fact. But then again, he seems like a laid back, lighthearted dude.
The behind-the-scenes video was just another branch of the video tree for AIC. "It's common," Kinney said. "We didn't decide to do it. Anytime you shoot a video, there are people who film you filming the video. We have our own guy who comes with us, so he films the people filming us. It's ridiculous! It's us guys standing around eating peanuts, faking our song. 'Hey, let's stand in the corner and fake playing our song 400 times!'"