Belfast punx Problem Patterns release their album Blouse Club tomorrow on Alcopop! records, already hotly tipped to be one of the most important releases this year. So to get the party started here’s their DIY-made video for one of our favourite tracks from the album, ‘Picture of Health’.
This furiously paced perfect punk banger acts as an exorcism for those pesky body image demons, and it’s a hard-relate here:
The song is about my personal issues with chronic illness, both physical and mental. When you’re sick, sometimes you end up with all these unanswered questions and a lack of control over what’s happening to you – you become desperate to be the old you, or you grieve what you think could have been. There’s a lot of self hatred. It’s not necessarily about self love or toxic positivity, but just accepting how things are. Diet culture is also something that has affected me my whole life. You hear phrases like “get your body back” as if you are meant to be the same size and shape forever. You might not always be happy with your body, but we all need to be kinder. We only get the one. For the video, I thought a lot about the term “body horror” – we didn’t have a budget at all for this one, so I wasn’t about to go full Cronenberg, but I still wanted to lean into something creepy. I wanted to turn my personal demons into actual characters that the viewer can see. I thought it would be really funny if they were just following me around on an otherwise mundane day: trying to exercise, going to work. Constantly nagging at me while I try to do these tasks. In the end, I go home and we all cuddle on the sofa. They are a part of me whether I like it or not. I found the masks in a pound shop and we had Beverley, Ciara and Jake McCrea (Moon Landing) who stood in for Beth. Aileen (This Ship Argo, who also helped Beverley with “Advertising Services”) filmed on my phone as I had to be on screen. It was all shot and edited within a few hours. I had no idea they were all making eye contact with the camera until I was putting it together, which made it really funny and genuinely creepy.
Alanah Smith
Problem Pattern’s album Blouse Club is released 27th October 2023 via Alcopop! Records