Americana Highways brings you this video premiere of HEAP’s song “Renting,” from their recently released self-titled EP. HEAP was produced by Eric “Roscoe” Ambel; recorded, mixed and mastered by Mario Viele at Cowboy Technical Services, Brooklyn NY; with cover photography by Rob Celli and Halli Forster-Celli. “Renting” is Tim Heap on vocals and guitar; George Chambers on lead guitar and vocals; Paul Koenigsberg on bass and vocals; and Frank Saitta on drums with Eric Ambel on backup vocals and guitars.
The video was directed by Tim Heap, George Chambers and Pat Carpenter and edited by Pat Carpenter. With eery, dramatic and spellbinding footage of really vacant Brooklyn in 2020, HEAP reminds us of our mortality over rock ‘n roll. “Someday, somebody’s gonna take our place” is all too hauntingly true.
I’ve been renting ever since I left my parents house, and never dreamed of owning — always seemed unattainable. The song is really about impermanence, and how material things are unimportant but get in the way. The good things in life are your relationships with other people and memories of them. It’s pretty simple, but difficult to say without sounding like a brochure for a rehab facility or a meditation retreat. Hey, I tried with this song.
I had the concept for the video for a couple of years: shooting a bunch of POV footage from our real life, walking around Brooklyn. I figured we’d assemble a bunch of stuff over time and then we’d have some cool stuff to choose from. When the pandemic lockdown kicked in, there wasn’t much to do here except go out for a walk, so George {HEAP lead guitar, George Chambers} and I started shooting stuff with our phones on our respective walks. There was a ghost town vibe that’s pretty unusual when you’re used to how hopping the city typically is, and that was cool, and kind of lent itself well to the feeling of the song. Pat Carpenter, our old drummer, is a video editor by profession, and I feel like his work on this was as creative as the footage we shot. I’ve always been a fan of videos that let you focus on the song and maybe add to the listening experience. George really struck gold with the hospital shot, and we were happy to get a little tribute to healthcare workers in there–those people are pretty heroic in normal times, let alone this thing.
Order here: https://heapnyc.bandcamp.com/album/heap-ep