Miss June Unveil Animated Video For 'I Don't Wanna Be Your Dog' (+ Interview)

Auckland garage punk four-piece Miss June are unveiling an awesome animated video for their latest single 'I Don't Wanna Be Your Dog' as they prepare to launch into a North Island tour with Aussie pals Hideous Sun Demon tomorrow night. Directed by Dr D Foothead, the clip pays homage to the style penned by American animation pioneer Max Fleischer, who conjured up many iconic characters including the likes of Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman. Feast your eyes on the clip below, and then scroll on to read our interview with frontwoman Annabel Liddell, and check out the tour dates...

Hey Annabel! So your new single ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Your Dog’ is awesome. Is the title a homage to the Iggy Pop classic?

Yeah totally, I had always wanted to cover 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' and am a huge Stooges fan. But I came quickly to the realisation that I didn't actually want to be anyone's dog... so we wrote our own version .. I guess you could call it a derivative anti-anthem?

The video is insane!! It has that classic bouncy cartoon feel ala early Disney, while being pretty contemporary and twisted. How did you connect with Dr D Foothead to make this?

Dr Foothead contacted us via the beautiful interweb pitching a collab and we hit it off and did the whole vid through email correspondence and trust baby.

Was there any initial brief or concept discussion for the clip, or did you just let Foothead run wild??

I had already been on a wave of watching heaps of Max Fleischer animation from the 1920s and 1930s so when Foothead contacted me it was actually perfect. I pitched this style of animation to him as a concept for our video and referenced some clips from Betty Boop and Haunted House (Disney 1929). Foothead was quote "stoked" with the brief and completely on board. He created all original characters for us as a modern take on pre-disney animation, and in the same way that Fleischer studios was competitive with Disney, they were all a little creepier and a little wackier.

Jade Fusco has been credited for the dance choreography. Can you fill us in on how that fits with the animation?

Word has it that ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Your Dog’ is the first taste of a new album from Miss June? Can you tell us a little bit about it?

'IDWBYD' is actually a track we recorded in 2015 at Blue Barn studios in Wellington with our friend James Goldsmith who is a great producer and audio engineer. I had decided I hated the recording at the time and trashed it. Then rediscovered it two years later and essentially we all went "woah this is raw and actually great - f*ck it lets release it!".

We are working on a new album. But this song is very different to the tracks found on it.. purely because of different studios, different production and the time and how our song writing has changed. 'IDWBYD 'is potentially a bonus track!! (Who releases their bonus tracks before their singles?! Us apparently...).

You’re about to hit the road for four shows with Hideous Sun Demon which should be a bunch of fun!! How did that team up come about??

We met Jakey, who's HSD's manager, in Melbourne when Bone Soup took us over to tour there. Jakey is awesome and the tour was an (un)holy and spontaneous union of bands/syncing of tour plans.

What are you looking forward to the most about the tour??

Hanging out with our Australian pals!! And test-driving the second half of our album live before we head to the studio to track it the following week.

Hideous Sun Demon
With Miss June

Tuesday 11th July, UFO, Auckland w/ Altered Blondes
Wednesday 12th July, Whammy Bar, Auckland w/ The Pleasure Majenta + Wax Chattels
Thursday 13th July, Lucky Bar, Wanganui *
Friday 14th July, Valhalla, Wellington w/ All Seeing Hand + Unsanitary Napkin
Saturday 15th July, King Arms, Auckland (Worn Out Collective Show)

*Miss June not attending

Tickets available HERE at UTR, and in-store at Flying Out (Auckland) and RPM/Slow Boat (Wellington).