Local country music artist Larry Berrio will be breaking new ground when he shoots the music video for his single “Rock Town” in Sudbury during the week of Nov. 10.
Locations used for the video will include NORCAT's underground training facility in Onaping Falls, a slag pit owned by Fisher Wavy and Cranky Joe's bar. Berrio was originally supposed to be filming underground at Vale Inco, but couldn't because of the Steelworkers Local 6500 strike.
“At the country music awards in Vancouver, we got the green light from CMT (Country Music Television) saying that they would air the video,” said Berrio. “They said 'This is something that is going to be really different. Finally a video that isn't filmed on farmland and live on stage'.”
The song, which was co-written by Berrio, Sudbury native Gil Grand, and Brady Seals, speaks about the lives of miners.
“It's about what these people do. A lot of people don't realize that in the wintertime, miners will go underground before the sun comes up, and by the time they come up, the sun has already set. A lot of these miners don't even see daylight until the weekend,” he said.
Berrio said a Vancouver production company which regularly shoots videos for CMT is coming in to shoot the video, which will be released early in 2010. A “behind-the-scenes” feature is also being shot at the same time by a Toronto video crew.
More than 100 people will be involved in the video shoot, including some real miners.
The musician brought on board several financial and in-kind sponsors to defray the $125,000 to $150,000 production costs.
Fisher Wavy, Day Aviation, Cementation Canada, NORCAT, MTI Mining Technologies, MySudbury, Cranky Joe's, Tim Horton's and Neil's Independent Grocers, the City of Greater Sudbury and Steelworkers Local 6500 are among the businesses and organizations helping out.
Ryan Lipic, marketing manager for MTI Mining Technologies, said “never in a million years” would he have thought the company would be involved in a country music video shoot.
The company donated $20,000 towards the project, along with the use of a scoop tram and a truck, which will be used in the underground video shoot. “The scoop is pretty new, so we're going to have to muck it up to make it look used,” he said.
Day Aviation has donated one of its helicopters for the shoot. Aerial views of Sudbury will be filmed, including shots of the Big Nickel.
Berrio's album, RPM, was released a little over a year ago. Two of his singles, Boomerang and Boots or Hearts, have made the Canadian top 20 country hits list. His album is available for sale at Wal Mart locations across the country.
Rock Town will be released soon as a single on country stations across Canada, and on alternative stations in communities where there isn't a country station.
The musician said the timing of the video shoot is “weird,” given the fact that there's been a lot of layoffs in the Sudbury mining industry recently, and the ongoing labour strife at Vale Inco.
“I think that it's (the song) is going to have a big impact, more than it would have last year when the economy was doing really well. It may have gotten lost in the shuffle a little bit (last year),” he said.
“What everybody really needs right now is hope, and being able to say 'Man, that's what I do for a living, and that's what my dad does and my neighbours do. This is Rock Town. This is Sudbury. I'm really excited.”
For more information, go to www.larryberrio.com.
Lyrics to Rock Town
5 a.m., put your boots on
Out the door before that morning sun turns on
Drive your truck up to that smoke stack
Another dark day deep in that mine shaft
Light up the dynamite
Cause tonight is Friday night
In a Rock Town
It's a country music crazy crowd
Where the girls are dancin' all around
And the boys are carryin' on, stoned all night long
We're gonna have a blast
It's party time for the working class
Yeah, that's how it all goes down
In a Rock Town
The closest thing to hell a man can get
Working underground soaked in soot and sweat
Without your hardhat light on brother, you can't see Jack
Well it ain't no thing, cause we've got each other's back
Cram the cage, we're comin' up for air
Cause there's a whole other world out there
In a Rock Town
It's a country music crazy crowd
Where the girls are dancin' all around
And the boys are carryin' on, stoned all night long
We're gonna have a blast
It's party time for the working class
Yeah, that's how it all goes down
In a Rock Town
