James Slater, Director's Statement:
In December 2002, my friend Neil showed up at my flat in Toxteth, Liverpool, beaming. Alan Wills, manager of Britain’s hottest new band, The Coral, had called— they wanted us, two broke, DIY music video directors, to shoot their next promo.
The single was Don’t Think You’re The First, a haunting, psychedelic shuffle. The label had planned a £50k video, but the band, skeptical of industry gloss, scrapped it in favour of our lo-fi, Mini-DV approach. We arrived at the shoot with two camcorders strapped to a plank—our makeshift Steadicam.
The Coral were a gang—insular, tight-knit, and uninterested in industry games. But once you were in, you were in. That job changed everything. Within weeks, we were in L.A. filming Pass It On, then in Holland for Bill McCai, always just Neil, me, and a spare pair of hands. Our scruffy, no-tech videos somehow fit perfectly between the polished promos on Sony’s roster.
My filmmaking career started with The Coral, and in many ways, always leads back to them. So when James Skelly approached me to make a film celebrating their debut album, it felt inevitable. I dug out my old Mini-DV
tapes, picked up boxes of scrapbooks, and pieced together a story.
Footage of backyard wrestling matches, kung fu films, and Easy Rider remakes (retitled Lazy Rider on the Wirral) revealed a band rooted in friendship—a group of misfits who just wanted to play music together. In interviews, a clear story emerged: they weren’t chasing fame, they were chasing greatness. Rob Stringer, head of Sony, once told me, They could’ve been massive, but they didn’t want it. He was right. They didn’t want to be the biggest—just the best.
Even today, artists seek me out because of my work with The Coral. They’re one of the most influential British guitar bands of the new millennium, and I hope this film shines a light on a group that deserves far more recognition.
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