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New Zealand Alternative Rock Trio CAPITAL THEATRE Reveal “Fait Accompli” Music Video; Debut Album ‘A Hero’s Journey’ Out Now

DT: JUNE 27, 2022

FM: KELLY WALSH, MITCH SCHNEIDER, LYNDIE WENNER / SRO PR

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NEW ZEALAND ALTERNATIVE/ROCK TRIO
CAPITAL THEATRE
RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM
‘A HERO’S JOURNEY’
STREAM HERE

BAND REVEAL MUSIC VIDEO FOR RADIO SINGLE
“FAIT ACCOMPLI”
SHARE Q&A ON MAKING OF THE VIDEO & SONG’S MEANING

Pictured, from left: Roy Oliver (guitar, vocals), Adam Stevenson (vocals, piano, guitar), Paul Reid (drums, vocals)
Credit: Robert M. Knight

Auckland, New Zealand-based trio CAPITAL THEATRE have delivered a distinctive take on alternative rock with their debut full-length album A HERO’S JOURNEY released last Friday, June 24. Recorded with Grammy Award-winning legendary producer Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Steve Vai), its 10 tracks display the group’s melodic and edgy guitar/keyboard-driven sound while lyrically drawing inspiration from Joseph Campbell’s comparative mythological book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Guest string arrangements were added by composer David Campbell (The Rolling Stones, Beck) to add a multi-dimensional feel as the album follows along the archetypal hero’s journey throughout life.

Concurrent with the release of A HERO’S JOURNEY, the band have revealed a spellbinding music video for their radio single, “Fait Accompli,directed by Brian Cox (The Used, Bring Me The Horizon) which can be seen streaming below or via YouTube HERE. “Fait Accompli” marks the first track on the album and represents the idea of the hero’s entrance into one’s own journey, aka life, without any choice but to advance. The video was filmed in Los Angeles earlier this month while the band was in town to record material for their next album, once again with Clink at recording helms. Read more about the song’s deeply personal connection to the band and how the video came together in a Q&A with vocalist/guitarist/pianist Adam Stevenson below.

CAPITAL THEATRE have captivated audiences worldwide with their gripping music videos including the evocative clip for their previous single “Delicately Poised” which celebrates self-identity and was filmed in a historic underground adult entertainment club in Barcelona with a vibrant collective of artists, dancers and performers presenting their authentic selves. Released March 1, it has since garnered over 15 million views and over 945k streams. Watch/listen here: https://ffm.to/delicatelypoised.

Formed in 2019, CAPITAL THEATRE band members (and longtime friends) Stevenson, Paul Reid (drums, vocals) and Roy Oliver (guitar, vocals), had just began to hone in their live routine with appearances at local Auckland clubs with A-list guest musicians including Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney and Bon Jovi lead guitarist Phil X before the global pandemic hit and put a halt to live music. During their recent visit to the States, they were able to return to the stages for a series of radio showcase gigs including a stop at The Gathering Festival (Lovely The Band, The Unlikely Candidates, Lit) in Ohio. They will next be seen on a headlining tour in support of A HERO’S JOURNEY across New Zealand from July 15 through August 6.

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Q&A with CAPITAL THEATRE

– ‘Fait Accompli’ is a phrase meaning something that’s happened and is irreversible therefore leaving no choice but to accept it. This is quite a powerful statement. What inspired you to write song and feature it as the first track on your debut album?

“The stars really aligned with this track. Because our album ‘A Hero’s Journey’ is based off the hero’s journey archetype popularized by Joseph Campbell, we needed a bold and defining song to open the journey, and we honed in on birth as the subject. But for our singer, Adam, the birth of his first daughter Esmè was an emergency event, six and a half weeks early. In many other similar cases either mother or child, or both, do not pull through.

So, with that very real experience as the nucleus to the song, the added notion of birth being a Fait Accompli was a very stimulating proposition. It is probably the most obvious and universally experienced Fait Accompli example, in our opinion. We wanted the song to sound like an ordeal which I think, with its stirring instrumental bridge and epic chorus, we achieve this in spades.”

– Throughout the song’s lyrics, there’s several references to something being created:

‘Climbing up a ladder to see the Milky Way / I peel off the lid and stare into the space I’ve made’ and ‘Its growing inside / Got a beating heart / There’s nowhere to hide / From the very start.’ What is being created? What will –or has– the creation impacted?

“Life is being created, the life, the unborn baby, is experiencing a Fait Accompli, their destiny is set, beyond their control, as a parent we bear great responsibility for deciding to create life.”

– You filmed the song’s music video while you were in Los Angeles with director Brian Cox. Why did you choose to film it there? What is the concept behind the video and how does it correlate with the song’s meaning?

“We love working with different creative people from around the world. Julie Gomez from Kalapa Studios in Barcelona was amazing with her concept and directing of the ‘Delicately Poised’ video, which gave us trust to keep exploring new creative partnerships. Filming in LA with Brian gave us great access to an amazing location, and while the video is not overly narrative driven, it meets the energy of the song and creates a unified piece of work. Brian has a brilliant portfolio of great work and to be honest, while in the past we’ve been very hands on with how our videos are produced, this time we kind of took a back seat, but there are some really stunning creative techniques, choreography (not from us) and a bit of ritual thrown in for good measure.”

– In previous videos, photo shoots and live shows, you’ve put on face makeup similar to that of clowns. For “Fait Accompli” you’ve left that off. What is the significance behind this? How does it tie into the overall theme of the album and/or band itself?

“Firstly, we must point out that our band name is ‘Capital Theatre,’ so you will always see elements of theatrical embellishment in our visuals. The clown is a character that was firstly developed for our music video for ‘People’ where we needed a character step change to show the band performance in a satirical way. I personally loved the character and used it for general entertainment and content creation during our NZ lockdowns. He’s a good friend of mine. We really enjoyed using it for ‘Delicately Poised’ especially given the song and videos themes of identity being explored. ‘Fait Accompli’ is a return to three mates playing a solid rock tune, no clown required.”

For more information on CAPITAL THEATRE, please visit:
WEBSITE | FB | IG

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For press inquiries, please contact:
SRO PR
Kelly Walsh – kwalsh@sropr.com
Mitch Schneider – mschneider@sropr.com
Lyndie Wenner – Lwenner@sropr.com


New Zealand Alternative Rock Trio CAPITAL THEATRE Share Provocative Video for “Delicately Poised”

DT: MARCH 1, 2022

FM: KELLY WALSH, MITCH SCHNEIDER, LYNDIE WENNER / SRO PR

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NEW ZEALAND ALTERNATIVE/ROCK TRIO
CAPITAL THEATRE
EXPLORE IDENTITIES IN MUSIC VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE
“DELICATELY POISED”
OUT TODAY, MARCH 1
LISTEN HERE

TAKEN FROM DEBUT ALBUM
‘A HERO’S JOURNEY’
DUE OUT JUNE 24

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

BAND SHARE NEW Q&A

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Pictured, from left: Paul Reid (drums, vocals), Adam Stevenson (vocals, piano, guitar), Roy Oliver (guitar, vocals); Credit: Robert M. Knight

New Zealand alternative rock trio CAPITAL THEATRE showcase a melodic and edgy guitar/keyboard-driven sound on their debut full-length album A HERO’S JOURNEY out June 24. It was recorded with Grammy Award-winning legendary producer Mike Clink (Guns N’ Roses, Steve Vai) at NRG Studios in Los Angeles, CA (along with some guitar recordings being completed at Slash’s Snakepit Studio) and lyrically takes inspiration from Joseph Campbell’s’ book The Hero With A Thousand Faces.

The band has shared a provocative music video for its latest single, “Delicately Poised,” underlining the track’s exploration of the human identity. Filmed at an adult entertainment club in Barcelona and with live footage taken in New Zealand, the video highlights authenticity and diversity. CAPITAL THEATRE co-directed the video with Julie Gomez of Kalapa Studios and also by Alex Hargreaves who shot the NZ-based content of the band’s performance.  Watch it streaming here, followed by an in-depth Q&A with the band. “Delicately Poised is available today, March 1, across all digital platforms.

From song to song, A HERO’S JOURNEY delivers unbridled energy drawn from guitarist Roy Oliver’s electrifying solos and sequences, drummer Paul Reid’s furiously pounding rhythms and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Adam Stevenson’s graceful and soul stirring piano work. The realm of their sound is further expanded with cinematic string arrangements completed by guest composer David Campbell (The Rolling Stones, U2, Beck) to add to its multi-dimensional otherworldly perception. Its 10 tracks reveal the undeniable chemistry they’ve honed through years of playing local pubs back home in Auckland, with A-list guest musicians including Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney and Bon Jovi lead guitarist Phil X.

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A HERO’S JOURNEY Track Listing
1. Fait Accompli
2. People
3. Second Skin
4. Long Way To Fall
5. Fire
6. Delicately Poised
7. Force To Fight
8. Time
9. Better Than This
10. Save A Stranger

Q&A on “Delicately Poised”
with CAPITAL THEATRE’S Adam Stevenson

The lyrics to the chorus—”It’s delicately poised/For the girls and the boys/To find their voice/And shut down the noise”—perfectly frame the song and the video. Is there a social message shared in this video you most want people to walk away thinking about?

ADAM STEVENSON: “Given the band wrote the album in the sequence of a hero’s journey archetype, ‘Delicately Poised’ sits at number six on the album, just before ‘Force To Fight,’ the crescendo battle song. When looking at the moment just before the battle, the experience that the hero undergoes is usually one of delving into the innermost cave, some kind of serious soul-searching and ultimately building up whatever gumption and resources required to fight the ensuing fight and seize the reward. So, what you have in the song ‘Delicately Poised’ is some very personal and intimate disclosures in the verse before it opens up to a much more universal chorus line. To me the chorus line can be interpreted a few ways, but what we were very aware of is that the use of the pronouns ‘girls and boys’ gave us almost ammunition and a conviction to celebrate and delve into gender identity and identity itself with the music video. We would expect viewers of this video and song to just feel and understand that uniqueness is cool and diversity should be embraced and celebrated.”

The title of “Delicately Poised” suggests something exquisite in character and delicate to the senses (smell, taste and color). How did the visual concept and character actors come about?

STEVENSON: “Because the song delves into themes of identity on the whole, we wanted to find an authentic space with authentic characters to be themselves within our music video. The characters in the video were all briefed to simply come as they are, or how they would normally make themselves up for their own art or performances. Each character is an artist, dancer or performer in their own right, so the team in Barcelona did a great job at finding these authentic beings and letting them celebrate their identity without any interruption or direction from us.

Due to New Zealand being in lockdown, we also needed to work globally to ensure we could shoot in locations that could film freely and in close proximity.”

Who directed the video, and how close was the director’s vision for this video compared to Capital Theatre’s vision?

STEVENSON: “The video was co-directed by Capital Theatre along with Bruno Amaral Pereira and Julie Gomez of Kalapa Studios and also by Alex Hargreaves who shot the NZ-based content of the band’s performance. There were many Zoom calls between us all to coordinate how these two worlds were going to come together, it was a real collaboration. From a relatively specific brief and mood board created by Capital Theatre, it was a real score for the band to land on this concept with the team at Kalapa Studios in Barcelona. They picked up our brief and took it to a really authentic place which is exactly what we were after. The band’s original brief needed to be tweaked given the separation between us in NZ and the shoot in Barcelona, so the idea of placing the band in the TV was chosen. From there, the narrative and dynamics of how these two worlds were to interact were mulled over at length, but the overall relationship is one where the characters in Barcelona are somewhat ritualistically entranced by the Capital Theatre ‘Delicately Poised’ act on an old TV set. Likewise, the Capital Theatre performance, which begins in black and white, is then affected by the ritual and we see a manicness evolve as the clown switches into colour and the TV set comes to life, as if the two worlds clearly have some influence over each other.”

–Is the club in the video a real place in Barcelona? If so, why was that location chosen and tell us a bit about the vibe of the club and how you heard about it?

STEVENSON: “When we landed on this concept, the location of Bagdad was the first suggestion from Kalapa Studio, and it was beyond perfect. Bagdad is a real underground adult entertainment club that has been putting on live sex shows for over 40 years. Again, this authenticity of using a space that has been involved in sexual liberation since 1975, was a key part in creating a video that is true in all aspects.”

–The cinematography in this video is excellent including the colors characters’ comfortable expressions along with their interaction. What was behind the decision to put Adam solo in the TV and in black & white?

STEVENSON: “We wanted to explore the identity of the clown further, having now used him in various videos and photoshoots. Given the songs exploration of identity we wanted to show a step-change or deterioration of the clown itself. So, the first part of the video shows the clown as composed and somewhat demure and classic, but by the end of the video he is frantic, makeup running and he is desperately clawing at the TV screen almost trying to breakthrough to the world of Bagdad through the TV screen. Within the Bagdad club we see the cast of characters inhabiting their own identities in a very comfortable and known way, as if this ritual is familiar to them and more importantly that they are bold and confident in themselves.”

–What excites and inspires the band most when viewing this video?

STEVENSON: “To us this song has an energy about it, beyond the lyrics and chord structures, there’s simply an energy that deserved a world to be made for it. So from our position of being locked down in New Zealand, we set about finding that world, and to see it come to life in this video with such exquisite characters and cinematography is a real pleasure for us. It has shown us that reaching out globally and finding other creative professionals to collaborate with is a really effective approach and ultimately has provided this song with a very authentic piece of content.”

For more information on CAPITAL THEATRE, please visit:
WEBSITE | FB | IG

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For press inquiries, please contact:
SRO PR
Kelly Walsh – kwalsh@sropr.com
Mitch Schneider – mschneider@sropr.com
Lyndie Wenner – Lwenner@sropr.com


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