Permafrost was formed in Norway in 1982. Meanwhile, Daryl Bamonte was a roadie and then road manager (and stand-in keyboard player!) for Depeche Mode in the 1980s. He later worked with The Cure.
Now that Bamonte has joined Permafrost, he’s brought special road trip footage with him. He filmed it during Depeche Mode’s Music For The Masses tour in 1987.
If you suffer severely from motion sickness, be aware that the video is shot from within moving vehicles. Now that we’ve all got video capability in our pockets, it could seem lo-fi, maybe even a little quaint. Yet it’s important to appreciate the expense and novelty of video cameras back in the day. As well as how different the sprawling freeways and giant signs were to Brits in the 80s. Plus, this snapshot offers us an intriguing glimpse of the recent past. We can spot familiarities and changes. There’s a sense of decline in the footage now. Was it palpable then?
Permafrost’s song Restore Us comes from the perspective of a band that was part of the first post-punk wave and are now part of the new wave.
If you’re a fan of music films, check out in earnest’s short film for their new EP, reasons to stay alive.
You can also check out Doc ‘N’ Roll festival, a hybrid in cinema and online music documentary festival.