Benson Manor are a duo from Queensland, Chris Knight and Phil Behrens, who are lifelong friends and musical collaborators for over two decades. They released their debut single, ‘Dirty Weekend’, in May and earlier this month followed it with ‘Let’s Talk’.
‘Let’s Talk’ had its genesis in sadness – in mates they’ve lost too soon – and it acknowledges the darkness that can dwell in country towns and rural communities, sometimes simply because of the challenges of living and working on the land. But its mission is one of hopefulness, encouraging conversation as a way to overcome isolation.
This mission is reinforced by the music video, which is having its premiere here today (watch it below). The video was made by multiple Golden Guitar winner Duncan Toombs at The Filmery. Toombs himself is no stranger to songs that deal with the tougher parts of life, and from the band’s initial concept for the video he’s created a visual that is about community and connection.
‘We wanted to demonstrate how country males don’t talk about their feelings and how they bottle them up,’ say Behrens and Knight. ‘We wanted to let the audience ride the wave of emotion for both the male farmer and female farmer wife as they work through their issues of doing it tough on the farm with all the pressures of modern society. It’s finished off with the message that you’re not alone and that you can rely on your mates to rally together and support you no matter what you are going through.’
The video was shot in and around Tamborine and Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland. The house that appears in the video was for sale, which the band thought would be a perfect fit for the storyline. The café scene was filmed in Canungra at elSocial Café.
‘The owners were lovely,’ say the band, ‘and we were very lucky they let us film there, it is an extremely busy café!’
The final pub scene takes place at the Bearded Dragon Hotel in Tamborine – appropriately enough this pub supports country music in the area. Given the elements that lined up to great a video that was just right for the song, it’s no wonder that Benson Manor say that it ‘exceeded all expectations … we can’t believe we pulled a rabbit out of the hat! Amazing!’
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[…] have only recently started to release original music, first with ‘Dirty Weekend’ and now with ‘Let’s Talk’, a song about the power of talking out problems rather than leaving them festering […]