THIS FM REPORTER WALKED TO THE YARD TO HEAR ABOUT SINGING IN A BIG COLD RIVER

Maybe you were one of the 1.2 million people who, in the last month, watched the “Mamma Mia” cover on YouTube entitled “THIS MAN FLEW TO JAPAN TO SING ABBA IN A BIG COLD RIVER” and wondered, “What inspired such an elaborate video?” According to the title of a popular post on a video subreddit, the impetus was this: “My girlfriend broke up with me after we planned a trip to Japan. So I brought my Dad instead… and made this music video.”  But, curious if there was more to the story than what the subreddit post proposed, FM reached out to the voice behind the video to clarify these rumors. Fortunately, the man in the Big Cold River himself, Austin B. Weber ’19, a joint Visual and Environmental Studies-Music concentrator, explained what really brought him to Japan.

FM: First off, could you give us some general background on the video—how did it come about?

ABW: I was in Japan for about a month at the beginning of the summer. I was there on a fellowship to make field recordings of Buddhist temple bells in and around Kyoto. The temples close every day at about five or so, and there were a few extra hours of daylight, so I could do whatever I wanted.

FM: At what moment did you decide, “I want to record "Mamma Mia"”?

ABW: Well, it’s a great song! I was in Italy before taking photographs and was traveling with my guitar. While I was there I started playing the song and it’s just something that I thought would be fun.

FM: One of the big draws of the video is that it takes place in the Big Cold River. How did that happen?

ABW: The river runs right through the middle of the city so it’s unavoidable. And I was living a block away from the river. I had this track and I thought, “Oh I should just sing this in random places because it would be funny and cool.” And I was lucky—my dad came and joined me for a portion of the trip so he was there to film. We just went around Kyoto in the afternoons for like two or three days. Some of it’s filmed on top of a mountain, some of it’s filmed in a river, some of it’s filmed in the middle of crowds on the street. All of the singing is live.

FM: Yeah, even looking through the various comments online, a lot of people have seen your dad in like the reflection–

ABW: In the reflection of the bus! Almost immediately, that’s one of the first things people said—“Is that your dad?” It is.

FM: Are there any other moments in the video that you find are your personal favorite or any Easter eggs people haven’t seen yet?

ABW: My favorite one to do was on top of the mountain.  We did a lot of takes of that one—when I’m yelling on the mountain and I do the arm punch.  So there’s a really funny compilation that could be made of me doing that a bunch of times in a row.

FM: Did you get any strange reactions from passersby when you were recording?

ABW: Yeah, we cut to some people’s faces in the video, but honestly people were pretty cool about it. One thing interesting about this river is that people go stand and practice music under the bridges and stuff because it’s a really shallow river. There’s a guy who would play his saxophone under one of the bridges, so really it wasn’t totally weird that I was doing that in the river. Everywhere else it was, though.

FM: And after the recording, mixing, mastering, how long did it take to make the whole video?

AW: I don’t know, it took me probably two days to make the music and another two days to make the video. Maybe three or four days in early June. And then when I got back to campus, I spent 2 days mixing it. And then one of my good friends, Nick Zampiello, mastered it in like a day.

FM: What has surprised you most about the reception of the video?

ABW:  I don’t know; it’s been really fun and wonderful. It’s nice when people like the things you do. I only make stuff because I think it’s cool and fun and my friends think it’s cool and fun. And I’m lucky I like what I do and it’s a crazy cool bonus that other people like it too.

FM: The style of your video and singing seem very unique. Are you inspired by other singers or artists?

ABW: Well, the video is done largely in the style of a great maker of music and videos—Jack Stratton of Vulfpeck. They’re a group I love a lot. I really like how James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem does stuff, also people like Bill Wurtz—same sort of vibe there. I trained as a jazz singer for a really long time, but you can’t tell. But I had a lot of fun. I just try to sound like me.

FM: Why do you think the video has been such a hit? It’s been up for what, 10 days?

ABW: Well, there’s nothing wrong with it, that’s a bonus. There’s not really anything at stake. It’s a good song—it’s just fun. I wasn’t trying very hard when I was making the video, it’s just a nice easy process. And I think that comes through. It was just a fun thing we were doing. I think people like watching stuff like that.

FM: Are you aware that you’ve already inspired a parody video on YouTube?

I show Austin a video posted just one day before that’s made in the style of his own ABBA cover. But, this time, it’s Sinatra’s “New York New York” and the “Big Cold River” has been swapped for a “Small Puddle of Urine.”

ABW: If there’s one thing to get out of the Mamma Mia video, it’s that! It’s like, the world is so fun and crazy it behooves us all to go out and make something and have fun. That’s what life’s all about. It’s about doing and moving.