Who: Krokus - Screaming In The Night (1983)
Where: Baker Beach, The Presidio
It's funny how the Krokus video from Umlaut's recent San Francisco post inspired alot of e-mails from readers of this space; I now stand corrected about the filming location, which I had always thought was The Marin Headlands. Also, I just knew that several members of The Umlaut Nation would bite on sharing their experiences at the filming with me (HA!).
Submitted by Dalia:
Screaming In The Night was filmed at Baker Beach. Trust me, I was there (was it me you were referring to cutting school to be an extra or one of your many other legion?). You can see me in the parade if you don't blink and freeze frame, I'm walking next to Randy Bachman.
Dalia (on the right) at the 1:01 minute mark!I had forgotten Jane Dornacher was in it. R.I.P.
Given Dalia's insight I stand corrected: The 'Screaming In The Night' video WAS filmed in San Francisco! Krokus..... Dog bless 'em.. and right behind Dalia's account came Leah's memory of the day:
That's funny.. I did cut school with a bunch of friends and was an extra in that Krokus shoot at Baker Beach too! Brings back some memories to be sure. I recall wearing some weird ensemble of red and gold rags as a dress and they ratted our hair up, oh The Eighties....
... and then came another classic San Francisco Metal memory from Old Metal Erik:
OK, Mr. Umlaut Man. I, too, was there, and I feel compelled to share my memories. Yep, I remember the day well.
My friend Crystal had heard the announcement on KRQR that they would be filming at the Baker Beach bunkers, and they were inviting people to participate as extras. What?! A new Krokus video being filmed on the beach and spitting distance from our school campus??!! We had quite a little cluster of Metalheads at George Washington High, and had no problem recruiting a small posse to ditch class and go make a Metal video. Hell yeah!
We made our way to the bunkers, and waited for hours with a crowd of extras before being called into the "hair and make-up" trailer. They dressed us up like a bunch of weird futuristic peasants, gave us crappy box lunches and made us wait around some more.
Our big break comes about 4 minutes and 25 seconds into the video, when Marc Storace escapes his captors by climbing down a mysterious ladder into some strange diner. When he looks up at the TV in the corner, he sees himself performing in front of a crowd of weird futuristic peasants, and there we are, fist-banging away to one of the tamest "Metal" songs ever. Does it even qualify?
George Washington High down front at the 4:25 minute mark!The only real excitement of the day was when one of our posse decided to steal a large case filled with camera lenses, belonging to the late great photographer Randy Bachman. I won't name the culprit, but it's safe to say that he is well known to many within The Umlaut Nation. Since Baker Beach is in The Presidio, which at the time was still an Army base, the Military Police were involved, and Randy got his lenses back.
Not the funnest day, but it definitely beat going to school! Plus, we all got Headhunter shirts, which I never wore; it's probably still in a box in my garage. Anyway, Krokus had already lost the plot at that point, and were obeying bad advice from lame American Record Execs. This video is evidence of that fact. I'm gonna go crank up Metal Rendezvous or Hardware, for old time's sake...
Trivia: The late photographer Randy Bachman also appeared in the Scorpions - 'No One Like You' video.
Click HERE and HERE to see Umlaut's Krokus memories... For a brief moment in time, that band from Switzerland actually meant something to me. Remember when Krokus toured with Motörhead in 1982? Me too..
'American Woman' 7" single - 1982(From the Umlaut Archives)
