Hammer and Tongs: Take a trip back to the 1990s with Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith’s impressive run of music videos and movies.
Hammer and Tongs was the pseudonym of two British director and producing legends, and you’re a bigger fan of them than you thought you were.
I was lucky enough to meet and interview British filmmaker Garth Jennings in London late last week. The director was in town to discuss his latest film Sing, the animated extravaganza featuring the vocal talents of Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton and many more of Hollywood’s current A-list. The film is Jennings’ first for nearly nine years, and is really worth checking out this weekend – whatever your age or musical/ film tastes.
Sing
Before the ambitious, five-year long journey ofbringing Sing to screens, Jennings was bashing out content with his production outfit ‘Hammer and Tongs’. In 2007, Jennings and producing partner, Nick Goldsmith – the other half of H&T, brought their second (and arguably best) film to cinemas, the independent modern classic Son Of Rambow. This very unique movie revolves around a couple of kids in 1980s England, who, one summer attempt to make an action film inspired by the Sylvester Stallone classic First Blood. It is a heartwarming coming-of-age tale that really resonated with me – also a child of that defining decade. The film is superb, and if you’ve not seen it, make sure you track it down as soon as humanly possible.
Son Of Rambow
Jennings’ and Goldsmith’s big Hollywood debut was of course their previous film, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the big-screen adaptation of the Douglas Adams cult classic – a film which certainly put him on the map, owing to the much-loved source material and its faithful movie execution by Jennings and his team.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
But of course, while Jennings has those three films to his name, with Goldsmith producing the first two, their filmmaking history goes much deeper, and upon doing research for my interview with Jennings, I found out that I was much more of a fan than I ever thought I was.
Here’s a look back at some of the best of Hammer and Tongs’ output over the 17 years that they were together.
Prepare for awesomeness… and a glorious trip down memory lane..
Skunk Anansie – Weak
British indie band Skunk Anansie were absolutely huge back in the mid to late nineties, and the track ‘Weak’ is one of their strongest, and indeed most popular. The video is told from the point of view of a collapsed filmmaker on an airport runway, and is absolute genius. The filmmaker is seen falling over at the start of the video, with the band playing out the track for most of the duration in his general direction. Proper nineties rock.
Ash – A Life Less Ordinary
It seems apt that Garth Jennings has a new film out this very weekend on the same day as Danny Boyle. The two (kind of) collaborated for Ash’s ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ for this 1997 music video from the film of the same name, starring Ewan McGregor. Littered with footage from the film, the video shows the band playing the title song in the middle of a race track. All is going swimmingly, until a few race cars crash into them. The band then take to the tops of each car and carry on playing. Brilliant.
Pulp – Help The Aged
Another classic where the filmmakers decide to plonk Jarvis Cocker in a stair lift for some of its duration. Pulp were among the biggest bands of the nineties, and their 1997 track ‘Help The Aged’, from the album ‘This Is Hardcore’, is one of their best. With really a rather dreary colour palette, the filmmakers showed off a very different style with this one.
Fatboy Slim – Right Here, Right Now
Jennings showed a hint of his love of animation for Right Here, Right Now, a track from British DJ Fatboy Slim’s iconic 1990s album You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby. This one reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, beaten by Westlife, but the video was everywhere at the time. In just three and a half minutes, the process of evolution is covered from around 350 billion years ago from a single cell organism, all of the way through to an modern day obese human. This still remains one of the best of all of Norman Cook’s many original promos.
Supergrass – Pumping On Your Stereo
From the genius ‘Right Here, Right Now’ to the master puppetry on show in this 1999 video from indie band Supergrass. Using the band’s actual faces, and puppets for their bodies, the video is timeless and still stands up today – 18 years on!
Blur – Coffee and TV
Who could forget the walking milk carton in this classic video from Hammer and Tongs from 1999? The promo features the character of “Milky” searching for the band’s guitarist Graham Coxon, who appears as a missing person’s face on its side. The video received huge acclaim, and bagged Best Video at the NME Awards and the MTV Europe Awards. In 2005, it was voted the 17th greatest pop video of all time in a poll by Channel 4, and set the scene for what was to come from its talented creators.
Of course, this is just the very tip of the iceberg in terms of the duo’s iconic history of music video creation. Videos for the likes of Badly Drawn Boy, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Travis, Beck, Vampire Weekend and even Robbie Williams are in their very impressive showreel, and of course, most can be found online.
Sadly, Hammer and Tongs parted company in 2012. Jennings has obviously gone on to the greatness of Sing, which opens in UK cinemas from today, while Goldsmith has gone on to producing other projects, including Vincent Haycock’s 2016 Florence + the Machine film The Odyssey – so their legacy continues.
At the time of their parting, Jennings revealed the origins of their iconic production company’s name:
“Why are you called Hammer & Tongs?” Well, because it summed up how hard we worked and how much passion, energy and care we put into everything we made.”
Your legacy is certainly evidence of that.
For more info on Garth Jennings, visit his official website.
Sing is now playing everywhere.
