New York disco outfit Escort unveiled an expertly detailed and hilariously precise shot-for-shot remake of Journey’s notorious “Separate Ways” video for their new song “Outta My Head.” The track will appear on the band’s upcoming LP, City Life, out April 12th.
Released in 1983, the “Separate Ways” video found Journey performing the song — or, more infamously, pretending to perform the song on air instruments — on a dock while a stylish woman walked around, oblivious to them. At the end, it’s revealed that the woman was asleep and listening to the song on headphones.
The band’s attention to detail is stunning, as they used the 3D view in Google Maps to “scout out the coastline for miles around us,” says producer and the video’s co-director Eugene Cho and custom-made all of the shirts seen in the original video. “I painted the model’s shirt by hand,” adds Cho.
The ridiculousness of the clip made it an easy punching bag — even Beavis and Butthead had a field day with it 10 years after its release — but Escort’s recreation is a loving homage to all that Eighties cheese. Escort gleefully ape every element of the video, from the pretend instrument-playing to the wardrobe to a custom metal keyboard stand that Cho tells Rolling Stone took a day to make and appears for just a couple seconds at the start of the clip. The “Outta My Head” video even arrives with a built-in side-by-side video so viewers can compare the two.
The video also stars actress Bridget Barkan in the Steve Perry role, and she expertly mimics all of the lead singer’s over-the-top movements. “It was definitely a labor of love that couldn’t have happened without lots of prep,” Barkan says. “I watched every shot and filmed myself doing it, then of course lit a candle and prayed to the altar of Steve Perry for his blessing of melodrama.”
Cho notes that once Escort decided to remake the “Separate Ways” video they realized they weren’t the first to come up with the idea. “We soon found that there is a rich online history of people recreating that exact video,” he says. “There is something very special about it that just screams to be remade. For our version, we really wanted to just hold a mirror up to it. We’re not trying to exaggerate it or mock it. All the amazing Eighties video tropes, the pure intensity of the performances and the bizarre air instrument gag make it so special.”
Escort will embark on a brief tour starting April 17th at Brooklyn’s Elsewhere.