Having popped-up Shitdisco and scared the bejesus out of Peaches, Price James' latest promo sees Beth Ditto donning gold spandex and enough jewels to bail out the American economy. On the day the band's new album, Music For Men, is released, we spoke to James about glitz, guilt and the glamour of LA.

Was this the first time you'd worked with Beth and the guys?

Yeah, I hadn't hooked up with them before this video. I met Nathan the guitarist and had a bed party at the Sanderson Hotel with him and 2 female friends. We laughed all night, making prank calls. It was kind of like regressing to being a teenager again but it was hilarious (you had to be there). Bryan Younce was the commissioner at Sony, he is amazing, just a really lovely, chilled guy. He liked my Shitdisco video and we've been trying to get the right job to work together on.


What was the concept for the video? And how involved were the band in coming up with ideas?

As the song was called Heavy Cross, I just imagined all this religious iconography. I was thinking about guilt and pain and then remembered the story from my Catholic school days of Moses and the golden idols. From there the gold idea just sort of happened. I really just wanted to make something super glam, something fabulously glitzy. You could say I'm somewhat camp. The band is great, always putting in ideas and they have a great sense of art and good taste. It was a pleasure to work with them. Sometimes bands have no clue; that's the nightmare situation when you have to bite your tongue.


So you shot this one in LA - was that to fit in with the band's tour schedule?

Yeah, we shot in LaLa because of schedules. I love LA. I've been a bunch of times. I'm the palest white guy in the world with my blue Celtic skin, but I realised I love the dry heat of California. You never sweat. But I hate bright sun so I was walking round town with a parasol. Many a tough man would shout at me as I walked down the road with my plus fours and booties.


What was the shoot like?

The shoot was a lot of fun. Beth, Nathan and Hannah are hilarious. We were basically doing comedy routines for the entourage. I think at one point Beth said she was going to pee herself. The shoot day was very long. There was more glitter than an Olympic opening show. The American crews are super slick and drilled, much like the British ones, but all the equipment seemed to be super new. It's all about the toys.



Can you tell us a bit about the outfits?

Nova Dando made the gold outfits. She liaised with an incredible designer called Brian Litchenberg. He works in LA but he's got a London edge; his style's not too overly polished. Plus he's a really lovely guy. Nova is the best stylist I've worked with and we continue to work together.

The fashion element to the video was always going to be the main thing for me as Beth is kind of a fashion icon now. It took a lot to convince my American office how important this was. She has more press than Kate Moss these days so she had to look literally a million dollars. She was draped in Alexander McQueen.