How A Punk Band Got Kevin Rudd & Tony Abbott In Their Video

Super Best Friends

With the new video clip from Canberra punk band Super Best Friends going viral thanks to its cameos from Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Bob Katter and more, the band's bassist Matt Roberts tells theMusic.com.au that Rudd used the opportunity to take a swipe at The Daily Telegraph and Joe Hockey would only be in it if they sounded 'more like Nickelback'.

Roberts, a political cameraman for the ABC, spent three months approaching politicians and media personalities, filming and then editing the video in Canberra's corridors of power.

“Before my shifts and after my shifts I wandered the corridors and pretty much asked pollies the question – 'Would they be in the music video?'” he said today. “It's something they don't get asked an awful lot.”

Round And Round is a two-minute blast of the media and political cycle, particularly the spin. A highlight of the video, which has racked  over 50,000 views in a matter of hours, is Kevin Rudd, then a backbencher, grinning over a copy of The Daily Telegraph and dancing along to the track.

“He was actually the very first person we got on board,” Roberts says, “we did it before he became Prime Minister as well, so he was just a humble back bencher. I told him what the song was about, the media cycle and [that it would be] having a go at yourself, tongue-in-cheek. And he said, 'Oh, if it's about the media let me hold up a paper,' and he just did what he did.

“We didn't direct him, he just grabbed the paper and did that little dance move.”

Despite the star-studded appearances (which also includes Rob Oakeshott, Christine Milne and Nick Xenophon) not everyone got on board with Super Best Friends, with Liberal Joe Hockey a notable exception. As Roberts was filming the segments he was cutting the video together with the track, to offer an example of the finished product.

“Most people enjoyed [the song],” Roberts said. “Mr Joe Hockey, who was one of the decliners… I probably didn't explain it well enough when I showed him the clip. He got up and said, 'Oh, the song's terrible! Maybe if it was Nickelback or something I'd do it.' And I was, 'Ah, I sort of wrote this song, Joe.' He backed off a bit and was like, 'Oh, I'll think about it'. Now that I got Tony Abbott in there people like Joe Hockey and Julie Bishop probably would have been interested.”

He added, “There were some that were very tricky and we had several people decline – obviously not everyone I asked wanted to be in it. But the independents like Xenophon, Katter and Oakeshott were pretty easy to deal with because… they don't have the major parties at their back telling them what to do and what not to do.

“I have a fairly good relationship with one of Tony Abbott's press secretaries and she was optimistic that he'd do it but she had to ask him. Once she knew that Rudd was in it and other Labor people and Liberal people were in it wasn't that much of a big deal and they couldn't have a crack at each other for not governing the country.”

With the video set to sit amongst the best footage of this year's election – alongside the Liberal party's James Diaz caught in the headlights and One Nation's 'Islam is a country' (now-ex) candidate – the band are hoping to capitalise post-election.

“We had to hold off on gigs because I've been on the election trail, but we'll have a run of shows towards the end of the year, maybe with a new single. We can never do another video again after this.”