ROCKIN THE NORTHERN WORLD: Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz and Joe Trohman on the set of Me & You video in UgandaI’m in my sitting room on a Tuesday morning watching MTV and, guess what I see…
The video Me & You by the rock boy band Fall Out Boy (FOB) but mostly I observe the Ugandan scenes in the video and I realise that it’s a Ugandan story then I remember…
FOB first announced their humanitarian trip to Uganda back in May with a plan to raise awareness about the plight of thousands of children displaced by the UPDF Vs LRA warfare and to urge the U.S. government to weigh in on the situation in the hope of stopping the suffering once and for all.
Led by bassist Pete Wentz, the FOB touched down in Uganda in July and they decided that the best way to highlight the plight in northern Uganda was to shoot a video — for the song I’m Like a Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You), a track that doesn't exactly instil one with a sense of international diplomacy.
But the puzzle was on how to make a video that encapsulates two decades of war for a song that’s chiefly about the ins and outs of a relationship gone awry?
But well, the band’s director Alan Ferguson and Invisible Children, the non-profit children’s aid group that sponsored the trip got it right by simply making the video a love story starring a pair of Ugandan teens.
Huh, have you ever seen a love story between IDPs — especially with a rock band — on Total Request Live (TRL) on MTV.
Shot over the course of five days in and around an actual displacement camp in Gulu, the video stars two Ugandan teens who are trying to make love work in a time of war.
“What’s truly groundbreaking is the majority of the video is the story of two young African kids, and what’s great about it is that it’s gonna humanise these people,” Invisible Children co-founder Bobby Bailey said. “I think it will connect to a lot of people. From the moment we arrived here, the kids here were telling us, ‘Please tell our story. And especially let America know about our story because they have a voice in the world, and they can help end this thing.’”
“The plan is to show that and then emphasise the idea that if we sent one senior policy adviser from the U.S. [to Uganda] that there’s greater potential to end the war [now] than ever — but for whatever reason, we’re just not committed to do that,” Wentz added. “Everyone’s been focusing so much attention on our band lately — and so many times, it’s the wrong kind of attention — [but] it’s all right if the cameras follow us to Africa.”
And I’m sure the eyes have also followed from and to Africa…
The video Me & You by the rock boy band Fall Out Boy (FOB) but mostly I observe the Ugandan scenes in the video and I realise that it’s a Ugandan story then I remember…
FOB first announced their humanitarian trip to Uganda back in May with a plan to raise awareness about the plight of thousands of children displaced by the UPDF Vs LRA warfare and to urge the U.S. government to weigh in on the situation in the hope of stopping the suffering once and for all.
Led by bassist Pete Wentz, the FOB touched down in Uganda in July and they decided that the best way to highlight the plight in northern Uganda was to shoot a video — for the song I’m Like a Lawyer With the Way I’m Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You), a track that doesn't exactly instil one with a sense of international diplomacy.
But the puzzle was on how to make a video that encapsulates two decades of war for a song that’s chiefly about the ins and outs of a relationship gone awry?
But well, the band’s director Alan Ferguson and Invisible Children, the non-profit children’s aid group that sponsored the trip got it right by simply making the video a love story starring a pair of Ugandan teens.
Huh, have you ever seen a love story between IDPs — especially with a rock band — on Total Request Live (TRL) on MTV.
Shot over the course of five days in and around an actual displacement camp in Gulu, the video stars two Ugandan teens who are trying to make love work in a time of war.
“What’s truly groundbreaking is the majority of the video is the story of two young African kids, and what’s great about it is that it’s gonna humanise these people,” Invisible Children co-founder Bobby Bailey said. “I think it will connect to a lot of people. From the moment we arrived here, the kids here were telling us, ‘Please tell our story. And especially let America know about our story because they have a voice in the world, and they can help end this thing.’”
“The plan is to show that and then emphasise the idea that if we sent one senior policy adviser from the U.S. [to Uganda] that there’s greater potential to end the war [now] than ever — but for whatever reason, we’re just not committed to do that,” Wentz added. “Everyone’s been focusing so much attention on our band lately — and so many times, it’s the wrong kind of attention — [but] it’s all right if the cameras follow us to Africa.”
And I’m sure the eyes have also followed from and to Africa…
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