In their latest music video, Greg Schatz and the Friggin’ Geniuses perform “Fire in My Heart,” the first cut from Schatz’ 2017 album, Small Peace of Mind. The group’s incarnation on “Fire in My Heart” stars Greg Schatz on piano and and organ; Paul Santopadre on drums, Alex McMurray on acoustic guitar, Stover on bass, and special guests Solid Harmony on background vocals (Topsy Chapman, Yolanda Windsay and Jolyanda Phillips).

Ahead of today’s OffBeat.com premiere, Schatz shared some intel about the video’s inception and the song’s development.

 

Let’s talk about the masks! What was the thinking behind implementing them, and was there any particular attention paid to the ones chosen for the video?

I bought two masks in San Francisco’s China Town in the Summer of 2005. I was on tour with Jeremy Lyons at the time and we were tagging along with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band opening shows for a few weeks  in California. I was thinking I might be able to use the masks in either a performance or a video, but had nothing specific in mind. Twelve years later, we were getting ready to shoot the video and I was putting together costumes to wear while playing different instruments without it just being being my face all the time. We did the video just with Easton White (operating the camera) and me. We shot most of it in my backyard and in my house on Montegut Street with some additional nighttime footage that we shot in Easton’s backyard uptown. It took us a while for us to get it finished since we were both busy with other projects, but it feels good to be able to share it with the world now.

What was the creative process in penning this song – is it reflective of anything/anyone in your past/present?
This was one of those songs that came to me easily and unexpectedly.   I was actually breaking in some new strings on the small classical guitar, which I bought for $75. I don’t really play guitar that much these days, but I like to have an instrument with me when I travel and guitar is easier than a piano or accordion. My wife Eve and I were getting ready to go out of town, and I was fiddling around instead of packing my clothes. The lyrics came from more of an emotional than intellectual place.  It started with the chorus and within an hour I had most of the verses. Originally I was thinking of it like an acoustic folk tune. When I got back from vacation I rearranged the song for the piano and band with the drums driving the feel.  The band seemed to enjoy playing it and it went over well when we started performing it. It was recorded about three months after it was written.