Listening Post

The next time you go on a lads holiday to Ibiza don’t forget to take Wesley Gonzalez with you

Brown trousers on the beach

We’ve lot a few hours this past year to watching Wesley Gonzalez‘s videos. There was ‘I Am A Telescope’ where Wes performs in a slightly grim looking bookies wearing a neck brace and ‘I Spoke To Euan’ which saw him speak and sing on a surreal part-animated talk show, where he tells the bemused host a film about his life would be called Gifted Boy.

Point is, he’s got previous. But the clip he’s just shared for ‘In Amsterdam’ is probably the former Let’s Wrestle man’s awkward/funniest to date.

In it, Wesley heads to Ibiza to get fully immersed in the whole experience. He lies on a beach wearing squash shoes in some brown trousers. Gets a bit sunburnt. Tears up the dancefloor (on his own). Smashes a few flaming shots. Looks like he’s got a killer hangover… then gets up to do it all again.

Ryanair flights for next summer are BOOKED.

Wesley has also written this thorough outline of how the whole thing came together. Over to Wesley…

“The video started with me and director Danny Nellis having a meeting to plan the next video. We had talked about some visuals we could do in the countryside, we planned an entire video around this. Just as we decided to call it a night we watched an episode of Sun, Sex & Suspicious Parents and within 10 minutes of it starting we had booked two return flights to Ibiza.

Arriving after about 2 hours sleep, we hit the beach, neither of us had ever been to Ibiza and the Balaeric white sand and brown sun oiled bossoms terrified us! We decided it would be best if I had a few bourbon and Cokes to loosen me up for the potentially dangerous situation I was going to get myself into. The first shot we got was of me lying on the Beach singing the song, within seconds a welsh bloke came up behind me and kicked things off in style, humping my head with his little penis tucked out of his shorts. We had made the right decision.

I never went on a lads holiday, I’ve never been a lad, but the concept has always fascinated me. It’s a way people can belong, and in an age where there are as many subcultures as there are few, I feel that the rise of the lad has been impenetrable. No group of men can make me feel more like the scared teenager at school quite like them. It is a modern culture even though a lot of its sentiments are incredibly old fashioned in terms of political correctness, so we didn’t want to poke fun at something we didn’t understand. We wanted to explore the possibilities of us trying to fit in, and if they didn’t accept us we just told them we were making a film for Vice, that always works.”

Read our cover feature interview with Wesley Gonzalez, and our review of his debut album ‘Excellent Musician’.

Wes is on tour in October, calling at these places:

Winchester, Railway – 22 October
Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach – 23
Leeds, Optimo – 24
Newcastle, Underground – 25
Glasgow, Hug & Pint – 26
Birmingham, Sunflower Lounge – 28
Bristol, Louisiana – 29
London, Moth Club – 30
Manchester, Gullivers – 31