Not including some live Whips covers we put out, Maritime hasn’t had a release since 2011’s great Human Hearts. The veteran indie rock band’s forthcoming record is currently in the mixing stage, but as yet another Milwaukee Day miracle, Maritime—a point of local pride in and of itself—wanted to honor the city it loved on 4/14 with a new music video for a previously unreleased song.
The aptly-named “Milwaukee” serves as a guided tour to the many people, places, and things that help make the titular city great. To do so, a slab of wall decked out in mounted wildlife, cheeseheads, and other local decor was wheeled through the city. Some of the filming locations featured include: Milwaukee Art Museum, Anodyne Coffee Roasting in Walker’s Point, 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, Acme Records, Classic Slice, Discovery World, Fuel Cafe, Mitchell Park Conservatory, Lakefront Brewery, The Avalon Theater, outside the Frank Lloyd Wright homes on Burnham, The Pabst Theater, and all over Riverwest, Downtown, and Bay View. There are also cameos from Bernie Brewer and Milverine.
Director Bob Purvis—who, with Milwaukee Day co-founder Timm Gable, directed Sylvan Esso’s Milwaukee-centric “Dreamy Bruises” music video last summer—wanted to use the unorthodox approach to subtly champion the city.
“I had this idea that the basement wall would kind of come to life and take off from a behind some stereotypical beer guzzling football maniacs and then cruise around Milwaukee highlighting some of the city’s iconic spaces before showing up to rock out with Maritime,” Purvis says.
In addition to the staggering cast of extras and massive crew, cameraman Dan Andera and editor Michael Vollmann helped bring Purvis’ ambitious concept to life.
Maritime drummer Dan Didier tells Milwaukee Record the band has yet to determine whether this song will be on the next release or if it will be a Milwaukee Day exclusive.