See Jack Black, Mac DeMarco in ‘Behind the Music’-Style Mockumentary
Jack Black, Mac DeMarco, Mark Ronson and more help mythologize Australian musician Kirin J. Callinan in a silly new mockumentary, Off the Record. The Behind the Music-style short delves into Callinan’s underground masterpiece, “Tellin’ Me This” – a song that doesn’t actually exist (at least for now; it’s unclear if the mockumentary is tied to a forthcoming Callinan project).
The clip also features Tame Impala’s Jay Watson, Weyes Blood, Ladyhawke, Sebastien Tellier and members of the Go-Betweens discussing the revolutionary sound of “Tellin’ Me This.” “The first time that I listened to ‘Tellin’ Me This,’ I was driving and I had to pull the car over,” says DeMarco. “Very exciting, very goosebump-y, if that’s a word I can use.” As for Black, the song’s influence was so powerful the comedian could only muster two silent, awed thumbs-up.
However, “Tellin’ Me This” never became the commercial smash it seemed to destined to be and the flop took a brutal toll on Callinan. “Knowing what I know now, I never would’ve written that damn song,” he says with an appropriate amount of melodrama. “I don’t want to be remembered. I want to forget.”
Callinan released his debut album, Embracism, in 2013. Previously, he played in the Australian rock outfit, Mercy Arms.