The Sunshine Castle at Bli Bli has a new claim to fame after being used as the location for a music video.
Much of the video for Love Language, by Brisbane-based alternative rock quartet Semantics, was shot at the attraction.
The video shows the band playing the castle courtyard, as well as a knight dancing a quick jig and attempting to make purchases at a bottle-o and corner store.
Lead singer Callum Robinson said the band had wanted to visually capture the medieval theme of some of their new songs.
Mr Robinson came across the castle while working as a delivery driver and thought of it when the time came to consider video locations for Semantics’ new album, I Feel It All At Once.
“Basically, some time last year, I was doing a delivery and just saw it. I kept driving past the Bli Bli Castle and it really just piqued my interest,” he said.
“We were working on our album, and we were going through all the songs. There’s a medieval theme continuing through and we thought it would be the perfect place for a video.
“We reached out to the castle and they helped pull it together.”
The video – directed, filmed and edited by Harley Jones – is inspired by the video for Holy Diver, by the 1980s metal band Dio.
Mr Robinson said the castle scenes were shot one afternoon on a weekend to try to minimise disruption at the attraction.
But while you can keep a drum kit and speaker out of sight, it turned out to be a little harder to keep them out of earshot.
“A couple of people put their heads in – they were excited. Most people think it’s pretty nice to have a rock music video shoot in their backyard,” he said.
Mr Robinson said that while some sections of the castle are closed to the public, he was allowed into a turret for his guitar solo and castle staff also loaned some items from the gift shop for decoration.
He said a friend of the band’s, Mario Brandi, a member of a medieval-style armoured combat club, was willing to fulfil the role of knight, dubbed Ser Mantic, in the video.
“Mario’s got a great sense of humour. He’s a fun guy. It was a fun shoot,” Mr Robinson said.
The castle was a rare chance for the band to shoot somewhere different.
“Most of the time when you’re in a rock band, all these things are done in a photo studio or a dark warehouse,” Mr Robinson said.
“That’s about all we’ve got in south-east Queensland in the way of locations to shoot videos, so we were glad to be able to do it in the castle. It was the perfect place for a shoot.”
Other scenes in the video were filmed at Norman Park in Brisbane, close to band members’ home turf.
A castle representative said it was “pretty cool” to have a music video shot at the castle.
Formerly known as the Fairytale Castle, it has also hosted weddings, Opera in the Castle and a performance of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Love Language, which came out on July 16, follows the release in June of Calico, Semantics’ first single for two years.
The band was formed seven years ago and comprises founding members Callum Robinson on guitar and lead vocals, Mitchell Lawrence on drums, Madi Tunstall on bass and Zac Robertson, from Peregian, on guitar.
I Feel It All At Once, which is currently available for pre-order, is Semantics’ second album.
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