Band’s 2nd Shot at Stardom : Exude Has New Video Entry in MTV’s ‘Basement Tapes’ Series

Exude, the Anaheim band chosen as one of the country’s best unsigned rock groups in a recent Musician magazine contest, is a contestant in MTV’s monthly “Basement Tapes” video series.

Exude’s video, “Safe With You,” will be one of four entries to be broadcast Thursday at 10 p.m. Pacific time. The winner will be determined by phone-in votes. The prize is exposure: six MTV showings for the winning tape. For Exude, this is a second chance at video stardom: a video for its novelty version of “Chattanooga Choo Choo” was an also-ran 5 years ago.

“Safe With You” (the lyric has an AIDS-awareness theme) features some striking color visuals and a funny black-and-white sequence in which Exude’s keyboardist, Robin Canada, plays a Rudolph Valentino-type Arabian prince who casually munches grapes while his harem fends off attacking assassins.

The video was produced by Ultra Media, an Australian record company that signed Exude to a distribution deal early this year.

Singer Frank Rogala said Exude is close to resolving a dispute that rose with Ultra Media over securing rights to “Boys Just Want to Have Sex,” the band’s 1984 parody of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.”