Extras needed for Portsmouth shoot

They just signed a recording contract with Sony Records. They’re local and they’re doing a video here.

The group The Whipps, whose members hail from locales across the Tri-State, will be in the area May 2 to shoot a video for their song “Play That Country Music,” that will be released this summer or early fall.

“The song is a takeoff on the old Wild Cherry song, “Play That Funky Music,” lead singer Don Hanshaw explained. “We got permission to rewrite it. It’s the same melody but it’s a bunch of country guys.”

While some scenes will be shot in Ironton, there will be some concert-style scenes shot at the Columbia Music Arena in Portsmouth. Manager Brian Hanshaw said the arena holds 1,100 people so extras are needed to be in the audience for the shoot.

Why shoot parts of the video here? Don Hanshaw explained this is who they are and where they’re from.

“We want to give back to the community and fans who have been so supportive of us,” Hanshaw said.

Hanshaw described the group as, “very energetic, edgy; a different sound for country music.”

Along with Hanshaw, a Coal Grove native, the members of The Whipps are Eric Daniels, of Greenup, Ky., who plays bass, and

Larry Collinsworth, of Portsmouth, who plays guitar.