Fresh off a tour that just hit Cambridge a few weeks back, Yard Act are eying a return to our messy states later this year. The Leeds post-punk band have unveiled a string of seven dates this October — a swing of West Coast gigs and shows in New York City, D.C. and Philadelphia — and with it comes a new video for “100% Endurance,” another entry from successful debut disc The Overload. The bounce n’ strut tune’s visual stars actor David Thewlis and was directed by Yard Act’s longtime collaborator James Slater.
“I’ve told my agent I’m only doing Yard Act videos from now on,” Thewlis says, “though next time on a tropical island or a big yacht.” For this round, the gang settled on a walk around a housing community in Thewlis’ hometown of Blackpool, England.
“It was great shooting this video. I barely had to do anything, and I didn’t have fake facial hair glued to me head for once,” adds Yard Act frontman James Smith. “I still can’t believe David got involved. I was such a fan of his work from Naked through to Fargo, and when I told James Slater he was interested in working with us, he was so buzzing. A brilliant actor, and an absolute joy to watch work. Equally so, he is a thoroughly decent, down to earth person who is funny as fuck, and that goes a fair way I reckon.”
Slater adds: “Prior to shooting ‘100% Endurance’ I’d already been lucky enough to shoot 4 videos off The Overload. It’s given us the opportunity to create our own Yard Act cinematic universe, with characters and themes recurring across all the films. With this video we wanted to wrap everything up. The song asks the big question – what’s it all about? – so I thought we should have a go at answering it by revealing that the universe (well, the Yard Act universe at least) is in fact a miniature model set, kept atop a table in a man’s spare room. The man in question is David Thewlis. James and David had been chatting for a while as it turned out he was a big fan of the band. He let us know he’d be up for doing a video and thankfully liked the idea. He really bought into it all and delivered a brilliant performance, tying the whole thing together. I think he’ll go far!”
Take a walk below.