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Bethani Gowland

James Slater completes his excellent series of videos for Leeds band Yard Act's first album The Overload with a superb valedictory&nbsp;effort for the album's final&nbsp;track&nbsp;100% Endurance - starring iconic actor David Thewlis.Thewlis wakes up on a street bench, finding himself on a suburban housing estate, surrounded by its residents. They are familiar faces to anyone who has watched the previous Yard Act videos,&nbsp;as most have appeared in one or more, playing the characters that populate the 'Yard Act universe' - created by the band's frontman,&nbsp;James Smith.&nbsp;Smith has played some characters himself in the preceding videos - a dodgy magician (in <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/11/25/yard-act-land-blind-james-slater/73960" target="_blank">Land Of The Blind</a>), a slippery estate agent (in <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/12/15/yard-act-payday-james-slater/74305" target="_blank">Payday</a>), and obnoxious club owner Graham (in <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/09/14/yard-act-overload-james-slater/72771" target="_blank">The Overload</a>). But in 100% Endurance, Thewlis plays Smith, more or less. Appropriately he takes over lipsync duties for the album's least abrasive, most philosophical song, as a world-weary but wise figure wondering among his fellow housing estate inhabitants.[imgtoken data:1]James Slater then delivers an additional delicious curveball. Suddenly, a giant hand drops down into the scene&nbsp;- David&nbsp;Thewlis's. It picks up what turns out to be a tiny figurine of himself (or is it Smith?), from a miniature model version of the housing estate. It's a sudden, comic twist that resonates with the overriding theme&nbsp;of the song: 'what's&nbsp;it all about, anyway?...'<blockquote>[Thewlis] really bought into it all and delivered a brilliant performance, tying the whole thing together.</blockquote>"Prior to shooting 100% Endurance, I'd already been lucky enough to shoot four&nbsp;videos from&nbsp;The Overload," confirms Slater.&nbsp;"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.&nbsp;"I thought we should have a go at answering (that question)&nbsp;by revealing that&nbsp;the universe (well, the Yard Act universe at least) is in fact a miniature model set, kept atop Thewlis'&nbsp;spare room.[imgtoken data:2]&nbsp;"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. We shot it in his native Blackpool. He really bought into it all and delivered a brilliant performance, tying the whole thing together. I think he'll go far!"<blockquote>It's testament to James Slater and his vision for bringing our songs to life every time.</blockquote>James Smith adds that&nbsp;his experience of making this video was a combination of enjoyment and disbelief. “It was great shooting this video," he says. "I barely had to do anything, and I didn’t have fake facial hair glued to [my] head for once."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."[imgtoken data:3]Smith&nbsp;also pays tribute to Slater's work across five videos for The Overload. “This video also stands as testament, once more, to James Slater and his vision for bringing our songs to life every time," he says. "I always knew we would revisit the world one last time to bring the whole concept of the album full circle, and I knew the final video would be for 100% Endurance. But once the album came out and touring kicked in, I never knew when we would find the time. Finally we did, and getting all the cast of characters back together felt lovely too."We’ve met so many ace people making these videos and the more you meet them, the easier it is. Bless everyone who was on board throughout. If no one figures it out in the next five years, I’ll do a thorough breakdown of all the videos with every reference, easter egg and narrative hint we&nbsp;stuck in there.”

United Kingdom

Ruta Staseviciute

Jack Hartley

Lola Cookman

Jade Denne

Joanne Johnson

James Slater

Rosie Ford

Zomdic Films

Sam Flynn

Chris Sargent

Aaron Dunleavy

Ben Eve

Mihai Virlan

Sam James

Brody Salmon

Lucy Gregory

Emma Tierney

Leanne Bartlett

Louise Hood

Matthew Prickett

Work Editorial

Andi Chu

Black Kite Studios

David Thewlis

Island Records

Alexa Haywood at Free Agent UK

Rock

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Alternative

Yard Act '100% Endurance' by James Slater

Yard-Act-'100%-Endurance'-by-James-Slater

Yard Act's James Smith assumes the role of roving TV reporter J Konopinski, to discover what it's like to be rich, in James Slater's latest dive into the Leeds band's comic universe.For Rich, Slater again recalls members of&nbsp;the ensemble&nbsp;cast from <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/09/14/yard-act-overload-james-slater/72771" target="_blank">The Overload</a> and <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/11/25/yard-act-land-blind-james-slater/73960" target="_blank">Land Of The Blind</a> videos, playing the characters from Smith's songs on the band's forthcoming debut album. This time they are Konopinksi's interviewees,&nbsp;each branding the evidence of their wealth - a 50p piece, of various sizes. All apart from the character&nbsp;known as The Trapper,&nbsp;who is watching this fascinating news report on&nbsp;his increasingly unreliable telly.[imgtoken data:1]"It's a hypothetical song about me accidentally becoming rich, and contemplating what I might do with all the power it brings," Smith has explained. "It's basically saying - c'mon, let's have some sympathy for all the millionaires out there, it's tough for them too."Obviously it ain't really saying that, but as we all know, money doesn't really bring you happiness, and even the rich have feelings to process and therapists to feed. Don't get stuck on simple ideas... Also, I should make it completely clear here that I am in no way defending the rich. They deserve all the stick they get, the rich bastards."[imgtoken data:2]Slater looked to the distant past, to an apocryphal story&nbsp;about someone who really did suddenly become rich, for his inspiration for the video.&nbsp;"I’d seen an old Pathe News report on legendary pools winner Viv Nicholson (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viv_Nicholson" target="_blank">'Spend spend spend!'</a>) and thought it’d be fun to take the lyrics of Rich and turn them into a dialogue between a news reporter played by James,&nbsp;and a various different winners of a 50p piece."We wanted to the video to be a continuation of the Yard Act universe, so once again we have an overlap of characters from previous videos, playing lucky winners. And we also have James playing J. Konoponski, a character with a useless media studies degree from the song Fixer Upper. Despite the title the song was a pretty low budget affair but I think it turned out pretty cool!"

George Haydock

Paul Taylor

Lydia Shenton

Yard Act 'Rich' by James Slater

Yard Act - Rich

James Slater's latest video for Leeds post-punk outfit Yard Act puts a modern twist on the&nbsp;'white syc' pop video trope - and on the wacky world of colourful Northern characters that populate the band's songs.While performing in that classic performance video set-up from the late '70s and early 80s, Yard Act's frontman James Smith delivers acerbic&nbsp;lyrics&nbsp;to the accompaniment of lettuce-selling orphan girl dancers. Slater updates the white syc theme with VFX, including wipes to transition between shots and radically alter perspective - and this disembodied space&nbsp;allows the whole band to also&nbsp;create new characters in the Yard Act world.&nbsp;As in Slater's&nbsp;previous videos for Yard Act, Smith again&nbsp;undergoes an eerily convincing transformation, this time as a grinning&nbsp;salesman, staring manically into the camera lens and exhorting us to 'take the money', as he throws around fake cash.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"The song reminded me of Crosseyed and Painless by Talking Heads, which happens to be one of my favourite vids," says Slater. "So&nbsp;it's kind of a homage to those bold and simple white syc videos, but with dancing orphan lettuce farmers instead of the Electric Boogaloos."The lead dancer&nbsp;Kayleigh actually appears in the first video I did for Yard Act&nbsp;for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2021/09/14/yard-act-overload-james-slater/72771" target="_blank">The Overload</a>&nbsp;- we actually spotted her dancing behind a stall of a carboot whilst on a recce -&nbsp;and the Golden Rover makes a reappearance too. It's been nice expanding the Yard Act&nbsp;universe in this way."

Paul Mortlock

Dan Mccaffery

Tom McGoldrick

David Knight

Yard Act 'Payday' by James Slater

Yard-Act--'Payday'-by-James-Slater

James Slater's second video for Leeds band Yard Act follows on from the first for The Overload, with frontman James Smith playing a shady alter ego, amid a colourful cast of extras.Having been an obnoxious&nbsp;gig promoter&nbsp;in part of The Overload, Smith now&nbsp;assumes a near-disguise as an incompetent magician, trying out his dreadful&nbsp;tricks on unsuspecting customers in a cafe - including several of The Overload's car boot sale supporting cast, reprising their roles.The video&nbsp;reflects the fully-formed comic universe of an alternative (near-future)&nbsp;North of England that Smith has created in Yard Act's forthcoming debut album, out in January.&nbsp;Slater makes it work brilliantly well on screen, with an ensemble of non-actors supporting Smith, and finished in high contrast black and white.&nbsp;The video that was shot in an old&nbsp;cafe in the town of Clitheroe in Lancashire. "I wanted the vid to have a sinister tone," says Slater. "James plays a greasy magician who performs bad tricks and crimes in front of a hoodwinked audience. There's a metaphor in there somewhere! "This is our second vid for Yard Act and its a further expansion of the Yard Act universe - there are plenty of easter eggs referring to other songs scattered throughout and you'll see some of the characters from Overload make a reappearance too."&nbsp;

Julia Terzi

Yard Act 'Land Of The Blind' by James Slater

Yard-Act-'Land-Of-The-Blind'-by-James-Slater

James Slater brings the cast of characters bursting from the fertile mind of Yard Act lead singer James Smith to life in the video for The Overload - set in a car boot sale near Leeds.Smith has developed numerous of these oddball characters and voices in the band's releases thus far. Now with the title track of Yard Act's forthcoming debut album, he performs an energetic and&nbsp;splenetic stream of consciousness while persuing the goods of a quirky bunch of stall holders - including&nbsp;pink judges, morris dancing punks, fortune tellers, and dancing orphans.[imgtoken data:1]Then he transforms into his most powerful creation - a surly, gold Rover-driving promoter called Graham. It transpires he's not fan of Yard Act's mouthy lead singer, and his catchphrase is -&nbsp;"If you don't challenge me on anything, I'm actually very f*ckin nice."But ironically it is Graham who comes to James's aid, when the car boot community turn nasty, in Slater's rollicking, full throttle video.

Bethani Gowland

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