Yard Act have shared the video for “100% Endurance”, the latest single taken from their critically acclaimed debut album, The Overload. The video, directed by longtime collaborator James Slater, stars multi-award winning actor, and fan of the band, David Thewlis. Watch it now below.
David Thewlis said of filming the video, “I’ve told my agent I’m only doing Yard Act videos from now on, though next time on a tropical island or a big yacht.”
Speaking about “100% Endurance”, frontman James Smith commented, “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. 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.”
He continued, “This video also stands as testament, once more, to James Slater and his vision for bringing our songs to life every time. I always knew we would revisit The Overload 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 5 years, I’ll do a thorough breakdown of all the videos with every reference, easter egg and narrative hint we stuck in there.”
Director Slater added, “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!”
The band has also announced their biggest headline show to date at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum on December 1st. All upcoming tour dates can be found below.
YARD ACT TOUR DATES:
18 May | Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, UK – SOLD OUT
19 May | Zanzibar, Liverpool – SOLD OUT
20 May | Irish Centre, Leeds, UK – SOLD OUT
21 May | Band on the Wall, Manchester, UK – SOLD OUT
22 May | The Foundry, Sheffield, UK – SOLD OUT
23 May | Friars Court, Warrington, UK – SOLD OUT
24 May | Electric Church Club, Blackburn, UK – SOLD OUT
25 May | The Establishment, Wakefield, UK – SOLD OUT
26 May | O2 Academy, Leicester, UK
27 May | Arts Centre, Norwich – SOLD OUT
28 May | Wide Awake Festival, London
31 May | Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, NL – SOLD OUT
1 Jun | Blue Shell, Cologne, DE – SOLD OUT
5 Jun | Plan B, Sweden, SE
6 Jun | Molotow, Hamburg, DE
7 Jun | Frannz Club, Berlin, DE
9 Jun | Rotondes Club, Luxembourg, LU
10 Jun | Festi’neuch, Neuchâtel, CH
11 Jun | Trabendo, Paris, FR
13 Jun | Trix, Antwerp, BE
14 Jun | L’Aeronef, Lille, FR
18 Jun | Rock for People Festival, Hradec Králové, CZ
19 Jun | Body and Soul Festival, Co. Westmeath, IE
24-25 Jun | Glastonbury Festival, UK
28 Jun | Hammersmith Apollo, London, UK*
1 Jul | AFAS, Amsterdam, NL*
15 Jul | Doune the Rabbit Hole Festival, UK
21 Jul | Secret Garden Party, Abbots Ripton, UK
22 Jul | Truck Festival, Oxford, UK
22 Jul | Standon Calling Festival, Hertfordshire, UK
23 Jul | Bluedot Festival, Cheshire, UK
24 Jul | Tramlines, Sheffield, UK
27 Jul | The Cluny, Newcastle, UK
28 Jul | The Caves, Edinburgh, UK
29 Jul | Deer Shed, Thirsk UK
30 Jul | Ynot Festival, Derbyshire, UK
5 Aug | Ypsigrock Festival, Castelbuono, IT
7 Aug | Off Festival, Katowice, PL
11 Aug | Haldern Pop Festival, Rees-Haldern, DE
12 Aug | Way Out West Festival, Gothenburg, SE
13 Aug | Oya Festival, Oslo, NO
18 Aug | Route du Rock Festival, St Malo, FR
19 Aug | Cabaret Vert Festival, Charleville-Mézières, FR
20 Aug | Pukkelpop Festival, Hasselt, BE
21 Aug | Lowlands Festival, Biddinghuizen, NL
26 Aug | Golden Leaves Festival, Darmstadt, DE
28 Aug | Todays Festival, Turin, IT
4 Sep | End Of The Road Festival, Dorset, UK
9 Sep | Andalucía Big Festival, Andalucía, ES
10 Sep | Mad Cool Sunset, Madrid, ES
16 Sep | The Bullingdon, Oxford, UK – SOLD OUT
17 Sep | Esquires, Bedford, UK – SOLD OUT
18 Sep | O2 Institute, Birmingham, UK – SOLD OUT
21 Sep | Sugar Mill, Stoke, UK
22 Sep | The Crescent, York, UK – SOLD OUT
23 Sep | Polar Bear, Hull, UK – SOLD OUT
6 Oct | Crocodile, Seattle, US
7 Oct | WOW Hall, Eugene, US
9 Oct | Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, US
11 Oct | Teragram Ballroom, Los Angeles, US
13 Oct | Black Cat Washington D.C.
14 Oct | Bowery Ballroom, New York, US
16 Oct | Underground Arts, Philadelphia, US
22 Nov | Saint Luke’s, Glasgow, UK
23 Nov | NUSU, Newcastle, UK
24 Nov | O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
25 Nov | O2 Ritz, Manchester, UK
26 Nov | Marble Factory, Bristol, UK
27 Nov | Tramshed, Cardiff, UK
29 Nov | 1865, Southampton, UK
30 Nov | Chalk, Brighton, UK
1 Dec | O2 Kentish Town Forum, London, UK