Yard Act Share Video for “100% Endurance” Starring Actor David Thewlis and Announce U.S. Tour Dates

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Yard Act Share Video for “100% Endurance” Starring Actor David Thewlis and Announce U.S. Tour Dates

The Overload Out Now via Island/Zen F.C.

May 18, 2022 By Mark Redfern

English post-punk band Yard Act released their debut album, The Overload, in January via Island/Zen F.C. Now they have shared a video for the album’s “100% Endurance” that stars British actor David Thewlis (Naked, the Harry Potter series, Wonder Woman, Fargo) and have also announced some U.S. tour dates. Regular collaborator James Slater directed the black & white video, which pulls from the song’s lyrics about aliens visiting Earth, with Thewlis lip-syncing to the song and the band showing up briefly at the end. Watch it below, followed by all the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Thewlis, who filmed in his hometown of Blackpool for the first time when making the video, joked in a press release: “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.”

Yard Act frontman James Smith had this to say: “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.

“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 five 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 adds: “Prior to shooting ‘100% Endurance’ I’d already been lucky enough to shoot four 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!”

Previously released songs from the album are “The Overload,” which was one of our Songs of the Week, “Land of the Blind,” also one of our Songs of the Week, “Payday,” which made it to #2 on our Songs of the Week list, and “Rich” (again one of our Songs of the Week).

Read our recent print magazine interview with Yard Act on The Overload.

Read our rave 9/10 review of The Overload.