Yard Act hare video for ‘100% Endurance’ – starring David Thewlis; Announce biggest headline show to date at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum on 1 Dec

Photo credit: Jamie MacMillan

Leeds outfit Yard Act have today shared the video for ‘100% Endurance’,  the latest single lifted from their critically acclaimed debut album The Overload – which charted at #2 and was officially the biggest selling vinyl debut of the century earlier this year.

The video, directed by longtime collaborator  James Slater, stars multi-award winning actor, and fan of the band, David Thewlis who said of the experience: “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.” ‘100% Endurance’ also represents the first time Thewlis has filmed in his hometown Blackpool.

Speaking about ‘100% Endurance’, frontman James Smith comments: “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 continues: “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!”

Yard Act have also announced their biggest headline show to date at London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum on 1 December, following an entirely sold out tour in February and March this year after achieving accolades such as The Observer’s Artist Of The Week (4*) and a perfect 5* review in The Times on their first ever UK tour last year. The band were recently awarded the Grulke Prize for Developing non-US Act at SXSW this year, playing no less than 10 completely sold out shows at the festival. They also made their US TV debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The Overload was the subject of stellar reviews across the board in national media with Album of the week accolades from The Guardian, The Telegraph (both 4*) and The Sunday Times coinciding with high scoring write-ups from DIY, Rolling Stone, Dork, The Forty Five, Scottish Express (all perfect 5*), Uncut, The Line Of Best Fit (both 4 ½ *), MOJO, The Times, NME, Gigwise (all 4*) and more. The Official Charts Company also confirmed Yard Act as the year’s Biggest Breakthrough Act so far, and crowned The Overload as the best selling album on vinyl of Q1 2022.

Despite only releasing their debut single ‘The Trapper’s Pelts’ in 2020, Yard Act have made a sensational impact, invigorating and revitalising the UK’s new bands scene in the process. Alongside landing on the BBC Sound Of 2022 longlist, Yard Act also featured on the covers of NME, DIY Magazine’s Class of 2022 issue, and So Young Magazine.

Singles from the album ‘The Overload’, ‘Payday’, and ‘Pour Another’ have been heavily supported across UK radio by the likes of BBC 6 Music (all A-Listed), Radio 1 (where ‘The Overload’ was crowned the Introducing Tune Of The Week and ‘Pour Another’ was C-Listed after launching as a Hottest Record), and John Kennedy at Radio X (who featured ‘Payday’ as a Hot One on the X-Posure show). The band also made their UK television debut in November, performing the album’s title track and lead single on Later… with Jools Holland (watch HERE).