The Artist Explains: Will Joseph Cook - Girls Like Me (Video) & Take Me Dancing (Single stream)
Like dust dancing in the gleams of light through sunlit windows, Will Joseph Cook merges gloomy and upbeat to create extremely clever, weird-pop records with sunshine-laden bouncy hooks and intelligent song writing.
Will Joseph Cook's creativity and ironic,unique sense of humour extends far beyond his music and this can be seen in his video for 'Girls Like Me'. We gave him a grilling about the ideas behind the video and are sharing the Q&A in conjunction with the release of his brand new single 'Take Me Dancing' which you can listen to at the bottom of the page.
Who directed the video and where was it filmed?
I worked with a director called Rafe from Tribe Films and we filmed it in some studio space in Hoxton.
How did you come up with the ideas for the video?
The idea came from nowhere really, I thought the title 'Girls Like Me' would suit a provocative video. I wanted to flip the song on its head and give it a secondary story through the video.
.You clearly play a lot of different women in the vid! Which style/ female persona did you most and least take to?
I most liked the first girl, the fluffy wrist bands were a definite plus. On the flip side, the one that ended up looking like a juvenile noel fielding was quite unsettling.
It must have been a pretty funny shoot. Any behind the scenes stories?
My friend Billy was playing the psychiatrist dude. The recurring scene of him making out with a skull was great. I had to shout encouragement and direction such as “more tongue!” He said it tasted like dust.
There's some funky colour schemes, surreal moments (dancers in the background, you in the forefront) and props used in the vid (the various roles of the skull) Tell us about the ideas/ behind the themes/ imagery used?
I wanted to keep the video quite surreal, so a lot of the weird props were there to build on that. It was meant to be like a bad dream, something completely fictitious going on in my head.
How did you feel when you watched the completed video back for the first time, especially during the dinner scenes when there's two of you?
I first watched it back with friends, which was good as i was less critical and got a good perspective of which parts people react to. It felt like when I first started listening back to recordings of my voice, kind of weird but I'm sure with more videos it will become more natural.
By starring in the video yourself and taking such a bold, fun and even for some "controversial" approach to the music video, what do you hope people take away from watching it?
Ive been trying to really tie everything (songs, artworks, videos etc.) together through a shared personality. I hope that people get a kind of full circle moment when the see the video.
Interview feature by Karla Harris.
Live Dates:
JUNE:
6th Brighton, Concorde (Walking On Cars support)
8th Birmingham, O2 Academy 2 (Walking On Cars support)
10th Manchester, The Ruby Lounge (Walking On Cars support)
21st London, Boston Music Room (Walking On Cars support)
JULY:
1st Barn On The Farm
29th Leefest
30th Leopallooza
31st Y Not Festival
AUGUST:
26th Leeds Festival
28th Reading Festival
Tickets available here