The Band Explains: Yowl - 'Darkroom' (Video)

Photo Credit: Rowan Allen

Ahead of their co-headline run with Bristol’s LICE, YOWL had a chat with us about the video for their new track 'DARKROOM', directed by Jess Newby-Vincent, which is an intense three minutes about exploring the idea of voyeurism. 

Where was the video filmed?
Most of it was filmed in the carpark underneath Tobacco Dock in Wapping, plus some of the close ups were done in the practice rooms we write at in Deptford. Jess and Theo (director and DOP) had a tonne of ideas, and we basically just spent four hours playing the song and clowning around while they ran after us with lights and cameras.

I didn’t actually know about the shots with the TV in (filmed in our bassist’s bedroom) until I saw the cut but they really made it for me.

How does the video compliment the song?
Jess did such a stellar job of creating the intensity that we wanted in the edit, not just in the precision of the cuts but by managing to chop between so many different scenes while keeping it seamless. There are bits in there that must have been filmed hours apart and they seem like one take - that takes a lot of searching through footage, so kudos to her dedication.

Any behind the scenes stories?
Yeah - I ended up in A&E after the shoot getting my head glued up. We were getting more and more raucous as filming went on and just before we were meant to wrap up I jumped into a concrete beam and knocked myself out for about a minute.

All I can remember hearing for ages was this crackling sound - the amps might have still been on - and I couldn’t move at all. It was fucking weird and when I came to I had no idea how I’d ended up in the state I was in.

What is the video trying to convey and tell us about the ideas/themes/imagery used?
Without delving too much into the song’s content, it’s vaguely about this fear that I think exists as a distinctly modern version of typical paranoia, the fact it can become so intensely magnified in the 21st century - everyone has an online presence, everyone has a camera in their pocket and there’s a real possibility that you’re in someone’s livestream or story or whatever at any given moment.

The video does plays on that with the presence of this voyeur watching the band - I guess it makes the viewing of our performance more uninvited, a little more perverse.

Catch YOWL  on their co-headline tour with LICE at the following dates: 

Oct 12th - Broadcast, Glasgow

Oct 14th - Indie Banquet, Leeds

Oct 15th - Castle Hotel, Manchester

Oct 17th - Sebright Arms, London

Oct 18th - Joker, Brighton

Oct 19th - Heartbreakers, Southampton

Oct 20th - Thekla, Bristol

Oct 21st - SWN Festival, Cardiff

Oct 27th - London Calling Festival, Amsterdam

Nov 1st - Pitchfork, Paris