The Band Explains: DI-RECT - 'All The Way'

Dutch alternative rock outfit DI-RECT spoke to us about their sophisticated single and the dark twist in their visuals, for 'All The Way'.
'All The Way' is taken from the band's new album 'Rollin With The Punches'. The track features a stirring blend of classical, rhythm blues and alternative pop influences,  which effortlessly pulls its listener into the very heart of  its warm, stylish, soulful, sound.

DI-RECT Explains:
Where was the video for 'All The Way' filmed?
Paushuize, one of the oldest and most outstanding monuments in the city of Utrecht, with a remarkable history. It was bought by the only dutch pope in 1517, but he never saw it because he died before the renovation was done. The building is build on the ruins of a whorehouse from the Middle Ages and has had a variety of functions trough the centuries.

How does the video connect with the song?
First and foremost it's an performance video, as well as by the band as by Zoë Greten (the dancer) we wanted to make something really aesthetically beautiful with this song. You can find a lot of connection between the song in the video in the dedication. The dancer and the band are going all in, it's a sort of wink towards nowadays fight for attention whilst people are so occupied with their phones and themselves. In the end the dancer controls her audience, it has a slight dark twist which we like.

Any behind the scenes stories?
Roald Jansen (SetVexy, the director of the video) pitched this video concept to a couple of well known dutch artists, but they didn't dare to make it because of the dark twist. We were brainstorming about several video concepts, when Roald told us about this concept which he wanted to make for a couple of years. We felt it right away and he wrote it specific to 'All the Way'. We are a big fan of SetVexy's work and it felt good to put a director in the position to make something he really wants to make for a long time. We gave him complete creative freedom and this trust resulted in one of our favorite videos we've ever made. Also Zoë the dancer in the video is huge talent, she won the tv-show "Superkids" when she was 15 years old, Roald wanted to work with her ever since. A lot of cool things came together during the making of this video. Oh, and one more fun fact,...Dorien, the actress in the yellow dress, who is vlogging throughout the video, participated 11 years ago already in a music video of us. She became a dear friend of the band, really fun that our paths crossed again during the making of this video.

Could you tell us about the ideas/ themes/ imagery used?
We wanted to make something really classy, something that really suits the song. The intro is really only a string quartet playing, so it was important to us highlight that visually as well. We realized right away that the location was going to be really important to make this happen. Paushuize, was such a perfect location, because pretty much every shot in there is some sort of a painting. From the walls to the ceiling everything is really posh. SetVexy suggested to flirt with a bit of Tim Burton styling, especially in the look of the dancer, to prevent the video from becoming too sweet. We liked the idea of a performance video in which the band performance is inferior to the bigger picture. So the overall theme was classy but cool with a touch of fantasy...I guess ;)

What is the message the video is trying to convey?
We truly wanted to make something beautiful, there is a message about nowadays distractions like cellphones, social media and the way that makes society a bit more egocentric. But we didn't want to stress that too much. We want the music, the dance and the cinematography to be more powerful than that, make some thing beautiful and entertaining. Without being too preachy about the social theme, in the end we'd love people to watch this video,...and the place where they do that most likely is:....there cellphone. We just love to make cool stuff, and hope people enjoy watching it as much as we do making it.

Interview Feature by Karla Harris