For one of our exclusives this week, Birmingham indie rock duo Yr Poetry, who feature Johnny Foreigner’s Alexei Berrow and Junior Laidley, have decided to launch a different kind of promo video for their song ‘Sons’.
Before going into the kind of video Yr Poetry have made to promote their material, it is vitally important to understand the song’s themes. “‘Sons’ is a song about the ratio of men vs women in bands being horrifically screwed,” explains Berrow. “There’s nothing more I can say that hasn’t been said more eloquently by others, but it feels weird to be a man in a pop punk band and not at least acknowledge that this is a sketty boys club in all but name.”
It is thus with that reason that the duo felt it would be “hypocritical” of them to do the standard “two guys playing the song in a video” trope that is commonly used for this medium of music. Instead, the band have given a platform for their friends Anna Palmer of Dorcha and Youth Man’s Kaila Whyte to discuss their experiences as artists within the music scene.
“Anna and Kaila are two of Birmingham’s most exciting songwriters right now. Dorcha and Youth Man, their respective bands, sound about as far removed from each other as guitar bands can get but are both visceral and engaging in a way that puts 99% of dicks in bands to shame. So the obvious choice for a promotional music video for ‘Sons’ was to get them to spend 20 minutes talking to each other about the hows and whys of their craft.”
Side note from Alexei Berrow: “Yes I am wearing a Brand New sweater. We shot this the day before the allegations came out. Haven’t worn it since, obviously. Fuck that guy, fuck that culture. Believe women.” We couldn’t agree more!
‘Sons’ is taken from Yr Poetry’s second EP ‘Lost Boys’, the second in a trio of EPs the duo are releasing over twelve months, following the first entry ‘One Night Alive’ from April last year. It is available for PWYW download on Bandcamp. The band also have a couple of live appearances including playing with Kermes, Happy Accidents and more at The Y in Leicester on the 14th April, which will be followed by an appearance at Washed Out Festival in Brighton on the same day.
As for the two aforementioned acts whose members appear in the video. Youth Man will be releasing a new EP early this year which follows up last year’s ‘Wax’ EP on Venn Records. They will also be going on a UK tour with Cassels via the following dates.
FEBRUARY
10 NEWCASTLE Underground
11 GLASGOW The Garage
12 LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
13 MANCHESTER Jimmy’s
14 BRISTOL Hy-Brasil
15 SOUTHAMPTON Joiners
16 LONDON The Black Heart
17 BIRMINGHAM The Actress & Bishop
Meanwhile, Dorcha are currently prepping their upcoming second album and follows up their 2016 EP ‘ISM’.