Director

David Arthur

David Arthur directs a wild, offbeat promo for Scottish alt-rock veterans Arab Strap.&nbsp;Having worked with the iconoclastic duo on <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2024/04/08/arab-strap-strawberry-moon-david-arthur/85983">Strawberry Moon</a> a couple of years ago, the&nbsp;video for Glamour Magick brings the same sense of B-movie, body horror fun.&nbsp;It follows a&nbsp;beard-stroking ASMR livestreamer - played by the band's Aidan&nbsp;Moffatt - who dodges payment for cosmetic surgery, setting off a chain of cult-like rituals and events. Suddenly his serious cosmetic surgeon - with the band's Malcolm Middleton playing her ginger wigged assistant -&nbsp;turns out to have a sideline in Satanism and whilst in post-op bandages, important parts of Aidan start falling off.&nbsp;Its a darkly comic tale, showcasing a classic stream of consciousness rant from Moffatt on the indignity of ageing in the track, and also David Arthur's strengths in terms of storytelling and character-building, as also seen recently in <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2026/05/07/songraes-wind-david-arthur/94803" target="_blank">his video for&nbsp;Songraes</a>.[imgtoken data:1]"I was so pleased to be asked to work with Arab Strap again - but when I heard this new track I was a bit intimidated," he reveals. "It’s so hilarious, pacy and full on lyrically, I realised the video had to be pretty wild…"The band said 'wild sounds good'.&nbsp; So with the concept for this I leaned into the song’s main theme of the absurd things some people do to try to delay the ageing process, with some satanism and voodoo thrown in the mix…"I still can’t quite believe the&nbsp;duo’s openness to being put in ridiculous situations most indie pop stars wouldn’t touch in a million years. Having done a lot of work as an editor on music videos over the years, I know how precious some bands can be and Arab Strap are unique in this way. I kept expecting Aidan to say 'I’m not sitting on a toilet'&nbsp;or 'I’m not crawling up those stairs,'&nbsp;but that never happened and Malcolm would often say: 'anything for the shot'."Producer Niamh West helped put together a team that I think took us to another level in terms of putting money on-screen. It was my first time ever working directly with a production designer. Usually that is me running around with a bag of stuff borrowed or picked up second hand, and Rhianonne Stone was amazing, every daft thing I asked for she sorted from a red light mask, to surgical tools, to a life-sized skeleton with a grey beard…[imgtoken data:2]"Similarly with our costume designer Holly Firkins: she jumped at the chance to make our glorious demonic Highland cow mask, and she made the costumes really pop with suggestions like red gloves for the surgical outfits and many other details that really added a lot.Brooklyn Harnish our hair and makeup also did amazing things styling Malcolm’s cheap wig, the makeup for actor Jenny Ryan and crafting a low-budget bloody eyeball for us."Working with cinematographer Darren Hercher is one of the great pleasures of me trying my hand at directing in these short form projects. He’s a filmmaker too, from a documentary background, so he’ll frequently see unscripted details like when Aidan was taking selfies on his phone whilst he had full bandages on between takes, which fitted with the character Aidan was playing. Darren will also indulge my random ideas like getting him on the surgery bed shooting upwards while our ‘surgeons’ loomed over him and lumps of fake flesh were thrown around, or rigging the camera inside a bin."The grade for this was beautifully executed by colourist Iain Pennington and he really elevated the whole thing with added texture, shaping and subtle colour work."Brilliant, inspired work and another standout video from the creative team.&nbsp;

United Kingdom

Rock

Alt Rock

Alternative

Arab Strap 'Glamour Magick' by David Arthur

Arab Strap - Glamour Magick (Official Video)

An old man, played by acclaimed actor David Hayman,&nbsp;escapes from a care home to embark on&nbsp;a journey into his past in David Arthur's enchanting video for German alt-folk band Songraes.in the video for Wind, Hayman's wheelchair-bound, dementia-suffering character sees a woman in a red coat, and shakily grabs a walking frame to take pursuit, heading for the beach. When he sees the woman again he ditches the frame, follwing her into town with ever more assured and lighter steps.With it's grimly rainy seaside setting, the film subtly progresses towards fantasy, in keeping with the gentle jauntiness of the track, and the effect is all the more poignant and emotional as a result. It's a very rewarding viewing experience - particularly to enjoy the craggy presence and excellent performance of David Hayman.[imgtoken data:1]"I’ve know the singer/songwriter Leo [Bruges] from the band for nearly 20 years and we’ve collaborated with each other in a variety of ways, often swapping hats," explains David Arthur.&nbsp;"He is better known as a cinematographer, and over the years I’ve edited footage he has shot. Recently he’s been a great supporter of mine on shorts I have directed. I love his notes on scripts and edits because they are merciless, yet always supportive and you need honest voices to make your work better. He sends me songs now and I can be brutal too, and that exchange is rare."When Leo invited me to pitch an idea for this video my father was very ill and I would listen to the song on the bus, on the way to see him. I was thinking about how my father's body was shutting down, how he used to be so active and there were times he would try to leave the house and go somewhere from his past, to see someone who had died even. So this idea came from that, exploring that headspace of a dementia sufferer on a journey, and what if they could return to the body of their past? To begin with this man confined to chair, build to him dancing, and then possibly end with him flying..."I wrote the treatment with David Hayman in mind, sent it to him, and when he called me the next day to say he’d do it I was so surprised he ended up saying to me: 'lets talk once you’ve recovered'. We met in a chip shop cafe the following week and at 77, Davie is still so sharp. He sets the pace and you have to keep up with him. Davie really understands the minimalism of acting for the screen and I learned a lot working with him.[imgtoken data:2]"We were heavily rained on&nbsp;both days of the shoot and by now the cinematographer Darren Hercher and I have a kind of documentary process where we embrace that stuff: like what would the character actually do in this scenario? He’d go find shelter, so let’s film him in a bus shelter for a bit and find something in that."Actress&nbsp;Elysia Welch, wearing my wife’s favourite red coat, had the song playing in her earphones and figured out some playful movements around the song’s motifs, and I just asked Davie to copy her. That was the most exciting material to film - just watching two great actors play like children on a rainy beach in Troon - and because of the weather the promenade was mostly deserted so that adds an atmosphere too maybe."To finish this, I called in a few favours with master colourist Colin Brown at BSQUARED, who really helped us shape the images in a way that embraced the Scottish greyness and Marcin Knyziak adding subtle sound effects. VFX wizard Sam Goodwin seamlessly put Elysia on the roof of the house at the end too!"

Songraes 'Wind' by David Arthur

Songraes-'Wind'-by-David-Arthur

In an event as rare and unexpected as an earthquake in Cowdenbeath, Scotland's famously miserablist indie&nbsp;band Arab Strap have made a horror comedy inspired by 1980s werewolf movies - courtesy of director David Arthur.&nbsp;The promo for Strawberry Moon also&nbsp;brings the band's two members&nbsp;to the screen in a music video for the first time in 20 years:&nbsp;Aidan Moffatt as a troubled priest and Malcolm Middleton as a crazed werewolf on the loose in Glasgow.Much of the action takes place in a nightclub exclusively for members of the Church, where Moffatt encounters a sexy nun, other boozed-up priests and Middleton transforms into the&nbsp;beast, leading to a final showdown in a hillside Glasgow graveyard. Prepare for some divine clergy dance moves, mobility scooting, holy water pistols and the patented ginger werewolf POV cam.All of the small budget is there on screen, with a sizeable cast of extras, great locations, costumes and scooter, and excellent werewolf make-up design by the SFX make-up artist&nbsp;Karen J Shields.&nbsp;And Arthur maintains a strong narrative grip throughout, greatly abetted by the natural on-screen&nbsp;charisma of the two bandmembers, particularly Moffatt.[imgtoken data:1]&nbsp;“I am a big Arab Strap fan from way back, so when I was asked to pitch on this it was a very exciting prospect," says Arthur.&nbsp;"Listening to the song with its growling bass hook and lyrical references to the moon and sin made me imagine Aidan as a priest hunting down a werewolf, played by Malcolm… I think the band were tickled by this idea too, and talking to them I realised they were really up for making something fun. So we really went for it.“It was a challenging shoot because of the ambition of creating this world of a wayward priest drawn to the temptations of city nightlife, along with a parallel story of a mysterious ginger werewolf killing off clergy, and leading to a showdown in a graveyard at night.“Aidan and Malcolm were both a joy to work with and they really went with the madness of this, and our cinematographer Darren Hercher worked fast with a small camera and lighting setup,&nbsp;whilst still making it look brooding and cinematic."I called in major favours from my favourite post-house Blazing Griffin and colourist Taryn Calverey and sound mixer Scott Patterson really took the picture and sound to the next level. For eagle-eyed&nbsp;80s&nbsp;movie fans there are several references to classic films I loved as a kid like&nbsp;An American Werewolf in London&nbsp;and&nbsp;Teen Wolf.”

Forest Of Black

Arab Strap 'Strawberry Moon' by David Arthur

Arab-Strap-'Strawberry-Moon'-by-David-Arthur

David Arthur

Director

2026 (2)

2024 (1)