Junior Bill is the project of Cardiff songwriter Rob Nichols and his collaborators, today we are thrilled to be debuting the video for ‘David’ created by filmmaker Zuma Davies. Watch below now.
Rob Nichols says: “David is a true story about a childhood friend of mine. My other friend’s parents used to make us hide behind the sofa when David and his brother came to call for us. They didn’t want us to go out with David and his brother because they were “streetwise”.”
‘David‘ is the hooky yet tragic bittersweet tale of class prejudice, its sunny melodies juxtapose the bittersweet words that tell a tragic tale of class prejudice laced will its underscored by a calypso rhythm, shimmering guitars and steel pan shimmy, and a gleaming bricolage of elements of dub, ska, two tone, punk and a Latin flavour, the singalong chorus is a particularly potent earworm.
The striking accompanying video takes you to the heart of songwriter Rob’s inner conscience as he embarks on a journey to find his old friend. Cursed by his own guilt over his childhood memory, he himself ends up lost, alone, and beaten down by all society’s cruel characters. This could indeed all be a construct of Rob’s anguish, an anxiety dream coming true. With visuals inspired by their hometown with echoes of videos by the likes of The Specials and Madness. The video cuts between the sincere narrative starring Rob as the lead actor and the band playing the part of private school toffs, reflecting the song’s strange clash of naive earnestness and playground mockery.
It’s the lead single from their album Youth Club! and is an homage to youth clubs across the country. The band all met in their local youth club at Cathays Youth & Community Centre, Cardiff, where they continue to rehearse. For Rob, the centre was a sanctuary in his teenage years.
David is telling the true story of Rob’s childhood friend, whom he was discouraged from hanging out with on account of the boy being considered too ‘streetwise’ by other adults. As we learn in the song, this is, more or less, code for too working class. Rob, the narrator, shocked by this realisation as an adult, recalls the dire living situation poor David had to contend with as a child and the sad fates that befell him as a result of his ostracisation.
Not only is it a story many of us can relate to, the song innocently lays bare to us something we all know but mostly disregard; that the courses of our lives are set out early by an unjust class system. David reveals the deep inner conscience at the heart of Youth Club!, and as the opening track, sets the tone for an album full of empathic, witty stories about young life in Britain.
Their album Youth Club! was part of a great year for Rob and his band who performed at Glastonbury Festival among several others, self-released their album on vinyl and CD and sold out their album launch gig in Cathays Community Centre in advance, selling 250 tickets. All of this was fully self-funded and self-managed.
Listen to David: Spotify
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