We always follow what talented young director Billy Boyd Cape is up to. After all, he’s the bloke who, at 19, was asked by superstar Mr Hudson to direct the debut promo for his BIGKids side project; and also the cheeky bugger who nabbed the footage of Mr P respraying the infamous Kentish Town graffiti tag.
Billy’s latest baby – he’s still at Bournemouth Uni, studying film – is the vid for Sleeptalking, the current single by a very K-Town kinda band called Hella Better Dancer. A fourpiece (Tilly Scantlebury, Soph Nathan, Josh Cohen and Kari K. Jahnsen) with the average age of 21, they play “spacey indie rock”, influenced by acts like Slowdive and the Pixies.
So how did it all happen? “We’re all Kentish Town or Camden locals and went to Camden School for Girls together,” says Billy (yes, boys are allowed now in the sixth form).
The friends only really bonded after they left, however. “He knew that we made music and we knew he was really into film and photography,” adds lead singer Tilly. “But it was only after leaving sixth form where I think both of us wanted to collaborate in a serious way together. We wanted the film for Sleeptalking to be visually beautiful but also uncomfortable and trippy. We were really excited to ask Billy and even more excited when he said yes.”
While the video shimmers with quality, the friends had “zero budget” so decided to film at Tilly’s house, and get loads of our mates along, as well as a crew from Billy’s course. “It took a full 15 hour day to finish,” says Tilly, letting out a sigh. “We started with breakfast at 9 and wrapped around 12, the house jam-packed with all of our friends who had worked so hard at making it all happen.”
And yup, you can watch the fruits of everyone’s labours right here:
