Feature: WhoDaresWins Decodes “Hero”
Can you tell us about the inspiration behind "Hero" and the story it tells?
Will Jack: Like many others at some point in their lives, I found myself in a dark place where it really seemed all hope was lost. And I suppose in many ways that was the case. But then my son, Willie, came to my rescue and gave me the inspiration to dig myself out of that hole. He’s my hero, so the song’s about him and also about never giving up no matter how bad things may seem. There’s always hope on the horizon, you've just got to see through the dark clouds to find it.
How do you feel "Hero" represents your artistic identity?
Willie Jack: We pride ourselves in making music that inspires others. ”Hero” has a universal message as it's about the underdog defying the odds, something I think many people can relate to. And
sometimes we all need a hero, don’t we? Musically speaking, the song was a triumph. We worked our asses off on it and kept adding bits here and there. Tom Tikka, who produced the track kept tearing his hair out on a daily basis, but I think at the end of it, we all felt we'd produced something magical.
John Haddrell: We also attach as much importance to the lyrics in a song as we do to the music. The band's ultimate aim is to create and produce songs that are not only culturally significant but also music that transcends time. I hope we've gone some way to achieving this with "Hero."
What was your favorite moment in making the music video?
Will Jack: Without doubt, the gunfight scene was my standout moment from the shoot. You know that bit where Tom and I are facing each other in the town square. It really made you think. I thought, “Jesus, they actually did this in the wild west, had gun fights and men got killed!” And also, watching all the guys raise their game truly gave me goosebumps. That's when it hit me just how good this video would end up becoming – "spine-chilling!"
John Haddrell: On the day of the shoot, right from the onset everything that could go wrong went wrong and I had very serious reservations about us being able to pull it off. Then finding out that Tuomas Palola, who filmed and edited the music video, had lost his beloved father the night before but still decided to fly in from Finland moved us all beyond words. And not only that, both he and scriptwriter Elina Suominen were both incredible and pulled out all the stops. Their work rate was phenomenal and relentless and without doubt, were the true unsung heroes that day.
Subsequently, my favourite moment came right at the end of the day when I stood with Tuomas and Elina in the main square where all those truly iconic scenes from the Spaghetti Western Trilogy were filmed. It was dusk and the sun was setting over the location and the views were truly breathtaking. Yet I noticed there was just one bright star in the clear blue sky so I turned to Tuomas, pointed up and said to him, "without doubt that's your Dad looking down on us!" It choked us all up but it was a truly beautiful moment and made us all appreciate that with just 7 hours of filming, something magical had been created that day.
Now we've just found out that the video has been nominated for best music video at the Digital Griffix Film Awards, which means it could get shown at the Montreal Film Festival. What a fitting tribute that would be to Tuomas’ fathers memory.
Can you tell us more about you as a band?
Will Jack: It's unique to begin with because Willie and I are father and son. The blood connection translates into a sixth-sense musical synthesis. Then add into the mix a reunion with Johnny 'H' some quarter of a century after our initial collaboration and season it with a final ingredient, the uber talented Tom Tikka, and what you get is WhoDaresWins, making music that's .... well, a new kind of familiar.
John Haddrell: With the original band all those years ago, we had some great songs and were a formidable live act but I always felt that something fundamental was missing. Although me and Will had always had a great musical chemistry, the other half of the band just wasn't right and to be totally honest I never had full belief in the lineup. My biggest regret was having to accept that the material would never get heard by a worldwide audience but now meeting again after all these years, it really feels like it was truly meant to be. It means that we have been given a precious second chance to right a wrong, and with Willie and Tom Tikka on board I do believe the sky's the limit. WhoDaresWins is a hotbed of innovative and groundbreaking musical ideas and I'm fully confident that, as they say, the best is yet to come!
Do you aim to convey any specific themes or messages through your music?
Willie Jack: Every song is based on lived experience so some common themes are hope, love, despair, heartbreak and loss which run throughout the lyrics. Like my Dad always used to say, the message is simple:
never give up and never, ever give in.
John Haddrell: We try to produce songs that provoke thought or emotion and always have some sort of message contained within them. If the past is anything to go by, we covered various subjects from the Holocaust to serial killers, so no topic is off limits and we always ensured that the music and backing track enhanced the story that we were trying to tell. I always find that if a finished song has a strong message or theme it usually evokes a powerful visual image within the mind. This is exactly what happened with ”Hero” and deciding to film the video in the middle of a desert, in such a legendary, iconic location just felt like the song had found its natural home.
