Award winning filmmaker, Alex Ayre is set to release his second feature length film following the lives of Northumberland band, Clippah and all the elements of the local music scene that make them.
On the 21st of December at 7:30PM, filmmaker Alex Ayre’s second ever feature length film, ‘North East Noise: A Rock ‘n Roll Road Movie with Clippah’ will be digitally premiering. The premier will take place on the official YouTube channel of Clippah, the local rock band of which this film follows.
Formed in rural Northumberland in September 2014, Clippah are a band consisting of five friends who have grown up together since meeting at school and discovering a shared passion for music. They are a self-described rock and roll outfit with a profound love for 90’s grunge riffs, blues, and grit, with an established cult following within the local music scene in which they reside.
You can watch the films’ official trailer, released on the 8th of December 2020 here:
With the release of ‘North East Noise’, Alex Ayre, local documentary maker and member of the band itself, is aiming to provide a personal account following the journey, performances and lives of his band. The film was shot mostly over the course of last year up until the coronavirus pandemic brought about the forced hiatus of live music.
“I realised I could put something together that, hopefully, would mean a whole lot more.”
-Alex Ayre on How ‘North East Noise’ came to be
To create the film, Ayre has used a mix of professional footage, audience phone clips and archive material from organisations such as North East Film Archive. Notably, this is an organisation who Ayre, a winner of a Royal Television Society Award, has worked with previously.
When discussing how this project came to be, Ayre stated: “I initially set out to produce a simple live film for our band using footage captured in 2019. Once I started combing through the hours and hours of content though, I realised I could put something together that, hopefully, would mean a whole lot more.”
The film is reportedly set to serve as an exploration of what it means to grow up in a band and the role a local community plays when it comes to supporting emerging artists. This is seen through appearances from band family members, friends, and other such characters who are deemed by Ayre as essential to the success of smaller local artists such as Clippah themselves.
“A document of live music, right before it was forced to disappear.”
-ALex Ayre
Commenting on the focus and intentions of his most recent project, Ayre stated: “This film focuses on a very small section of the world that is near and dear to me, but ultimately it is a document of live music, right before it was forced to disappear.”
Below you can watch a video of the full-length interview Northern Noise had with Alex Ayre, discussing his upcoming film, it’s inspirations and personal meanings in more depth.
By Josephine Canham
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Good interview Josephine. keep on promoting the fine talent in the North East.
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