Football legend Stuart Pearce has a starring role in the new video from punk icons The Stranglers

3 September 2021, 12:24

England football hero and punk superfan Stuart Pearce shows off his Bond-like skills in London in the new video.

Stuart Pearce is almost as well known for being a massive punk rock fan these days as he is for his performances in an England and Nottingham Forest football shirt.

The defender, nicknamed "Psycho" for his passion and hard tackling during his playing career, is especially a fan of The Stranglers, having seen them over 300 times.

So he was very excited to be asked to appear in the band's music video for their new single 'This Song'.

The Stranglers - This Song (Official Video)

"When The Stranglers make you an offer you can’t refuse… you can’t refuse!" said Pearce.

"I played it cool but to be honest I was excited, and honoured to be asked. As a lifelong fan of The Stranglers, being part of this video was very special."

He added: "'This Song' is The Stranglers at their best, a really catchy song full of all the classic traits of the band.

"We had a lot of fun filming, my demons (the parkour boys) were fantastic and the crew were top quality."

The Stranglers' current lead singer Baz Warnes said: "The lyrics drove this idea that we can sometimes be trying to escape feelings and emotions that actually we need to confront head-on.

"This led me down a route in which we could mix parkour action with a Bond-like performance from Stuart."

He added: "I wanted Stuart to perform as if he was giving a half-time team talk to his team that had just conceded before the break.

"Luckily for us, that actually happened to West Ham the day before, so that emotion was fresh in his memory."

The Stranglers - No More Heroes

'This Song' is the latest song to be taken from The Stranglers' upcoming album Dark Matters, which is out on September 10 on the band’s own Coursegood imprint, via Absolute, and is available to pre-order now.

It follows recent tracks '…And If You Should See Dave', 'The Lines' and 'If Something’s Gonna Kill Me (It Might As Well Be Love)'.

The album is the band's first since the death of long-time keyboard player Dave Greenfield, who had joined the band in 1975 and was an ever-present in the lineup until passed away from COVID-19 in May 2020.

Greenfield features on 8 out of 11 of the songs on the new album, which was recorded over two years and produced by long-time collaborator Louie Nicastro.

The Stranglers - Golden Brown (Restored Music Video)

The Stranglers were fronted by Hugh Cornwell from their founding in 1974 to 1990, when he left the group.

After that, bassist and singer Jean-Jacques Burnel took over all lead singing duties, before Warnes was added to the lineup in 2006.

Founding drummer Jet Black retired in 2018and was replaced by Jim Macaulay.

The Stranglers are currently on their 'full final tour' of the UK and Europe, which they are continuing with in Greenfield's memory.

The dates include two shows at London's Brixton Academy and a spot at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool.