There’s something very unsettling about Liverpudlian five-piece Outfit‘s recently released video for Performance single ‘I Want What’s Best‘, but look a little closer and it can be quite the opposite. The clip, which follows a day spent with a recovering heroin addict, John, who earns a living as a human statue, initially scans as quite a disturbing watch: after all, we, the public, as paying spectators were previously funding his life-threatening habit.
Yet, look – and listen – a little closer and we’ve potentially done quite the opposite. John, rather than struggling through his addiction in a private, personal hell, has found an outlet in the form of his art; a way in which to get involved with his local community, to speak to passing people and to earn enough money to afford reasonable accommodation. The fact he’s now living clean, sharing a flat with his partner and son, is testament to people’s ability, given a little support, to genuinely change and make the best of a bad situation. Or, as another great Liverpool band once put it: “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
- Alex Cull
Performance is available now on Double Denim. You can order it here.