Paul McCartney has released behind-the-scenes footage from the video shoot for his single Early Days.
And, along with a number of local musicians, the former Beatle is joined on the 30-minute session by actor Johnny Depp.
The original video was released in July, with the track lifted from McCartney’s 2013 album New. The shoot in Los Angeles led to an on-set jam, with the former Beatle joined by Roy Gaines, Al Williams, Dale Atkins, Henree Harris, Motown Maurice, Lil Poochie, Misha Lindes and Depp.
Included in the session are snippets of Charlie Campbell’s Goin’ Away Blues and Carl Perkins’ Matchbox, which the Beatles covered on-stage and recorded during their early career.
McCartney told Rolling Stone: “I happened to ring Johnny Depp. I said, ‘Come along and we’ll sit around and jam with these blues guys.’ He said, ‘Yeah, OK, count me in, man.’ I knew it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.”
Vincent Haycock directed the promo of the song McCartney wrote about his early days with John Lennon – but the director decided to go in a different direction with the shoot.
McCartney added: “When I’ve got a song, I don’t think about the video – I just think about writing it, then recording it.
“It’s a memory song about me and John in the early days. But Vince came up with this great idea: Instead of having young lookalikes of me and John walking the streets of Liverpool, guitars slung over our backs and literally acting out the song, what it it was any two aspiring musicians? I thought that was such a cool idea.”
A Making Of Early Days film will be included on the collector’s edition of New, which is due out later this year.
