Watch: Dawley brought to life in band's music video

The video has been made by Dawley-based rock band Savannah to accompany its new double-A side single Back Street Robber/Live Your Life.

The short film stars well-known local character "Mad Chris" Hainey as he wanders around many of the town's familiar landmarks.

It was shot over two days last month and features scenes at Mo's Barber Shop, Polly's Cafe and Dawley Park. Pub scenes have been filmed in both The Crown and the Elephant and Castle.

Bass player Jason Lewis said the video had been created to reflect the essence of Dawley's close-knit community, and said Chris was chosen because he was such a well-known figure in the town.

"Everybody in Dawley knows Chris, and we thought he would be great to play the character we had in mind," said Jason.

"He's such a nice bloke, he will do anything for anybody. He is well-known because he looks after everyone. As soon as we asked him if he would appear in the video he agreed straight away."

The video runs through both tracks of the single. The first song, Back Street Robber, is accompanied by black-and-white footage showing Chris playing a hard-drinking lavatory cleaner making his way around the town with a can of lager in his hand. At the end of the track he is seen collapsing in an alleyway.

The second track, Live Your Life, shows him dreaming about a different life as a smartly dressed optician. This time he is seen playing tennis, walking his dog, and enjoying a pint in the pub with members of the band, including lead singer Liam Ball. It ends with him waking up in the alley, and realising that it had all been a dream.

The record, launched at The DukeBox in Oakengates on May 30, is Savannah's second single, following on from Move which was released in February this year.

Chris, who is 45, said since the video was released last week he had been repeatedly stopped by people in the street, many of them asking to have their picture taken with them.

"Not a day has gone by without me being stopped by 10 or sometimes 20 people saying they have seen me on the video," says Chris who moved from Penkridge 14 years ago. "A few years ago I lost my twin brother, and everybody in the town rallied round to help me. It is such a great community."

Jason, who is 21, said there had been a fantastic response from people in the town, who were thrilled to see the way it had been depicted.

"There are too many bands around who forget where they are from, and we wanted to do something for the community of Dawley," he said. "When we approached the businesses featured in the video, they all said 'great', they couldn't do enough to help us."

He added over the two days while the video was being filmed, around 100 people turned up to help out.

Drummer Harry Neat, 19, added: "Dawley is like no other place in Telford, everybody knows one another, and the way people have responded has been amazing."

The video was shot by Born Communications from Wordsley, near Dudley, which has in the past made films featuring Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant, and has also worked with Specsavers and Mitsubishi.

Jason, who works for his mother who keeps the Hartfield Guest House in the town, said the video had used up most of the single's £4,500 budget, but said he was thrilled with the way it had captured the atmosphere of the area.

"We are really excited because it is so unique in style and substance, and it will generate a great amount of attention for Savannah, our music and the local area," he said.

Bass player Tom Jones, 21, who also performs lead vocals on Live Your Life, said Chris's appearance was crucial to the popularity of the video among locals.

"It's quite a dark theme, and it could have looked a bit sleazy, but it doesn't come across that way because it's Chris."

And typifying the strength of community spirit in the town, Chris tells how they all took care to respect the area during filming.

"At the end of the video, I am filmed pretending to be sick," he said. "But we cleaned it up afterwards. It's Dawley, isn't it?"

Jason said during the first week on sale, about 200 CDs had been sold around Dawley, and the video had been viewed 5,000 times. Savannah will be perform both tracks during a gig at The Rainbow in Digbeth, Birmingham, on Friday night, and will be holding a concert at Dawley Town Hall on June 21.