By Katie Elsworth
Devvo, a.k.a Darren Devonshire, is a chav persona from the Doncaster/Hull area, whose YouTube videos earned him 200, 000 followers across his social media pages, and who rose to cyber fame on fat-pie.com. He has also been gigging as MC Devvo since the mid-2000s entertaining crowds with stand-up comedy and performing songs from his debut album.
Once described as “the vilest man in the UK” by The Sun newspaper, Devvo has returned with a feature-length music video for his song ‘Yorkshire Till I Die.’
With the help of two production companies, Cowboy Tactics and Skewiff, the ‘most ambitious Devvo video to date’ was filmed in one take, across five locations along the back streets of Leeds in July this year.
The video includes a bike theft, a two-storey winch – for swift camera moves, four camera operators, a car theft, stolen knickers and a chip robbery.
MC Devvo, also known as Donny Soldier and star of the video, said: “It was ace – both companies have got lads who have a passion for what they do.
“They had an ace concept and just needed something to hang off it, nice that they asked me. I dunno why they picked Leeds as the backdrop. Just looks right, doesn’t it?”
Callum Whiteley, of Skewiff Productions, said: “We knew we wanted to shoot around Woodhouse, our first storyboard had The Chemic Tavern interior as a key location.
“We knew a few people with houses in Woodhouse, which meant we could easily find a house that could hold the winch system [hydraulic and pneumatic lifting and pulling equipment] for the break-in camera moves, which was also within a short drive of The Chemic.
“The Woodhouse streets were the perfect setting, not too far from the streets featured on the Devvo’s first album cover.”
Cowboy Tactics and Skewiff had been discussing this idea for a while – a shiny new video for MC Devvo – a self-proclaimed ‘technical achievement’ for them and a chance to play with Movi-Hire’s toys.
Directoral roles were split between Cowboy Tactics and Skewiff, and had a large crew all contributing in an “amazing way”.
Callum Whitely, Skewiff Productions, said: “The motivation and sense of achievement by the end was amazing, a long but super-fun day of filming.”
Devvo has had a long viral career as a comedic internet presence, starting in 2004 in the time of Google video, before the age of YouTube which was founded in 2005.
“I was hanging about, mucking about and doing my own thing before David Firth [animator of Salad Fingers] came along with a camera. He liked making films about me spending my days doing what I do,” said Devvo.
“I buzzed off that – I didn’t know he was doing anything with the videos. This was around 2004 when Google video was the thing, before they bought YouTube, and he was wanging them on the internet.
“I only knew they were popular when he invited me to Leeds festival and everyone knew who I was.”
Ten years of Devvo has also been ten years of speculation as to whether he is ‘real’ or a character for entertainment value. David Firth mentions on his FAQ page: “He’s absolutely genuine. His stories are probably lies and exaggerations though.”
Devvo also found himself briefly aired on the channel E4 in July 2006.
“E4 was good – it was nice to be on TV but it’s not the be all and end all. That’s what this career path makes you believe,” he said.
“I only got on TV because I was doing something on the internet. As a platform it was growing and moving faster than TV was – producers got scared and tried to take all the things off the internet and put them on TV.
“This didn’t really work because they just wanted the funny stuff from the internet replicating but with more TV control and influence. That’s what happened with us.”
The most successful TV appearance was the Funny Cuts show on E4 in 2006 but Devvo didn’t want to work from TV’s tightly controlled scripts (“everything we do for the internet is created on the spot, in the moment”) and him and Firth wanted to be able to edit their own footage.
He said: “After that, we stopped putting stuff out on the internet, saving ideas for TV until we moved away from the idea. The money is crap and we have now seen that internet watching isn’t the same as TV so they were proper wrong going down that path anyway.”
Devvo has been called the ‘first ever YouTube star’ being the first person to find fame and popularity through social media.
He said: “Social media has made my popularity. Devvo is nothing without it.”
“I would say I was one of the first YouTube stars. When Myspace was the thing, I was one of the most popular unsigned acts on there.
“To begin with, I could never be bothered with Facebook or Twitter but then I spotted someone had a Devvo page with 20K likes on it. Asked the lad for it and a couple of years later its up to 130K likes.”
Social media being an ever-changing and growing platform it’s difficult for characters to remain watched and popular.
“I’m always looking to do new videos but who knows. The world moves fast. People don’t want to watch a five or ten minute video anymore. If it doesn’t play automatically on their Facebook timeline and it’s not 30 seconds or less then they haven’t got the attention span for it. Maybe I’ve not got the attention span for it these days.”
Devvo has noticed swelling audience numbers at his gigs when touring, stating that ‘it’s taken people a long time to realise that I can do a show that is actually worth watching.’
[Video credit: YouTube user ChrisLD – MC Devvo live in 2007]
He said: “People are after something. Gigs keep being booked. I don’t chase gigs, people email me and book them in.”
MC Devvo interacts with the crowd how you’d completely expect him to, he combats heckles and incites laughter for a night that is completely memorable and like no other.
Devvo said: “I don’t know why people still want me about. I like it but I don’t know why.
“Maybe its because I’m a bit cheeky.
“Maybe because it reminds folk of their teenage years. It’s a nostalgia trip coming to a Devvo show but then it goes in cycles. The online demographic starts again with new teenage followers.”
There is no end in sight for Devvo, who is completely ‘Devvo as owt’, the dead pigeon-kicking Donny Soldier will be around for as long as people want him around.
“The day the emails stop is the day I stop doing gigs. Easy.”
Buy tickets to see MC Devvo live, for a show you won’t forget anytime soon, click here.
View Ben Daure’s behind the scenes gallery for ‘Yorkshire ‘Til I Die’, click here.
Devvo on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Alternative Jottings 