SAM Robson and Lee Clark of York indie band Club Smith have been working out five days a week at York Boxing Club, all in the cause of making a knockout promo video for their debut single, No Friend Of Mine.

“We trained for three months to get fit and learn some boxing basics,” says Lee. “It was pretty hard but got us the fittest we’ve ever been.

“The boxing club were a great help, especially Lewis Gell and Pat, and without them it wouldn’t have been possible as they let us use the ring to film in too.”

The pummelling video was shot by Grizzly Bros, alias Tom Blackwell and NME and Rolling Stone photographer Danny North, and you can see the results of all that intensive training and De Niro in Raging Bull-style method acting on the band’s website, clubsmith.co.uk or at YouTube And if you are wondering why Lee – by day the marketing co-ordinator for York Museums Trust – can be spotted only briefly, the reason is revealed on Danny’s blog, which may be accessed via the Club Smith website.

“Danny has put up a blog with a video of the making of the video, and it’ll explain why Lee had such a small part,” says Sam. “It wasn’t because he was lazy. Far from it, he in fact had a pivotal role.”

And that role was? “You can’t see me as I have the camera on my head!” says Lee, whose feisty fist work leaves Sam bloodied by the finale.

The single is released this week by Front Wall Records as a double A-side with Young Defeatists on limited edition seven-inch vinyl and download and will be launched at Club Smith’s live sets tonight in The Basement at City Screen, York, and tomorrow at the Nation Of Shopkeepers in Leeds.

• The vinyl version of Club Smith’s No Friend Of Mine/Young Defeatists is available in York from Attic Records, Patrick Pool.