Tuesday, 22 May 2012

Duuuuude! Video!




It's been a while, but I'm back. I brought chocolates...

The other night we had a harp playing friend of ours over at the Ranch. She accompanies the Dame on performance poetry gigs. It's pretty powerful stuff. We had a lovely jam session around the kitchen table until midnight, when we disappeared one by one to bed. By 9.30 the next morning, music, poetry and chats on recording & marketing had begun afresh, the only difference being that it was being done over coffee rather than beer. I love living in a musical house!

So here's the landmark third installment of my buh-lohg! It's been three weeks since my last entry, and it's been a pretty hectic ride. Fast.Like.Fun have been busy. We shot a mofo'in music video! And not just a 'we totally shot a music video with an iphone with hammy acting and that girl I really like playing the love interest so I can increase my chances of getting in her pants' music video. I mean an actual music video with lights and HD cameras and a director and people lifting things and shouting stuff like 'speed!' like they fecking mean it and more blown takes than you can shake a stick at, if that's your idea of a good time. And we didn't do normal things like pick a place to shoot. No, no, no, we Scouted A Location. We probably had a Best Boy and a Key Grip or two about the place too, but I don't know what they are, so I'm not actually sure. All those hours spent practicing film-set jargon in the mirror really helped.

In all seriousness, the video was the brainchild of our esteemed drummer, engineer, producer and coffee maker Poppa V. The concept for the video was his idea, he found (Scouted) the place (Location), and the people who were good enough to help us out on the day were his nearest and dearest. The steady-cam rig the cameraman used? He built that! The man is a genius, and it's only through serious effort on the part of Easy Keith and myself that Poppa V hasn't taken over the world. All the more impressive MacGyver episodes were based on things V does while he's eating his cereal.

At the time of writing, the video is in Post Production (another little gem of a phrase I can now rattle off as naturally as 'bacon sandwich') and will be unleashed onto an unsuspecting internet in the next couple of weeks. Want to guess who's in charge of post production? Yep, its Poppa V. Poppa V; the man who, through the cunning use of Technology, turns this goofy looking pasty-faced Volvo of an overgrown seven year old (thats me) into someone you'd actually consider buying an ice-cream from. Or something... Either way, stay tuned! I expect you all to watch the video at least seven or eight times when it's released.

In case it wasn't obvious, I had better tell you that these early stages of playing the mainstream rock circuit are all a bit of a learning curve for me. In the past, I've either worked with bands that were already well established, or blues bands, which seem to have their own independent circuit. At almost 25 (birthday this saturday, you're all invited!), I'm doing for the first time what most musicians experience in their late teens. That's ok though, right? Right?? Want to buy an ice-cream?

Apart from all that, things are going well. The One Horse Pony EP 'Far & Wide' is being mixed by Harmonica Niall. The Black Mountain Boys (my lovable Americana-spouting, blues-belting, country-clucking, farmer's-market-playing acoustic duo) have recorded a full length album so people can take a little something of us home with them. If they want to. Fast.Like.Fun have a couple of support gigs coming up with Irish indie gods Senakah on their next tour. I love being busy!
Cheers for reading, guys! More to come...
R

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