Simple Plan Live! 22/03/16

I can't remember the exact age I was when I discovered Simple Plan but, I'm going to guess that I was about thirteen years old. The first song that I heard by them was called, "When I'm gone" and I instantly fell in love with the track. Before that, all I really listened to was Green Day, Avril Lavigne and the Plain White T's other than that I'd listen to whatever was playing on the radio. It's crazy for me to think now that just a few days ago I watched Simple Plan perform live and that I was in the same room as them. I don't go to many "big gigs" really so, I'm easily starstruck. I didn't quite freeze in front of them though. I went with my friend Chantelle and we got a decent spot on the Balcony to see all the crowd overhead. The gig wasn't sold out but, my it was busy. The view of the stage from where we was was pretty decent because of the height, we stood close to the sticky balcony railings all night, even going with out refreshments to make sure nobody could take our spot.

Before Simple Plan played there were two support acts. One was called 'The Bottom Line", they were from London and the other was called, "Ghost Town" those guys were from California. The Bottom Line opened up the gig, I can't remember what song they started with or ended with because I still don't really know their songs. I did't know any on the night, I remember having a look at their music a couple of weeks before but, I couldn't remember what either of the bands sounded like. Ghost Town seemed a little heavier but mostly because of the vocals. They're only a three piece band (Vocals, guitar, drums no bass) but, still managed to make a rather big impression. I think a lot of people were still questioning why they didn't play first though because they didn't get the crowd moving as much. The Bottom Line managed to get much more audience participation and even took a chance with a odd kind of stage dive. Someone came on stage with an air bed with "H.M.S BOTTOMLINE" written on the side with yellow electrical tape and he managed to do it too for a good minute, he was a little shaky though and did look like he was going to fall at any moment.

Once Ghost Town had finished, it seemed a big wait for Simple Plan. If I remember right Ghost Town finished at about 20:45pm and Simple Plan where scheduled to be on stage for 21:05. Both myself and my friend still didn't move, we were quite content watching them set up the stage. They had four huge white cabs. They were already onstage but, hidden by a cloth until later. I couldn't tell the model from where I was sat but I believe them to be the same as the ones the used in the music video for one of their newer songs, "Boom". From where we were stood we could see some of backstage storage space and could mostly see where all of Simple Plans guitars were kept. They brought so many with them for one show but, as a guitarist myself I find it understandable.

When it was finally time, the whole room lit in red. They started off with the first Track, "Opinion Overload"from their new album, "Taking One For The Team" and then followed on with the second track, "Boom". Thankfully they didn't just play songs from their new album, they actually played quite a selection from their complete discography. I'd Do Anything, I'm Just A Kid, Shut Up, Jump, Crazy, Your Love Is A Lie, Jet Lag, Astronaut, The Rest of Us - Just to mention a few. I managed to get a lot of footage of this gig. I was quite happy to stand and record for a while. I recorded about severn minutes of the two support acts and then another fifty minutes of Simple Plan. I'm not quite sure how my camera lasted that long (battery wise), I knew I should have had enough space because I used a 32GB micro SD.

I think the only problem I had with the night was that it was over so soon. I think I would give anything for them to come back and play next year. They did say at the concert that t had been quite a while since they had lasted played in Nottingham. Oh, and now I have another new poster for my wall, two band T-shirts, a necklace and a keyring. All Simple Plan of course. I did decide to buy The Bottom Line's album though because I quite enjoyed them, I managed to convince my friend to buy a copy too but, I managed to get their lead singer Matt to sign the Disc for me.

Filming Music video No. 2, Part 1.

So, a couple of days back on Saturday was the first official day of filming for my next music video. I managed to get a few ideas down before we got started, most of which were not written down until early morning the same day. Even though I had so many ideas I didn't really know what to expect as an outcome of the day, this is the first time I've even been outside my comfort zone filming as I'm not usually in front of the lens. Most of my work with a camera if myself taking a photo of something else so this really is a big difference.

We started of brushing over all of the ideas that we had come up with and seeing if we could piece together more of a storyboard and then soon set off for the city for the first load of footage. We went to a few locations in the city but, only a few because we had already decided that we wanted to go to Wollaton Park not much later on in the day. We mostly stayed outside of Primark and around the Market Square.

When we got to Wollaton Hall we tried to record some friendship activities but, tried to keep it minimal. I remember cutting my finger in the process and getting blood all over my jeans. By the end of the day (well, from 12pm to about 5pm) we managed to film a good 40 minuets of footage at least, it's almost quite upsetting that we most definitely won't be using all of it or that we will but, it will be chopped up or sped up. I can't wait to move along to the editing process but, we still have a lot more things to film before we make a start on that. I for one need to film some instrument parts and some sunrises/reverse sunsets.

The Time Has Come...

So, later on today once I have actually slept I will be starting to film my next music video with one of my best friends. I really can't wait. These last few hours I have been writing down some simple ideas that could become explosive (not literally) for the video. I've had a serious think about locations and what content I actually want to include and what kind of mood want to set to match the temperament of the song. As for now, the track is called 'As The Sun Rises' (That's the only thing I've giving away tonight and I'm sure that title will stick) and I just feel like all these ideas are ready made to work together. I'm really hoping the weather is fine tomorrow. As the title gives away the song should feel quite warm and inviting. I don't really want everything looking cold tomorrow and most certainly not wet because I'm not sure it would be easy to edit that out.

'Oh, look it's not raining.'

I'm undecided on what to wear tomorrow and that bears a problem for me. What I wear tomorrow will be recorded for then rest of my life, no doubt. If it's warm enough, maybe some shorts but British summers aren't warm anyway so maybe it'll be ok to look cold.

New Proposals

Today has been rather different. I spent most of today down Nottingham with my old school friend Kieran Cooley and his boyfriend, Dan. I think it has been a month or so since we last met up, maybe even longer so we had a bit of a skate day. I drove down to their new house in Sneinton with my deck in the boot, soon after we rode into town. Before we set off we got talking about our plans for education. Kieran went on to tell me that he had not long dropped out of his course which shocked me a little because not long ago we were both talking about University and more but, then he told me that he will still be going back to college this year taking a new pathway in Media. He went on to tell me that he had been asked to provide a portfolio of work but, was unsure how to go about it. We sat down for a while discussing ideas and all different possibilities that would be achievable in the time limit of a couple of weeks. We came up with ideas like, street photography collections, animal park life photography, edited works, vlogs and making a music video or at least helping me make one. My main thought was that we could help each other with this, I'm fairly experienced with a camera in hand and I could pass on a few techniques, skills and hopefully a few editing tips too. I suggested that I introduce him to iMovie on my Mac with it being the best app I have to make movies. I want to get Final Cut Pro X at some point but it's so expensive, I guess that is what 'professionalism' costs.

When we got into town we didn't really know what to do or where to go, we never do really. We normally just end up wandering, going wherever our feet (and wheels) take us but today I suggested that we skate down to a flatland spot underneath a car park near Broadmarsh which was fun for a while., after we went to Subway and visited a few shops. I was still trying to suggest other little things that could work for his portfolio, some of which didn't come to me until later in the day when we were all heading back to his house to watch some Facebook videos and Netflix.

I've not long gotten home and I'm quite excited to be able to work on another video so soon but, also more importantly with a friend. I have recorded some footage already ready for a new video but, I'm not sure what that will be for yet or whether it will be another. Either way, I have a lot to think about again. I'm hoping to spend sometime in my studio tomorrow morning while my mum's at work so I can get something done and ready for storyboard. I have a couple I could use at the moment but, I'm still unsure. I'm hoping to actually release an EP before I go back to college and then maybe get an album ready for next year after I have performed around Nottingham a little more and gained a few fans. I really am starting to take my music more seriously and I can see that in my work and the levels of work I produce now compared to last year. I believe that this time last year, I was producing nothing. I was constantly thinking about doing something but, something always stopped me whether it be work or something more petty like just being to lazy and wanting to play games more than anything (when I had the time).

Theory Test

Yesterday, I had to go back to NCN Clarendon to resit my music theory test for admissions. I had arranged it a week before with Andy Scoffin by chance, when I came in for a signature for my student finance. That reminds me, I need to get that all sent off on Monday. I decided to travel to Nottingham on the bus, giving myself the chance to relax rather than over think about everything whilst driving. I got to college nice and early. I was in town for about twenty past nine and managed to get to college for twenty to the hour. I spoke to the lady at the reception desk, she must have been a new receptionist because I hadn't seen her before but, she gave the music office a call for me to tell them I was here. Five or so minuets later, Andy came through the double doors to collect me and we headed in the direction towards the music department. Before rushing through the doors we both noticed that it had started to snow, it was just a sudden burst but it looked like it was coming down fast.

Moments later, I found myself back in the same room where I had sat to do the same test on my interview day. I'm not entirely sure what the room is for but, there is a lot of tech in there and the room is very small so its usually quite toasty. I felt a lot more prepared this time around. I didn't notice last time but, I read at the top of the paper that the duration was two hours. That seemed unreal. I managed to finish the test in little under fifty minuets, (which I was quite proud of) I'm not sure how long it took me last time but it was probably about the same.