Tag: Band

A full day in the studio

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After spending last night getting all the mics set up and ready today Rhys had to do his thing…for 12 hours. We’re finally done and Rhys ended up falling asleep on the floor, on the plus side it may make his sleeping pattern go back to normal! This morning was definately an early start after passing out last night, waking up at 7.30 did not seem like enough sleep to live on. 

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Me this morning…so, so sleepy. 

Rhys has drummed all day, we’ve all heard the songs over and over and over again and finally realise why bands don’t listen to their own music after it’s done. We sat around watched Rhys, the boys positioned mics, played on our phones etc. We’ve already eaten more sugar and salt than is healthy in a wekk but this is studio life not a hotel..although that would be pretty cool actually. No today has been chocolate, Doritoes, fried chicken, Redbull, Fanta, all the fizzy drinks they had in the shop and the smell of farts…mentioning no names!

 

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Rhys’ snare and sticks at the end of a long day 

Tomorrow will be Bass and Guitars and hopefully we’ll nearly be there…also we might be more awake? I doubt that but right now I need to climb into my bed ready for another early start tomorrrow…yawn. 

Friday escape!!

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Around the studio starting to relax 

The studio is proving to be tiring and relaxing at the same time. Today has just been stressful and I couldn’t wait to be with the boys and forget everything that was worrying me. It’s late but the mics are in place, drums set up, Dan’s girlfriend Sophie is here and Ali fell asleep at 10. I’m really hoping the next few days can make me focus and not worry about assignments, housing and all that! Here’s to a good weekend! 

Always some bumps in the road

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Today has truly been an up and down day, although despite everything it was definately better than yesterday! Although I’m dying ot tell you all every single detail some are just going to have to wait! It started with actually waking up on time and in a good mood, always a good start today.  After that some great new about No People Club (watch this space!!!) which left my bus ride to uni pretty brilliant. Follow that with a great seminar, a feedback lunch with the uni, some news on the nominations for the student awards and I was happy as pie for the majority of the morning. 

This is where the whole, one tiny thing can change my mood, comes in. I then recieved an email with some feedback and results from Creative Writing. The easiest thing to say is that I wasn’t best pleased and it had a pretty bad impact on me. Thankfully my friend Jen listen to me rant for a bit  before I spoke to disability, they’ll be supporting me now. That’s all I can say really, apart from it’s made me 100% sure I am right to leave Creative Writing. Even after I was still pretty low and the disgusting sight from the window of the bus of a man beating a dog in public had me on the verge of tears (If there had been a bus stop nearby I would have got off and gone after him, I would have also said something to the people around at the time!). 

I’m lucky that I have such supportive friends, the boys in the band were able to cheer me up within half an hour and we ended up having a night of chicken and band banter. Oh and I got an email to say I have an interview to be a student ambassador, something I’ve wanted since I attended open days myself, I screamed when I got the email. It’s all I needed really and now I’m sat here with Ali, full of chicken and pretty sleepy actually. So as you can see it’s always ups and downs but I’m lucky that today has ended on a very big up! 

We Are The In Crowd Day 1!

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Tay enjoying the set

After a somewhat horrendous afternoon in town I met Ali at the bus stop and we went to queue up for We Are The In Crowd! I’ve been really looking forward to today because our local record store does acoustic in stores where for a small price you get to watch and then meet them. The cost of this ticket was only £11! So we decided to go and queue about 45 minutes before only to stand in the cold and say it would be another had hour…after doors didn’t open for 15 minutes past what they should.

The venue had been moved and there were a few grumbles because it was moved due to ‘high demand’. We went from a cosy intimate gig to a club called McCluskys (not my first choice of place to be in). As the crowd came in we realised that it wasn’t a huge demand but we were still near the front.

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As I expected they were ace, they even admitted they had been practising in the bathroom before performing to us and I think they had fun despite being pretty ill. They seemed annoyed that they’d been moved venue and told to only play 3 songs (they played 4 though luckily).

Seeing them today has just got me even more excited for tomorrow! I’ve got a signed ticket, a new tour T-Shirt and I’m pretty damn happy. It’s off to KoKo in Camden tomorrow then Tuesday it’s Taylor Swift at the 02 (I know interesting choices!).

It’s days like today that remind me why I’m a musician

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I spent today curled up in the Kingston recording studio listening and watching as the boys did their thing. Today wasn’t a gig day, we didn’t get to play to a screaming crowd but it sure as hell put a smile on my face. After years of trying I’m finally bonded with people who want this to work as much as I do. I’ve had a few ups and downs when words like ‘tour’ were mentioned. It’s not because I don’t want to, it’s because I want it to work so badly and I was terrified of getting my heart broken again. 

We’ve only been a full band since December and we’re gigging, writing, recording, sorting out a tour and we get a good response. It’s all going so fast and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t freaked out but it’ll be worth it. The boys have been at the studio now for at least 10 hours recording Rhys’ drum parts over and over but no ones in a bad mood, no one is too tired or too pissed off. It’s that kind of energy that makes all the difference, I’ve never experienced that before. Sure, we all have our own ups and downs but we try and deal with them together. The bottom line is I already love them all and I don’t know what I’ll do over the summer if I don’t see them. I really think we’re on to something pretty special…watch this space. 

Getting emotional and chicken… a normal Saturday with the boys.

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Today has been tiring, emotional and fun. The band and I spent the afternoon practising for the Artss show on Monday and as much as I love the band sometimes it gets really hard. I’m singing songs that I wrote when I was absolutely cut up and sometimes when I give my all the emotion just kind of pores out and occasionally it can make me go back to how I felt when I wrote it. Living through those emotions can be really tough especially when I’ve been moving on and then I get stuck right where I was before, I lost what I thought was a good friend, actually a few ‘good friends’, learnt things that were hard on me and I got through it by writing on them and putting that emotion onto a page. It’s why a lot of No People Clubs songs are upbeat, when they’re upbeat it’s harder for me to get upset and think about it and today I did. Funnily enough this turned into a big thing for the band and we ended up opening up to each other before going back to the flat and ordering CFC (Chicken) and I actually felt so much a part of something that it made me really emotional. So right now I’m absolutely exhausted (emotions and a lack of sleep are an awful combination!).

I’m going to leave you all on that note and just finish by saying that I’m really excited about this band, if the boys can understand how much I put into my songs and accept it’s hard then they’re definately worth it. Watch this space.

Play every gig like it’s Wembley

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King Freddie gracing the stage of Wembley, the way he held the crowd was incredible

 

Ever since I was a little girl I’ve always been in awe of Wembley stadium. I went with my parents to the old stadium when I was small we have pictures of me holding various trophies (what they were I don’t know) but the football wasn’t what started me off. So many of my favourite bands have played Wembley, although I haven’t been to a gig there yet I still wonder what it feels like. I think about what it would be like to stand on that stage with thousands upon thousands screaming back at you, a musicians dream.

So maybe I didn’t play Wembley last night for real but I certainly was in my head, the SU came alive! The boys and I finally took to the stage as an electric band…it was amazing. It helps when you have a friend in the crowd who knows the lyrics..that makes you feel like a bit of a rock star. I was nervous and panicked before hand honestly not knowing how to pull this off but we did it! The fun members of the audience (who didn’t sit miserably at a table) were moving and cheering through the whole set. Despite starting with a broken string the rest of it ran smoothly with very minor mistakes. I was just so grateful to all the people who showed up and cheered and just enjoyed our music.

I also ended up talking to people about the lyrics afterwards, it made me realise  that pain can actually be worth it. Try telling me that six months ago when my heart was broken! All the living I do comes out in the slightly messy way of my lyrics and last night I felt and lived them. The past is gone, I can’t change it and I can’t live in it so I’ve got something new to look forward too. My confidence has soared I feel like we could actually get somewhere with this (please like No People Club on facebook!). The best part was being compared to three of my idols after being told people want to buy our music, they were that into it!

The bottom line is that it’s times like these when I can accept myself for who I am, if it wasn’t for the depression would I have written the way I did? I don’t know but I do know that the hurt that went onto those pages is really paying off. So keep an eye out in the future, No People Club are on the way to the top…hmm this could mean a new tattoo.

Opinion piece: Should we boycott Lost Prophet’s music?

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Music fan or not you cannot fail to have noticed todays news that Lost Prophets singer Ian Watkins has pleaded guilty to child abuse charges,including the intent to rape a baby. Although this has come as little surprise to some the initial allegations have shocked both the music world and the general population to their core. The worrying thing is that now the name Lost Prophets has now been dragged through the mud and as social media shows, it is clear they will never regain their former glory. 

Within minutes of the guilty plea Twitter and Facebook appeared to explode with a hatred for not only Watkins but also the band itself. Although not a hardcore fan, I myself, would find it difficult to listen to Lost Prophets due to it being his voice through my ears. I find it silly though that people who have never even encountered the band are now slamming Lost Prophets not Watkins on his own. This is a common problem when one person in a band (particularly the front man or woman) becomes the centre of negative attention, they often are seen as ‘the band’ let alone the other 4 members. 

What people don’t understand is that when making it to the level that Lost Prophets did there is a lot of hard work from all members. Going into a studio and making a best selling album is simply ‘done’. So now Jamie Oliver, Lee Gaze, Luke Johnson, Mike Lewis and Stu Richardson have all not only had to question someone they thought they knew but they have also lost what they had spend over a decade building, because of one selfish individual. 

My argument is that although Watkins is now a convicted paedophile, that does not mean that all of Lost Prophets have something to be ashamed of. The remaining members have lost their band and the reputation of that band for something they could not control. If you listen to the fans they all say the same thing, ‘if you move on without him we would still support you’. So just to put it out there guys, Lost Prophets was not just one man, there are four very talented others. And you know what? I can’t wait to see what they do next. 

 

Don Broco.

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I’ve just come back from the worst gig I’ve been too. For the first time ever I’ve willingly left a gig (the only other time was when I was 8 and had Glandular Fever, so it wasn’t willingly). After all the stuff with the tickets, we got there early to pick them up so there wasn’t a rush. The tickets weren’t there for at least another hour so we walked around Camden and tried to keep warm, even after we got them we had a further two hours of shivering in the cold. I was so cold I couldn’t move and almost fell asleep standing up clinging on to Ali to try and keep some heat between us. 

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waiting in the freezing cold 

Once we were in and near the front we finally warmed up. I was so excited, I’d waited for this gig for so long the tickets were actually a gift from my Mum. The support bands started to play and I wasn’t that impressed but you’re always polite to the support bands, always. That is part of gig etiquette, something which the majority of people didn’t have tonight. Still it was live music so I enjoyed it, even if the two damns didn’t really match the music we had come to see. Then the crowds started pushing and shoving. The problem was that people were getting crushed and nobody gave a damn, something you don’t do. I’ve been to a lot of gigs and if someone is about to go down you give them as much room as possible and either get them to the front to get them over the barrier or you let them move. It was the worst gig experience of my life, I couldn’t breathe and Ali was trying to keep me upright, as was the guy behind us with his girlfriend. The idiots around us were laughing pushing people for no reason and trying to ‘mosh’ unsuccessfully and at the wrong time. Idiots. They woudln’t even let us move towards the back so that I could get a drink and some air. 

After a while Don Broco came on. It cheered me up but I still felt pretty ill and people were still throwing themselves around like know what, and on top of that the sound was pretty bad. So we watched for a while and decided that it wasn’t worth it, we wanted to get out of there. It was sad that we left early but it was just not that great a gig, with really awful people. So now we’re curled up with How I Met Your Mother on TV and hoping there’ll be a good gig to go to next month.