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Davros sock drawer

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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So, most of you know about my band, yadda yadda yadda, that's me looking like a tit over there on the left, website in the sig, etc, etc.

Anyway, thought some of you might like to hear about the day we spent filming our first video yesterday, at Pinewood studios no less!

We stayed overnight in some Alan Partridge style Travel Tavern, then got up at 6am to head over to Pinewood, amps and guitars etc in tow. We unloaded into the studio, which was about 50x50 feet in size, with side rooms for makeup/wardrobe etc. Most of the morning was spent waiting whilst the camera men did their thing, and watching the green screen being put up. Then I got made up like a big gaylord in stage makeup. Was told not to touch my face, which made my nose itch uncontrollably.

Going out to lunch we noticed a huge set being built on one of the sound stages, which turned out to be for Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. No Johnny Depp though. Got back after a small lunch (eat carefully or you'll ruin your makeup!), then got dolled up in wardrobe. I wore a black velvet suit, yikes!

So then the filming started. We were a bit stiff and self conscious to start with, but we soon warmed up. This was mainly because the studio lights were like miniature suns. It felt like warm water was constantly being poured down my back, pooling nicely into my hairy bum cleft. The makeup people had to keep running on to mop our brows and re-do our hair and makeup. They didn't mop my bum cleft though.

The first 4 hours or so were done with the green screen, as apparently there are going to be computer generated effects and animation in the video. Fuck knows what it'll look like, I suppose we've just got to let the director get on with it. Hopefully it won't look like '70s Dr Who.

Then we did a load of other takes with just a white background, as well as some nice closeups of fretboards etc, à la Reptilia video. By this stage, standing on the concrete floor had taken its toll on my feet, and my fingers were blistering from playing the song "like I meant it" for 50 or so takes. Our bass player had a 1 cm tall blister on the end of his finger, no exaggeration.

Finished at about 8pm, got a group shot near a Pinewood sign, home by 10.30pm, Chinese, foot bath, bed.

Rock & Roll eh?

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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Awesome!

What is the vid for? MTV / TOTP?

Well, It's for our single, to be released on our own independent label in September. Fingers crossed, someone will show it, but I wouldn't like to hazard a guess at who or when, because it all depends on the single.

At the very least, it'll form part of a promotional package to be sent to "proper" labels. The way it came about is that we did a soundtrack for a guy who was making a film about bikers in Barcelona. His company (Ignite Media) mainly make corporate videos, but they branch out into side projects, like our video, not expecting a return for their money. I think the budget for the video is £5k or something, small change for a video, but a lot of money to throw at an "unsigned" band.

Anyway, along with that, our singer and the guy who designs our website have taken out a business loan to get into bed with Ignite Media to create Ignite Records. This means we can "sign ourselves" and do some independent releases. We've got a budget for radio plugging and other promotion stuff. We'll be gigging heavily from about the end of July onwards, so that hopefully there is a bit of a buzz by the time the single is ready.

I'm finding it all a bit scary, to be honest...

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Jonnyc

Jonnyc

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Good luck!

I saw on the website you did the soundtrack for the movie. I understand getting signed leads onto the bigger and better venues, even if not chart success so it's all good.

You should get the band's groupies to appear in the vid?

They could get their tits out :(

I'm a creative genius ;)

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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Cool, I look forward to seeing it! Oh and damn you for ruining any potential pisstakes by doing it yourself in your description, you beat me to mentioning Dr.Who!

I always like to get those in early, but I'm sure there will be other areas ripe for piss-takes when the thing is finally finished. I'm a bit chunky at the moment, so I'm hoping there is some sort of image stretching technology!

The makeup was a bit weird. I had quite a lot of stubble growth, but the hairs that join my 'tache to my beard are blonde, and therefore invisible. So the makeup woman coloured them in!

Van, you can already get our EP from the website for £5, it's set up for Paypal. The single is already on there, it'll just be re-packaged with a different B-side. The album should be available to download soon, 2 minutes or so per track in MP3, whole thing in Real Audio.

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Suizid

Suizid

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That's excellent news... all the best with it!

My old band were nearly signed to Beggar's Banquet (I kid ye not) but our money-savvy lead guitarist (I was but a pup at the time) decided they were trying to shaft us. So we didn't.

That's a really shit claim to fame, isn't it? :rolleyes:

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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My old band were nearly signed to Beggar's Banquet (I kid ye not) but our money-savvy lead guitarist (I was but a pup at the time) decided they were trying to shaft us. So we didn't.

That sort of thing is quite worrying. Record labels must know how much power they have, so I would imagine there are a lot of shit deals being thrown around. So, do you take it and become a signed band, or hold out for more and risk never getting a deal?

We did some work with Hugh Cornwell (ex-Stranglers) a while ago. He wanted to produce our EP, but it didn't work out. He had re-written some of the chord changes and everything, and he wanted to decide which songs we should record (they were all old songs we had ditched). We did a day's rehearsal session with him directing us, and he was a nice chap. It was cool for me, as I love the Stranglers.

Anyway, their first deal was for £40k. Now, in 1977 that was a lot of money, but still, it only paid for the album to be recorded. People think a record deal is like winning the lottery, but it ain't so. Hundreds of bands get signed and then go back to the day jobs (The Beyond anyone?). I'm under no illusions about that, but at least it makes getting signed seem like a more mundane, and therefore realistic, prospect.

Suizid, have you got a CD for sale? I can't listen to MP3s at work.

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Suizid

Suizid

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Suizid, have you got a CD for sale? I can't listen to MP3s at work.

I'll dig out the demo that got the offer and send it to you. The band is long dead, so I doubt they'll be worried about getting paid for it.

That was exactly his reasoning - by the time we'd forgone uni, booked a studio, bought the new gear we needed and made the bloody thing, we'd've been well out of pocket. I just wanted to be a rock star though :)

P.S. You worked with Hugh Cornwell. Git.

P.P.S. A bloke I work with was in Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Where's your stranglers now, eh! Eh? eh. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Suizid

Suizid

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The <blink> html tags have been deprecated (dropped from the HTML standard) for years, but some clever sod decided to leave support for them in Firefox. So we can see that text flashing, and you of the inferior browsers cannot. Pfft!

Here's the proof from the page:

<center>
							<font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Moody, smouldering, pure dynamite!" </b></i>Dave Berry, MTV</blink></font>
							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Explosive live performance!"</b></i><b> </b>Hugh Cornwell, ex Stranglers</blink></font></p>
							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Cutting edge psychedelia. Superb!"</b></i> Chris Difford, Squeeze</blink></font></p>

							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Coruscating sounds from south Lonndon's psych sucessors to The Creation" </b></i>The Guardian</blink></font></p>
						</center>

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Davros sock drawer

Davros sock drawer

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The <blink> html tags have been deprecated (dropped from the HTML standard) for years, but some clever sod decided to leave support for them in Firefox. So we can see that text flashing, and you of the inferior browsers cannot. Pfft!

Here's the proof from the page:

<center>
							<font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Moody, smouldering, pure dynamite!" </b></i>Dave Berry, MTV</blink></font>
							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Explosive live performance!"</b></i><b> </b>Hugh Cornwell, ex Stranglers</blink></font></p>
							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Cutting edge psychedelia. Superb!"</b></i> Chris Difford, Squeeze</blink></font></p>

							<p><font size="2" face="Courier New,Courier,Monaco" color="white"><blink><i><b>"Coruscating sounds from south Lonndon's psych sucessors to The Creation" </b></i>The Guardian</blink></font></p>
						</center>

So...do I need to tell him about it or not? ;)

I'd be glad to get any feedback on the new tracks by the way, if any of you have the time.

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Suizid

Suizid

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So...do I need to tell him about it or not? ;)

I'd be glad to get any feedback on the new tracks by the way, if any of you have the time.

Nah, not really... only Firefox and mozilla out of all the browsers from the past five years will show it blinking. I quite like it - it reminds me of when I first touched HTML, many many years ago :lol:

I'll grab the tracks tonight when I get in.

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