This site is getting a Summer clean so apologies if it’s a lil’ quiet in here

When this site was built we didn’t fore-see a problem with regards how many videos could be embedded on it. Well that limit has been reached and so the whole site needs a make over. There is some exciting news in the camp but i’ll wait until the new site is up and ready before talking about all that. In the mean time I will simply puts links below to anything new that has come out between now and when the new site is ready.

1 – Here is a trailer I made for Two Door Cinema Club’s new album, Beacon. The studio footage was shot by an American chap. The live and backstage stuff was shot by me, euan, charlie and nick. The live footage should be coming out over the summer. Watch it here.

2 – Here is a live video of Two Door Cinema Club at the Brixton Academy. This gig is being released as a live album as part of the Beacon Deluxe package. There will be more videos to come. The first video is for Undercover Martyn. You can watch it here.

Various thoughts from summer on earth

So we are half way through the year. My new years resolutThiions that you can remind yourself of here have been of varying success. White bread went out of the window for a good while but as money has become a rarer commodity my intake of the Mighty White has started growing again. It’s combined with my retirement from the swimming baths which started last October and so I guess you could say I am approaching that bloated Elvis stage that seems to be a more common stage for me than the period that affected John Lennon. I feel a little bad referring to that stage using Elvis name in vain. When people refer to Ronaldo as “Fat Ronaldo” I always think it’s a little cruel. I’ll try and come up with a better way of putting it then.

"Clients have been treating me too well" say my Jeans

Biting my nails continues to be the curse it’s been for years. It must have started when I was younger and feeling anxious. My good friend One Man and his Dog recently sent me this video. The explanation for this guy’s horrible rituals are that he feels anxious a lot. I can remember saying good night to people like Freddy Kruger, Alfonso Bonso and maybe Chuckie. How sick is that. I also used to raise my eyebrows an awful lot. Sometimes I still do that but it’s more that I am trying to focus my eyes and find it helps. I also had a phase of doing the sick thing of turning a light on and off a couple of times. This was when I was about 12 I would say. I remember thinking when I was doing it that I would just force myself to stop doing it and prove nothing happened. I stopped nothing happened and that was the end of that. It’s good I wasn’t aware of the anxious causing element as maybe that would have made me get more twisted or something. Being an only child I dealt with it myself so all in all it’s good. I was just reminded of that time in my life this morning so let’s just leave it there and don’t hold a grudge. Wouldn’t it be nice if I had of had the same problem but with making money, helping the aged or making great videos. Who knows what would have been the result.

The New Age Slacker : Indie, Female, Pajamas

Another resolution was to make a new 60 minute documentary. The good news is that this looks like it could be happening this summer. It will come in 4 individual parts which when played together will flow seamlessly and make a good film. That’s the plan anyway. I’ll keep you posted. It’s that time of year when I begin sorting out taxes etc. I’ve been relying on filmmaking for one full year come the end of June. It’s interesting to see what I have earned and what have been the costs. When I began a year ago I was in that place where I was trying to do everything for little money rather than try and get one well paid job. I think it has held me in good stead but when I was thinking about all I had done and what the end figure was it really wasn’t great. Especially after costs. Suddenly that pay cheque from the deli-counter in Centra doesn’t seem so bad. Actually yeah…yeah it does.

I wanted to get a video on Pitchfork. There are still 6 months to go so who knows but I actually feel a little ashamed that that was one of my resolutions. I don’t really even go to that site anymore. They slagged of some album that I loved. I can’t remember which one it was. I’ll try and remember and link the review here. Anyway I realised that we weren’t on the same page. They also started reviewing a lot of stuff that I just didn’t give a shit about. I don’t really know any sites other than 24bit that I look forward to checking out. The main one is Summer Time in Hell. What my resolution should have been was to get a video on Promo News. A specialist music video website. I achieved that with the Cast of Cheers video. That was a pleasant achievement. They carry a lot of videos I don’t really like but they respect how the videos were made and usually there is a good interview with the people who made it. In a lovely twist my friend and former flat mate Matt Green also got a video on Promo News on exactly the same day. They appeared beside each other on the site. It was really cool to see that. Matt once gave me a body slam onto a sofa in our flat and it broke. It also put a small hole in the wall. Whenever we lost our entire deposit, it was a flat of 6, there was a little tension as to Matt and I being the main cause of that. To their credit the other gents who lived in the flat adopted the ideas that we were all in it together and so they let their deposits go. In fact we all got a cheque for about £0.75 back. My plan was to tear mine and send it back and ask for another one. I didn’t get that done. Probably too baked in those days.

In short news I re-edited the Kowalski Get Back video. To cut a long story short Tom had to go to work by the time we came to filming the end of the video. Thus film something quickly. The heavy “rocking” bit was done. It just suffered over time and dated pretty quickly. So I went back and changed it and tried to make it all a lot tigher. The original ending where the camera tracks back was ok. It was just a case of making it fit. Especially difficult as the Heavy bit which had the same aesthetic was taken out. Therefore it was removed as well. I think it’s much better now as do the band so thats all that matters really. Unfortunately because Youtube is rubbish it wont let you replace a video file without losing views, comments etc. So the poorer more commonly watched original version is on youtube and the new updated better version is on vimeo. Below is a behind the scenes shot from the Get Back test shoot . Just for ratings.

Just for ratings

In some sad news you may recall I did a job in Oslo a while back. I wrote a short story about it here. Why I did that job I dont know. Promises were made and broken before I even got on a plane. I was stupid doing it. Anyway I did the job and the guy has done a runner. He isn’t paying me. He isn’t replying to anything. He sin’t paying the artist who I was filming. He is the most unprofessional man I have ever met. A complete disgrace to the music / film industry. If he had even responded to one of the many phone calls, text messages, skype attemps, google chats, emails, tweets, facebook messages and explained that things had got out of hand with his finances or he was having a breakdown then we could have worked something out. Instead he has done absolutely nothing. The label is called Electropix. And if you ever take one thing away from this site it should be that you shouldn’t get involved with them unless everything is paid upfront. If it turns out that something horrible has happened then I will re -word this and apologise. Anyway I am now being forced to go to a small claims court. Just in time for summer. Brilliant.

Congratulations from Babysweet HQ to Daughter who signed to 4AD. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Daughter ar each stage of their career so far. The first EP era we filmed them supporting MATA at St Stephens Church. The 2nd EP era we filmed them headlining a show at St. Giles in the Field Church. And then earlier this year we filmed them at their biggest ever headlining show at the Islington Assembly Hall. Beautiful hill up which they have climbed. If an album comes out this year I expect them to do pretty well. In fact this year will hopefully see a few eagerly anticipated album releases from bands connected by various branches to the babysweet tree, Two Door, Kowalski, Daughter, Cast of Cheers.

In positive news my dear friend came to stay with Hannah and I for a long weekend. It was lovely seeing him and so I will leave you with a photo of him in a record shop. If you can guess what Vinyl he is buying then I will send you a prize. Take Care.

Guess the record and WIN a prize