So this song was written when I was in secondary school. I was courting a long lady and we had I asked her to be my girlfriend and become an official couple, however she said that there were still some parts of her life that she needed to improve for herself before she committed to a relationship - pretty mature for some year 9’s right? So that’s the foundation of my song called 'waiting' - “I’ll be here, just waiting around for you, my dear”. I’ve always preferred the idea of using objects/animations and basically anything other than myself in my music videos. Its partly because I don’t like being in front of camera that much and I also like to be in control of what’s happening behind the camera. I’d realised that a mutual friend’s girlfriend designs and creates puppets, so I asked if she had any spare ones that I could borrow for a quick music video. This was in the middle of the pandemic so I had to make sure that by collecting the puppets, I wouldn’t be breaking any legal rules. As the months rolled on and the lockdowns lifted, I managed to drive over and pick up 2 puppets that she very kindly leant me for the purpose of the music video. When the puppets first arrived my co-creator and general fun-having-collaborator, my wife, set about by just playing around with the puppets and getting used to the feel and mechanics. It was surprisingly difficult, but we were getting better each day. The plan for the video was to simply have one puppet looking lonely and sad whilst working from home and pining after their friend/partner who was away for whatever reason. We then did a quick photo shoot around the house, seeing what menial tasks we could get the puppets to do and how they looked on camera and from there I started to throw a storyboard together. There were a few goals that would be required from us to represent visually, these were the following: 1 - The puppets are in a close relationship 2 - One puppet is away for a long time 3 - The passing of time 4 - The monotony of life when you are alone. Talking it through with my wife, we managed to come up with some ideas to portray these key themes. 1 - We would have photos around the house of the two puppets together to show that they are in a long lasting relationship. 2 - We can use a close up shot of a calendar that will clearly state that the other puppet is away and won’t be home for a few months 3 - The calendar will demonstrate the passing of time, plus time lapse footage. 4 - Boring everyday tasks. When we had a weekend free, we decided to try some test shots again of specific tasks to see how they would go. They went really well - we had a nice opening shot of the puppet waking up in a double bed but on their own, along with making a cup of tea, working on a laptop at the kitchen table, washing the dishes, having a shower etc… Things were looking good! After a busy period of time for myself, I managed to convince Heulwen to pick up the puppet once more and this time I set up the lighting and camera in the specific ways to capture the shots. We had recently got the Kitchen all painted and looking nice, so I knew I wanted to use that area. I have planned a wide shot from one end of the kitchen, and I would slowly zoom into the puppet who was sat at the other end of that kitchen, doing work on the laptop. The issue being that It was obvious that a human was kneeling under the puppet and controlling them. I managed to do a little Hollywood magic and the result came out better that I thought it might! Between myself and my wife we managed to get a good chunk of footage. My friend Steve also came to the house for a little while to help with some of the other shots. Then it was Christmas time and things got busy, so we put things on hold for a while. Then after Christmas we took the decorations down and finished the shoot. For the end of the video, the puppets are finally reunited, so I roped in my friend Robin to come and help Heulwen and myself finish the shoot. It was tricky at first with the shots of the two puppets in frame, as there is another human that you need to tactfully leave out of the frame. After we wrapped the shoot, I knuckled down to the editing, and because I had my storyboards it all pieced together quite nicely. Here is the final piece and below that is a quick snap of one of the early storyboards.
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So I had a call from Sally at the Riverfront asking if I could film something wonderfully christmassy and cheesy. I was coming to the end of the schools Christmas concerts edits so I felt maybe I need a break from that kind of thing, but then she told me the details. Three elvis impersonators from the Porthcawl Elvis Festival were supposed to be performing for an old peoples home, but because of the change in restrictions, they could no longer do it. But sally thought we could perhaps utilise their time and put a quick video together regardless. She’d like to green screen the Elvises (Elvi?) Into a sleigh and have them fly over Graceland/Las Vegas and Newport with them singing ‘Walking in a Newport Wonderland’. I said ‘you had me at Elvis’. After another conversation I realised that they expected me to essentially direct the whole thing - not just capture it. I’ve been hoping to direct something and I figured what better way to start than with a King. I wrote down some ideas and had a look through all of my Christmas/winter effects on the video editing software and devised some sort of plan. When the day came, the 3 Elvi were all in good spirits and ready for rock’n’roll. I made them record a quick intro, referring to themselves as the three wise kings (which I thought was hilarious at least) and then got to directing. I was instructing them on their moves, reactions, smouldering and actions. Not gonna lie, it felt brilliant. I’d never done a film shoot where I had the creative control and very few restrictions. To be honest, I know they wanted it really cheesy, and cheesy is really easy to do! It was a really fun day and there were a few positives to take away. Firstly, the riverfront staff got to see me direct and create something fun and different to the usual stuff I film for them. Secondly, It was just a great laugh, but most importantly, the producer of the Liv Festival was present all day, and we had a good chat. He is producer of various projects and also writes/produces theatre. He asked if I could be a sounding board for a future project of his (vampire festival in London) in regards to visuals which is AWESOME and I’m hoping to build a nice relationship that I might either work on, or at least shadow the production of one of his plays/musicals in London. A good day. The vast majority of my work requires editing on a computer. I am fortunate to have a house with 2 bedrooms, one of which I use as a work space. However, the plan was to rent an office that I could work at so that the second bedroom can become something else. I was initially going to rent from Ratio Studios, but they are going to charge upwards of 250 pounds per month and I have looked elsewhere and it is all either more expensive or not suitable. I started looking into building a garden office as they have grown in popularity lately and it seems like a popular option for the modern working household. I can physically separate my work life from my home life but still have easy access to my work whenever I'm home. If I were to pay the 250 per month to rent an office, over 2 years it would cost me £6,000 on rent alone, not including travel (40 minute drive). At the end of those two years I would simply be down the costs and although I can use it against my tax, it still seems too much money. £6,000 could get me a really nice 4x3m insulated garden office and I could get the funding via a bank loan and pay it back over several years. If I paid it back over 5 years it would cost around 90-100 pounds per month, and at the end of that time I will still have the office. This is something to seriously consider for my professional development and the also the benefit of my home. If anyone reading this wishes to donate a couple thousand pounds, just give me an email and I'll be happy to assist! After my successful performance at CURAD, I was approached by another art gallery who were going to be putting on an open event and they asked if I’d be able to perform for them. Despite the work deadlines I had at the time, I figured that I’d just go for it and sacrifice a Sunday dinner with the in laws to catch up instead. The communication was good leading up to the event and the folks at Pallet seemed enthusiastic about my music - they’d checked out my spotify (another good reason for turning to the dark side is spotify easier to access that band camp for the general person???) And they were eager for me to perform for them. I was chuffed, I didn’t know what to expect, but I imagined it would be a similar event to CURAD. It wasn’t. The event was brilliant and everyone was lovely, the hosts were fantastic and the event went really well as far as I'm aware! But from a musician point of view, they may as well have had a mp3 player running. Maybe I just got my hopes up after the high of the CURAD show, but it was a much bigger space and most people were passively listening. There were 3 people who actively watched my performance and there were times where I asked them for requests and stuff which was nice, they even came up to me after my slot and said they really enjoyed it - thats always a really nice feeling. Because of the relationship between myself and the audience was … not really a thing, I didn’t tell any stories but it felt good to open my back catalogue of songs I think I can remember how to play. I threw in some golden oldies from Mumford & Sons, Damien Rice and Tracy Chapman. It was a little demoralising to be completely frank, I think my expectations got the better of me and I overestimated what it would be like. Next time I’ll try to just estimate and not go over. Overall it was quite humbling and an opportunity to practice some old songs. So I have been wanting to perform my new material and therefore messaged my good friend Teddy Hunter who runs an art space in Cardiff called Curad. Teddy said that and artist will have an opening night soon so I could perform at that, sorted. The day came around and to be completely honest, I wasn’t really ‘feeling it’. I had spent the whole week in various primary schools filming their Christmas concerts, so I already had a headache and it was a long drive to Cardiff. I parked in the NCP so I knew I’d have to remortgage to afford the parking. I arrived about an hour before I needed to be at the venue so I got my guitar out in my car and had a quick run through of a couple pieces. When the time came I got up and headed across the road to the venue. Tyr’s work was great, he’d really used the whole space to engulf the audience into his artwork. We had a nice quick chat and he was really laid back about where I performed in the space and stuff. So I set up my little speaker which I had borrowed from the Riverfront and did a quick sound check on my own. It felt weird to be sound cheking myself. Not is a ‘I’m too goof for this’ way, but I think it’d been a very long time since I’d had to do it, mainly because I soundcheck people at theatres, at my recent gigs there’s been a dedicated sound technician and so it just felt a bit alien is all. I was going to try something this evening that I hadn’t done before. In one of the song stories, it talks about a relationship in high school, so like 13-14 year olds, its based of my own experience and the stories probably the most closest to the truth out of all of my stories. Basically there are a lot of break ups and getting back togethers. So, I want to involve the audience in some way, and to do that I encouraged people (before the performance) to secretly write down a break up line and fold it up and put it in the box. I also asked them to write down an insult and put that into a another box. The time came around and I got my guitar and the boxes ready on a table next to me, plus a bottle of water. I did a quick 1-2, uh1-2-3-4 into the mic and the audience started to gather around. I’df arranged some chairs and benches for people to sit on. There were quite a few people there, maybe 30ish, and I only really knew about 4 of them. I like it when the happens. Anyways, I’d planned before the show to hold the mic out of that stand, almost in more of a ‘stand up comedian’ type way, because I think that lets the audience know subconsciously that there’ll be a little more talking that songing. So I’d played couple songs and said some stories and it was going well. I think I did some improv about Spotify and stuff because my music was now on spotify but at the same time I don’t agree with spotify and stuff… It came to the audience participation song and I asked for a volunteer. A lady (Grace) in the front row put her had up so I invited her into the seat next to me. I then asked the audience if anyone wanted to be in a relationship with this lady. Another lady (Kat) put her hand up and then sat in a chair the other side of me. I explained to them how they are both in the same school and they are in a very very very serious relationship, its been almost three whole months. Both Grace and Kat were responding really well and so were the audience. I thought I’d get them involved in the storytelling a bit more, so I asked them when the first realised they had feelings for one another. “When she pulled my hair in the playground.” Said Grace. “When she fingered me behind the bikesheds” replied Kat. It was hilarious and the audience and everyone were all paying 100% attention to this little story that we were unravelling. Throughout the story, Kat breaks up with Grace on numerous occasions, each time reading a break up line from the suggestions box. You could sense the audience being engrossed in the story and wanting to hear their own suggestion. Grace would then always reply with an insult from her suggestion box. I feel like as I do this more and more, I will find a happy medium of timescale in relation to how funny is it to make the audience wait for a potentially hilarious of just as likely boring break up like/insult. But it felt good this time, though I did forget to include some parts of the story as I was distracted by the excitement of the suggestion boxes! Overall it went great and the audience participation really helped to break up the performance as a whole. There are a couple positives to take forward from this performance. The first being that the audience participation is fun and seemed to really get the audience even more engaged with my performance. Secondly, in regards to the whole ‘to script or not to script’ the show conversation that is happening in my head, this show made me feel like I didn’t need to script it. There were so many off the cuff comments and ad lib moments that turned out to be pretty funny. It’s helped me grow in confidence as a ‘comedic’ performer. I still would use the term comedian though.
So there are many ethical arguments and conversations around the business model of Spotify. It is simply unfair payment in regards to the work musicians put in to creating a body of work. And if I had an award winning, global following of dedicated fans then I would do my best to take spotify down.
BUT Spotify could be seen as quite a decent tool for an up and comer like myself. If I were to get a song of mine on a playlist within spotify, that could widen my audience quite considerably. It’s a moral dilemma, but, I think for me and my music, it seems like a good move to make it available on the streaming site. This is also a big step for Araby as an artist, becoming verified on Spotify (and other streaming services) really improves the professionalism and the way you are presented as an artist in the real world, its also arguably one of the easiest ways to access music, so if I just tell people I'm on spotify the chances are they already have the app and will just type in my name and boom I'm there. Over the months we completed this projects and because of how busy we each have been I haven't gotten around to writing up about how it all went. So here is what happened. Krystal went away and wrote a brilliant poem called 'found'. Here it is - It’s here, on this spot, that I’m found. When weariness wraps like braided rope, tightly, I’m bound. I stumble toward the sea; shreds of sheer fabric wash over me. Sometimes I’m lost in the chaos of it all; But here, I’m found. In isolation I was formed, And in isolation refined. It is here I widdle away, all the expectations that bind. Pen and paper held tightly. Ravaged by words, so intimately taken from beneath the deepest, hidden, unseen parts of me. Inside these words is where I’m found. Seclusion is where I was formed, and in seclusion I’m made new. You can find me here, swaying like the sea, curving like letters written in a hurry. I twist and lace - fingers, and legs. Here, on this spot – Entwined - I’m found. Pretty dope right? So from this poem I went ahead and composed a piece of music. I wanted to portray melancholy, growth and also a little clumsiness. I went for the piano because I feel most musically creative with this instrument and started to improvise and see what happened. My initial reaction to this was imagery of a lighthouse because of how they help ships navigate and get to their destinations and also avoid tragedy. I translated this into a repetitive note on the piano which is most prominent at the beginning of the piece, the music evolves and then moves into a disjunct ascending pattern that represents the mental battles one might go through when trying to 'find' oneself. It finishes smoothly, with a little accidental in the melody to highlight the clumsiness that self journeys can often provide. I sent the piece off to Krystal and she really enjoyed it, providing really nice comments about my composition. we set a date to record the visuals. We went to Ratio Studios in Aberbargoed as I know the owners and therefore don't have to pay any hire fee - another perk of collab/networking. The space was supposed to be a completely black , black space but when we arrived the black tabs were not hung up, I wasn't to bothered as it still offering a nice aesthetic. I had also brought along with me two camera operator friends who offered to help with setting up and general things. Krystal and I decided to collaborate on the way we would film the piece and we decided that I would also appear in the film - though I didn't plan to initially, but there was a nice piano we could use and I guess it's nice to finish it together in this way. I'd brought along a large dimmable light bulb that I suggested could be the opening part of the visuals, referencing the idea of a lighthouse again on the sing note pulses at the beginning of the piece. Krystal and I collaborated with Dickhan Ho and Robin Hepwood who were my videographer friends and together we planned the camera movements in relation to when I was placed on stage and where Krystals movements took her. Krystal asked what clothing we should be wearing, I said I hadn't really planned but usually if I perform I like to wear a nice 'fisherman' style jumper. She liked the idea and so she borrowed one of mine for the recording and I wore one too. It's an important part of the process that I just simply didn't acknowledge, so I am glad Krystal pointed out that we should consider clothes choices in more detail - happy coincidence that lighthouse keepers are often depicted in 'fisherman' jumpers. below is the final product - It was screened at the International Bermuda Dance Festival as one of 3 pieces by Krystal, It was a really fun experience and I think we shall definitely be collaborating on further projects. From 10:45 to 12:15 I had the first years of the BTEC Music Practice course at Strode College. I did a bit of prep the night before regarding the talk with my parents as they were both teachers and my Dad used to teach students of the same age. He said college students (from his experience) are usually uninterested and quite vacant – but he was a physics teacher which is basically hard maths so that might just be why (his words). My Mum told me I was brilliant, and I can do anything I want, and I still believe her. I met Dan Shaw in the reception are and was in a good mood because I didn’t have to pay for parking as I remembered the secret parking hot spot that people still haven’t found all these years later. Dan even offered to buy me a cup of tea, so I was then in an even better mood, though there was no sugar available. Dan Shaw is the course leader, and he was the course leader 9 years ago when I was a student at the same college on the same course. He hadn’t changed at all. He mentioned his grey hair and I mentioned my receding hairline so we laughed (and I cried on my inside) and he gave me a quick tour. We quickly chatted about what I was going to be talking about with the class again and before I knew it the class had arrived. They we’re a quiet bunch, maybe 14 of them. Dan did the register and then handed over to me. I introduced myself and Dan asked me what my job was, which I said was interesting and I’d cover that in the second part of the talk – the students seemed intrigued. I started by asking them their thoughts on the word ‘Authentic’ – what might be the etymology and what does it mean etc. It was at this point I realised my dad might be right though. But some late stragglers entered, bringing the student count up by 4. They apologised and it turns out that these late students were the chatty ones in class. I started then by asking if authenticity was important to them as consumers of music and also as musicians. Most agreed it was important, which was great as I could crush their ideologies with my verbal karate chops of philosophy and cynicism. I emphasised that this was a discussion, and I didn’t want to talk at them for the whole session which some of them responded to, I said they can challenge me in regards to the topic because I want to encourage critical thinking. The discussion went well overall, and they all eventually piped in with opinions and thoughts, there was a student (one of the more confident talkers) that insisted he was still authentic at the end of the talk. He said his clothes choices and music choices are completely authentic to him, so I asked him why he wore the same outfit as me as we were matching with a grey plain jumper, blue chinos, white socks and white trainers with a black stripe on. It was taken well, and he said his mind was blown. I threw quotes from Redhead, Taylor and Pickering about authenticity at them and helped them come up with ways to critically analyse them, causing them to contradict themselves and question everything (no students cried, though). I then asked if it was possible to be authentic and then let the philosophical cat out of the box to really mess with them (Schrödinger joke). I used Lacan’s Dialect of Recognition and Infinity of Reflection theories to help explain the idea of the self, consciousness and analysing your self. I was worried about this because it’s not something that these students had been exposed to on this course, so I made sure they understood to the best of my ability. Though I was confident because I managed to make my dad understand the night before. I also used some Satre and Allen Moore’s theories on authenticity, focusing on why we are the way we are because we build our personas around the way people perceive us. The students responded well and a discussion developed within the class, and they started critically analysing each other’s opinions and thoughts. The discussion came to an end and they collectively agreed that their minds had been blown, I explained that the purpose was to not just introduce them to these specific ideas and discussions around philosophy and authenticity, but to help then critically analyse texts and quotes. I finished by asking them the same questions I started with – Is authenticity important to you as a consumer of music and is it important to you as a musician. The all said no and I asked why and they said because I said it wasn’t and then I told them I find authenticity important and they got confused and I laughed at them. We then started the discussion about post college life and working in the industry (I’ll get to that in a mo) In the afternoon I delivered the same lecture to the senior year of the course, they were overall less chatty class, but the ones who did chat were very chatty. The session ran very similarly, though they posed more questions throughout the discussion. The main difference between the two classes, was that when the second years slowly started to realise that there wasn’t a black or white answer in regards to authenticity being important or achievable they got a little defensive, confrontational and even a bit angry. They were expecting an answer, and I said that everyone’s answer could be different. Dan Shaw loved seeing them struggle and question themselves, it was a good day. Dan had asked me to talk about working in the industry and higher education when I visited, so I made the second part of my talks about that. It was more of a Q&A situation, and I feel that because both classes got comfortable with me over the course of the authenticity talk they would be more open and confident about asking questions in regards to the industry. One of the biggest slaps in the face when I was in Uni was when someone told me that there is no real 9-5 in the industry, unless you go into education or work for a big label. That’s a very broad brush stroke, but the meaning makes sense – so I tried to deliver that message and help them understand that they’re (most likely) not going to walk into a cushty job. I was delicate in not crushing their dreams, so I asked them what jobs they wanted, and then asked if they could apply for that job, or is it a freelance kind of gig. I also asked what success means to them, where do they see themselves in x years. I explained that when I was in their class, if I could see where I would be right now I wouldn’t consider myself successful – I wanted to be the next John Mayer straight out of education. And there is nothing wrong with that, but you need to think about how to get there (I currently consider myself successful, and not just because I no longer want to be John Mayer). I was explaining about how on my way to being the next John Mayer I needed to pay rent. And it was a cool discussion about all of that really. I had 4 tips planned to tell them about working in the industry, I went into a little detail with each. The first tip being ‘start now’, the second being ‘learn about tax’, third ‘be organised’ and fourth ‘it’s who you know’. I explained that in 10 years of being freelance, every single job I have every had is because I knew someone, not because I applied for it. They were amazed and asked if I’d ever applied for jobs and I said not for industry jobs – I did for bar work and stuff through uni and in early career. But I do apply for funding – which started another discussion. The students had a module on working in the industry, so they were particularly interested in what I had to say about it and questions came in thick and fast. I think the main point that resonated with them (other than claiming equipment off your tax bill) was that post uni I wanted to compose music for film/tv, although I do get paid to do that every now and then, I also have various other jobs to help contribute. They seemed baffled by the idea that you will possibly have to do other bits of work to help you on your way to being what it is you want. I think it clicked with them though. I was wary of ‘crushing their dreams’ so I was delicate in my approach and I kept reminding myself that I would have loved for someone to have told me this at their age. Overall I consider it a really nice day and a successful one. I’ve asked Dan for some feedback and I’m hoping to get some feedback from the students too. The plan is to take the feedback and maybe find some other colleges that would benefit from my experience. Dan said the industry talk fit in so well with a module that they’d consider it again the next year – I can assume that it would be valuable for other college courses with similar modules. Having only ever worked with students at primary schools, I was a bit worried of how I’d be with college students. But I really enjoyed it, my main concern was they’d be bored and misbehave and see me more as a ‘teacher’ that they could be naughty – but it was great fun. Maybe it was just a nice class, but I’d like to think that it was more to do with me and my ability to guide the conversations – especially when it came to the second years when they got a bit angry at not having an answer, I could use my knowledge on the subject and a little humour to bring it all back. So, don’t stop, never give up, hold your head high to reach the top. Feedback from Dan Shaw -
David prepared two in-depth discussion workshops with excellent visual and audio examples to around 40 students across two year groups on a Level three extended diploma in music and production. Subjects included authenticity in performance, philosophical aspects to creativity and practical career-based aspects to working and developing a role in the music industry. David's honest and useful personal anecdotes and examples were very useful illustrations for the students and they found the philosophical depth to the discussion both challenging and stimulating in their feedback to me. Both groups engaged well verbally and responded to David's discussions very actively. I will be looking out for shows that I could watch/research and bear resemblances to to my idea. If possible I'll try and speak to the creators and hopefully get lots of information regrading the production. Possible. 26/11/2021 I went to the Riverfront theatre to watch a theatre piece called ‘Possible’. The piece was pitched as a storytelling masterclass with live music. I figured it sounded very close to my medium and therefore wanted to investigate! First impressions were great. The staging was lovely and there was a lot of tech/music kit. The musician stepped on followed by the lead actor. The actor opened the show talking directly to the audience, he rather awkwardly asked people in the front row what they were talking about. Very much like a school teacher saying ‘is it something you want to share with the whole class?’. I’m not sure why he did it, it felt unnessecary as it was literally the first thing he did. It made me feel awkward and … honestly, dislike him. Was that the point? He then noticed one of the ushers walking to her seat and asked her what she was doing, I don’t think he realised she was an usher and again it just made things weird. To me it felt like he was trying to give the impression of a stand up comic and challenging rude hecklers, but nobody heckled and it was just…. weird. Anyway, he started to inform us that he was commissioned to write a story about love by the Arts Council of Wales, but the pandemic hit and so this is the new end product. I’m not sure why he felt the need to tell us this information and in such an informal way. Maybe I was just feeling put off by his confrontational start. The story was OK overall. It was about him moving house and his mother getting more and more forgetful - a real trigger for me at this moment, but it wasn’t enough for me to feel emotionally involved with his tale. There are a few moments when we step back and watch a video or watch the musician perform a song. I have to say, the music was brilliant. But it didn’t really feel like it was part of the same show… Its hard to summarise, but it just felt a little disjointed. Overall I was a bit disappointed. I didn’t feel moved or touched by the story, I didn’t think it was funny or sad.. it was a bit bland. I feel bad saying these things as I know a lot of work went into it, but part of the story was how he was supposed to be writing a story. Every now and then he would get a phone call from the arts council and he’d have to explain that he was doing the work. And so the final product felt like it was a forced piece of work because he’d been paid to create something. Oh I feel like a right bitch. It’s still good to know that the musician and the storyteller were separate people, making my show that little bit different - enough to stand out to any funders perhaps? Fly Half. 12/11/2021 I noticed that there was a theatre piece coming up at the riverfront called fly half, the title interested me a little as I am a fan of rugby so read about it. Turns out it is a 2 man play, one tells a story whilst the other every now and then plays guitar and sings a song in relation to that part of the story. Jackpot - This will be brilliant research for me. I asked nicely to be given a tech shift on that day and luckily it happened. I’d be working the lighting for the performance, luckily it was a really easy show to light. Simply bring the lights up at the beginning and then dim them off at the end. As a technician, I need to be there early to greet the visiting company when they arrive - a good opportunity to discuss my show and ask for advice. The two men were Gary Lagdon who wrote and told the story and Gareth Moulten who composed the songs. They were both very friendly and we were set up in no time. The play had been performed in many different venues, but mostly in rugby clubs and small clubs, so the theatre was always something they looked forward to. From a tech perspective, It was the easiest job I’ve ever done. Gareth the musician set up his own little amp and vocal mic and they needed a chair each. That was it… perfect! I started a discussion by asking whether they wrote the songs together, and we all three had a really good chat. We spoke about the process of writing, the relationship between story and song and even a touch of authenticity. All three of us really clicked, and I felt they valued my opinions and thoughts regarding authenticity and performance. Soon enough the time came to perform. The staging was so simple and it really didn’t matter because the content was so damn good. The story was fictional and simply a monologue about his family’s relationship with the sport of rugby. His rugby playing days and some of the funny characters, then his sons rugby career all with sprinklings of songs, which lyrically linked and emphasised the story. After the show, I went backstage to tell the guys how much I enjoyed it. We had another good chat and Gary the writer asked when I though of the ending. I explained that as I was working on lights, I was every now and then interrupted by the tech team on the radio, so I missed parts of the dialogue. He laughed and said it was a good excuse! I insisted that i did genuinely enjoy it and he handed me a signed copy of the script - very touching. I read it over a few times when I got home and then messaged him on twitter as to my interpretation of the ending. He said I got it right which felt good. What I gained from this experience was the knowledge that the setting/staging/effects don’t need to be anything fancy as long as the story/content is captivating enough. I was also chatting with the writer about ‘acting’. Gary is a lecturer as RADA and we spoke about how I don’t ‘act’ on stage because I haven’t a script, I’m just telling a story rather than acting it out (as he did). But there is a really blurred line for my show, because I do act. I act in the same way a stand up comedian would, rather than an actor in a play. Its something worth exploring further, and it falls nicely into the authenticity conversation too. The Tigerface Show 22/10/2021 So this is show written and developed through arts council (and others) by a Newport based writer/performer called Justin Teddy Cliffe. I’ve met Justin a handful of times at the Riverfront, mostly because I was his technician for the day. He used to run TinShed Theatre Company so thats what I’d worked with him mostly on. I’ve always wanted to sit down with him for a chat for I feel we are quite like minded, and his writing (I am told) is often comical. I’d never seen a piece of Justin’s work before as I usually work with him through TinShed for their youth projects, so It would be lots of children acting and he would direct. So I thought it would be really good to go and see his work. I tried booking a ticked online but the system didn’t seem to be working and the box office wasn’t answering the calls. So I just got in the car a drove down. I get free parking because I know a guy that knows a guy at the theatre. I walked in and asked for a ticket but they said it had sold out. So I felt stupid, plus slightly annoyed that the website and phones didn’t inform me of this. But who cares, I’m here now. So this is when I bump into Victoria who was the Stage Manager for one of the shows I had previously worked on and I mentioned that it was sold out and she invited me to just watch the show sat next to her - Win! So thats what I did. I sat next to Victoria and Cara (Light designer). I had a quick catch up with them both as we’ve all worked together before and before I knew it the play started. The piece was called Tigerface and all I knew about it was that Justin will be wearing a tiger onesie and its kind of like a kids TV show. Before the show begins though, a ‘dream fairy’ walks around and asks members of the audience to write down what they wanted to be when they were younger and then collects all of the paper - it becomes clear what that is for later. For the first big chunk of the show, the tiger doesn’t say anything and just plonks around his island with a narrator describing things. But gradually things go a little wrong - the parrot isn’t talking or the alligator gets his lines wrong - this represents how things unfold in life and not always the way you want. You cant be in control of everyone and everything else. Eventually Tiger unravels and the actor playing tiger breaks the 4th wall. He goes on a very long rant about how childhood dreams never become a reality. He asks members of the audience what they wanted to be as kids. “An astronaut!” Replies the man. The tiger enthusiastically draws a picture of this man in a space costumes, talking excitedly about the training, the pride, the smarts, the adventure of the job. “And did you become an astronaut Phil?”… silence. “No.” “Of course you fucking didn’t!” The tiger screams as he crosses out the drawing with a big black marker pen. The finale of the show sees tiger face pick out someone from the audience who had earlier written on the paper for the cloud fairy and they take her backstage for 5 minutes while tiger face stalls. They then reveal the audience member who is now dressed up in a very DIY/crafty uniform and say that for tonight only her childhood dream has come true about being a marine biologist. They bow together and thats the end. What I got from this piece was how unpredictable but also hilarious audience interaction can be. I realised that as an audience member, you expect to be entertained or at least be kept engrossed by the performer. And as a performer that is a lot of pressure, especially if (like me) you are trying new material and aren't sure what medium/venue/audience, you are looking for. BUT with audience interaction, the gloves are off! The audience seem to get on your side automatically because in theatre it is very impolite to talk/interact, so when the person on stage gives you permission to speak out regardless of the confidence of the person speaking, the rest of the audience have a general feeling of uneasiness and take the side of the performer. Or am I overthinking that? Perhaps I haven’t worded that as well as I would have liked, but I think you get the gist. Basically, the unpredictability of including random strangers into your performance gets the audience on your side. Right? I first got into the world of theatre by attending an opening mic night at the Riverfront theatre which was just a stones throw away from my accommodation at the time. Because I got on well with the people there, it eventually lead to me becoming the host of the event for a fee of £50 per night. It was a conversation on one of the nights with the technical manager of the theatre that lead to me becoming a ‘casual theatre technician’. Through this job I managed to see lots of wonderful plays and how they are developed. It’s worth mentioning that I also made good friends with a lot of the staff at the venue too, because through those relationships I have managed to manoeuvre myself into opportunities that would arguably not have been available. Now the open mic sessions were finished long before the pandemic, and it was really nice to see them want to recreate that kind of night again. I had a couple meetings about what they wanted and I went from there. We decided to theme the events and I was given very little time to make something happen as that was just the way it was - suddenly the theatre is open so we need to put on a show of sorts, that cuts our prep time rather quickly! With the help of Sally-Anne we managed to pull something together. We had 2 nights of folk and poetry, one Jamaican Independence themed night and various others. I managed to wiggle myself into performing at the folk and poetry night - purely selfishly of course, but I thought I was the right act for that event and I wanted to. I am so glad that I did, there was a small audience of around 10-15 people and they were all there specifically for the music. I’ve had my fair share of performances when I’m in a loud pub or venue and people just talk over you and not only does that affect my confidence but it just makes me rush through and want to get out. It feels like they may as well have just put Spotify on shuffle. Anyway. So I had booked a brilliant musician called Bryony Seer to headline, but when she arrived she mentioned that she had to leave early so before I knew it I was the headline act. I was gutted (not). Bearing in mind that I hadn’t performed at ‘my kind of gig’ for years, I was really chuffed to be closing the evening. I had recently performed in a park on a sofa but that was a bit different (read about it in that blog). I had practiced a couple stories and songs in the days leading up to it and was feeling confident, my sister and her new boyfriend came to watch, as well as a cousin and my friend Krystal who was also reading her poetry that night. As mentioned I’m really friendly already with the tech crew here so I felt really at home and … just ready to go I guess. I opened with a quick short song that warms up my fingers as its an outdoor gig. It went well and my confidence just kept growing through each song and story I told. Bearing in mind that nobody outside of the MA had really heard any of my stories before, it felt good to finally be sharing them with ‘genuine members of the public’. Before I knew it my time was coming to an end, and I could feel the crowd were all in a fun mood as a lot of my stories are quite humorous. So I decided to perform an Irish story song called ‘Seven Drunken Nights’. It went down an absolute blast and it was a weird feeling because when I tell my stories I am used to them ‘being funny’ and people laughing. But when I sing, people are usually dead silent and listen, but with this Irish song they ere laughing throughout the singing too (because its a funny song, not because of my bad Irish accent). I think I will explore making funny songs too. Anyways, from this event I have learned that my stories can work quite well, also the ‘Crempog’ story is now 2 for 2 for making people cry. I just want to highlight how often turning down one job means turning down future work. I think if you are in this industry then its easy to understand how that works, but for the kids in the college class I really want to emphasise this with several of my own examples.
Firstly, 2 of my main employers came from saying yes to one gig. When I attended the Riverfront Open Mic nights, they asked if I could host them once a month. I was quite busy with uni work but figured I'd be at the events anyway sow hats the problem. That job lead me to meet the Riverfront team, from there they asked if I wanted to help out with the tech on a show which I did. Here is where I met Gavin who runs Ratio Studios and I have worked with and for Gavin a million times since. Also through the riverfront I met all sorts of theatre creatives, but I also offered my help when they were discussing a green screen video. When I did a tidy job with that they started asking me to film a couple bits here and there and now I am their go to videographer for the whole of Newport Live. So if I didn't agree to hosting an open mic, I would have missed out on so many things. I also recently shot a music video for Newport live at which was the producer of the Porthcawl Elvis Festival, we got to talking and had a meeting recently that has lead to some more work. And that meeting alone introduced me to his friend who is a documentary filmmaker and interested in my research in to the iconic soprano Adelina Patti - more work. you really don't know who you are going to meet. Its also worth mentioning that I have never 'applied' for a job. this isn't just me, its the way the industry works - most industries I imagine, but especially in music. I recently composed the soundtrack for a short documentary because the camera operator knows me. That job was another example of one job leading to another as I was initially asked to go on that shoot as a boom operator, something I haven't done before and wouldn't care to if I had something id rather do, but the producer was on the shoot and we got talking and after she checked out my work she asked if I would like to compose the score. Networking and taking opportunities - no matter how small - is vital for growth! Whilst working at the Riverfront Theatre in Newport, I have crossed paths with Krystal many times through various shows with Ballet Cymru. We found a connection through our love of writing and have talked of collaborating many times. Our first collaboration was hindered slightly by the Covid lockdowns, but we managed to create a music video together for my song 'my, my' which you can see here.
Today in the hot sun at Belle Vue Park we had a conversation about a new project idea and this is what we came up with. Krystal writes a poem - I write music inspired by that poem - Krystal choreographs movement to the music - I film the end product. We couldn't decide on how to approach it, in terms of theme and rules. We decided in the end that I won't know what the poem is about or if Krystal even decided on a specific theme - I will just read it and work from there. At no point are we allowed to discuss the other persons work whilst we are creating, simply to try and keep the reactions and responses neutral and channel it all into the responsive piece of work. So Krystal won't know if I am using the poem as lyrics or if it will just be instrumental for example. We allow ourselves a month between each handing over of the creative baton. Due dates being the 10th of each month. We will come together for the final section (filming) because it requires both parts, but I will direct the content and make the creative decisions from a filmmaking point of view - I think I will struggle with not asking Krystal for her input on this, but those are the rules! After the project, we will look into potentially trying again but with different rules about the collaboration, maybe completing each section together. Not sure about me dancing though... Just gonna quickly analyse EVERYTHING for you.I have gone over things as they've come up, but It will probably be best to gather it all up and get some key parts together on here. I love talking positively about my self so this will be easy... 1 - Workshop. Not yet happened. See, this is easy. 2 - Tracks. I have delivered 4 tracks over this project. 3 of them were mixed and mastered by someone else and I think one of my key strengths through that process was my communication. It is harry to describe what you don't want, but not so easy to describe what you want. I've had a really good back and forth with Tobias in which we are developing a really good understanding now of how we both work and what we expect from each other. We've planned to make more music together. The fourth track isn't about audio quality whatsoever, it was put together in a morning with the aim to raise some money, I'm proud of the song more than any I've other written. It's a subject I never thought I'd be exploring anytime soon. It also makes me want to never 'force' a lyric again. I don't want to ever write a line just for the rhyme - it has to have meaning. Not that I do that a lot, but I have a few lines that I cringe every time I sing them as they are pointless and empty emotions.
4 - The Show. I've done a better analysis of the show HERE But the key strengths from this I think are my networking skills with the company Ratio Studios and the delivery of the show. I've had a lot of feedback saying that it felt like they were actually at a live show for the first time during lockdown, this is mostly due to the quality of technical equipment. 5 - The 'Zoom' Sketch. I wrote this for a different medium and then quickly had to transfer it over which was pretty stressful, but I really enjoyed the process. And I think the end result is great, I much prefer Gareth's version to mine, however some have said they prefer mine. I have also used the script for this sketch as a tool to network with other actors. I have emailed it to Sue from the Performing Arts department at UOG and she forwarded it on. Still waiting for a response from the students but its a start. Something that I think I'd like to highlight is my change in persona as araby on social media.
Before this project I would share things as Araby with a professional and formal vibe. I would try to make it sound proper just in case someone professional was watching - not that that really means anything! I would then share it on my personal profile with a witty comment or casual remark - creating a clear line between Araby and David. But I think that the Araby 'character' needs to be more consistent with when he's on stage, which is essentially just a nervous version of me, telling crappy jokes in an attempt to hide my nerves. So I have started thinking of what I would say on stage if I was presenting something and then adding that to the Facebook post - For example the above picture of the make believe video and caption along side it - I'm letting the David come out in the social media araby now as well as on stage.
Despite having positive back and forth with Dave from Upbeat about the storywriting workshop, I haven't been able to commit to a date to start the process. It's completely my fault, due to lack of time management and also not really being in the right frame of mind to 'switch on' my teaching persona for kids. I've apologised to Dave and we're looking at trying again in the near future.
This could lead to more work later (if it goes well) so I need to get on with it and try to pad it out so that it looks appealing to headteachers who may be desperate for an online material that isn't just a lesson. I've booked in to deliver the first session on Thursday or Friday this week. Following that, I shall get some feedback and try it again with a different family. Hopefully leading to more families and so on... Here is the full cut of the livestream. What you are watching on this video is exactly what the audience at home would have been seeing. (stream starts around 15:20).
In terms of planning the visuals for the how, I wasn't specific for every song. I know Emily was lighting it and she was going to 'busk' it. Busking on lights is when you are programming as you go- we have pre sets made for the moving lights and if you want to change colour or move or create an effect then you just push the buttons to tell it to do so. It's not simple or easy, but Emily is very, very good at it and she knows most of my songs already so I trust her judgements. I was specific on only a few things, one being the song waiting - I want it to be subtle up until the end when its a Big Bang and I'd like the lights to help carry that. Unfortunately this didn't happen as I'd of liked because Em had to tend to a tech issue during the song! C'est La Vie. I also asked for the song 'Hey Dude' To be as simple as possible - no distraction in the form of moving or flashy lights - I think she absolutely nailed it.
What Next?
So having seen the success of the quality of broadcast, I have forwarded the idea to Ratio that we approach some appropriate people about making this a regular thing. perhaps I could host a Friday night of live music with a guest performer each night. We are also discussing the funding, we feel like Arts Council Wales would be really interested in this platform as it's (from what I have seen) the only professional live stream environment available to South Wales that isn't costing an arm and a leg to run. The set up we have is essentially a studio theatre with HD TV quality streaming availability - I imagine there will be plenty of interest in it, so maybe we could make it more than a music platform? Maybe like a magazine show of sorts, a South Wales Blue Peter for everyone. Who knows? Exciting none the less.
I will use this blog post to type up my thoughts after each live stream gig I attempt. It's practice as research.
Sofa Stage Wales - 25th March LINK HERE So I have just finished my first attempt at a live stream gig. And... overall pretty negative. The main issue being the massive latency between me and the comments. I had specifically decided to design the story telling to be interactive, meaning the audience would help me tell the stories. But because it took so long to for me to see the answers/comments people had written in response to the questions I was asking, there was SO MUCH empty space. Had I of planned better, then maybe I could have thought of things to do in this empty space, but I was also unsure as to whether people would be writing anything at all anyways. I realised after that some one was hosting the video as a watch party, meaning I didn't see all of the comments anyway. It was over a bit of a shambles from my perspective, but I carried on and just kept it going, even though the stories took 10 times longer than usual to tell. Don't feel like you have to watch the video, I don't want to either. Utilipub - ? I honestly cant remember the date for this one. It was recently though, for sure. This gig was a lot more informal and social. It took place on a zoom call and it was very much like being at the pub and having a chat with friends. I only performed two songs for this gig, the first of which was a story song, and because it was a zoom video call, there was no lag and the input from the audience was instant. The story went down well and people appeared to be enjoying it. From my perspective it was a good gig and I'm looking forward to the next. I am hoping to get the footage of it at some point. Utilipub (SECOND LIFE, PABLO) - 8th May LINK HERE Well, that was weird. I felt like I walked into a Salvador Dali painting after eating some suspicious brownies. Trying to work out where the physics start and end, all whilst trying to balance on a giant bubble. It might make more sense if you see the video. There are obvious tech issues with this performance, all of my own doing! Despite having it working well in the soundcheck, it all went tits up. I think the issue was with my audio input on the SL programme - I'd had it at 50% for the sound checks, but after the performance I realised that it was at 100% - something I should have changed when logging in to second life. It was nice to perform the Pablo songs though. This was probably the most fun I've had at a gig, but I don't think I will use it again for my main performance. Cul-de-sac Festival - 30th May - LINK HERE Well, that didn't go 100% according to plan! Gary Martin had asked artist to come up with a piece in response to the restrictions during lockdown. I had written a piece and was going to perform it live during the zoom call. BUT we had a phone call from the ambulance service saying that they were going to pick up an oxygen tank from my house in Cardiff at some point today so we should be there. At this point I was in Porth and I couldn't get to Cardiff as I didn't have my car. So I waited for my car to come back from the shops, when I would go to Cardiff and wait for the Ambulance people to pick up the tank. This was all on the day of the festival. I didn't know at what point the ambulance would arrive and if they were to arrive during my performance then it would be a bit shit, so I recorded the performance instead and sent it to GM to screen. Does that make sense? No? Good. The short video was screened and it got a positive response as well as a new instagram follower. I managed to log into the festival after the ambulance had been and got to join in with the whisper karaoke and GIF disco. A good time. Sofa SHARE Wales - 6th June LINK HERE This was my last livestream before the big one on Wednesday. It was really nice as there was a lot of support in the comments. It gained me a few followers on Facebook so hopefully when I do the big show it will all come together. I didn't do any stories for this stream as I just didn't want to after what happened last time, but the music seemed to go down really well on its own. More than anything, this gig was just me dipping my toes in to make sure the water is warm enough for when I jump in on Wednesday. Ratio Studios Araby Live 10th June - thoughts are at this link here. This has been updated in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Having taken on board the design thinking process, I have made some decisions surrounding the live show and what it will be and look like. Firstly, I've worked things out with Ratio Studios and I'll be travelling up on the 10th around 2pm to prep for the live show to kick of at 7:30 (ish). The reason behind choosing Ratio Studios is because of the wow factor that will come with the show quality. The promo footage from their website looks phenomenal (link here), and as I know both Gavin and Emily very well, I trust in their abilities to pull it off. I have even worked on cameras for them during live stream events for live visuals at arena scale shows - they are GOOD. They have also implemented strict safety guidelines regarding COVID19 - there will only be them two and myself. Gavin will not leave the control room, and Emily will stay put in the corner with the lighting desk. All cameras are remotely accessible and controllable via a joystick. I have planned for there to be two guest speakers. The first will be Krystal S Lowe who is the dancer and choreographer for my music video My, my. I will be chatting to her about the process behind creating the video and how we managed to communicate about physical ideas whilst only being allowed to talk digitally. Secondly I will be talking with Tobias Robertson who mixed and master my 3 latest singles. We're good friends and his music is an inspiration to me, so I am encouraging him to play a song for us too. The reason behind getting some guest speakers on board is that they have been very much a big part of the process during lockdown, and I feel they need to be seen/heard - so this is my way of giving back to them as best I can.
Social and Political factors. (updated) I'm adding this section in here as it is certainly worth mentioning. BLACK LIVES MATTER. The BLM movement is currently pouring across the world, and rightfully so in my opinion. I fully support the movement and am open to learning about how I can help. It is no longer enough to not be racist, we must be ANTI RACIST. Lost of performers stopped releasing content in a solidarity with the movement, myself included. I participated in blackout Tuesday. Things are starting to reappear now and I am juggling with the timing of the live show - is it appropriate? After some thought and discussions with friends over at the charity 'Show Racism the Red Card' (home I know from previously collaborating with), I have decided to go ahead with the show and I shall try my best to support the anti racism fight in the process. I have pledged that any money that comes through my Bandcamp on the day of the show will be donated to SHOW RACISM THE RED CARD in full (excluding the percentage that Bandcamp take).
Marketing and Things.
I shall be using my videos as a way of sharing my name far and wide as best as possible. I mentioned in a previous post about how much more screen time the videos on Facebook get in comparison to YouTube. Plus the Facebook video has the option to invite people who have commented or liked it to officially 'like' my araby page. This is a super handy tool as it means I am broadening my reach beyond the friends and family! I shall also be sharing the posters and engaging more on the social medias leading up to the event. UPDATE I'll be limiting my posts as I feel it is still a bit improper to promote things during the current political climate, and despite the aim of raising money to battle racism, I fear that it could be seen as a way of selfish promotion. I don't want people to think that I am only tagging the donation aspect to help get the word out about my music and projects. I am not using an anti racism charity as a horse to ride on, I am hoping that my show is the horse that the charity can ride on. Video Content.
Because a lot of my focus goes into the video that accompanies the tracks, I need to make sure I am uploading the videos to the best platforms. There is no rule that says you must restrict the platforms you use, so I will be uploading them to most platforms. I will pay most attention however to Facebook. This is because a video on Facebook is a lot easier to share around. The numbers also speak for themselves in my own experience - Bulletproof 2.0 Facebook - 1.3k views. Bulletproof 2.0 Youtube - 164 Views. Both videos were uploaded around the same time, but you can see the clear difference in views. I will still upload my content onto youtube, but will focus on the Facebook side of things. I've arranged for my good friend Tobias Robertson to mix and master my 3 tracks. The reason I asked Tobias is because he recently released his own EP where the style of master is very similar to the vibe I aim for. His EP is called 'Moving On' and is available HERE.
I also have a good musical relationship with Tobias and trust his judgement when it comes to my music. For example we discussed the 'shit drum machine' vibe that I'd planned on my songs and after a discussion he helped me realise that it is possible but maybe not on all of the tracks as it takes some songs to a different place where they don't really need to go. We are always honest when critiquing each others music, which is very valuable as we know we can be honest without upsetting the other. Having directed and filmed videos in the past, I know that the communication between myself and the performers and camera ops is very important. I have a vision in my head and I want to get as close to that vision as possible. Usually with the right communication everything turns out fine - but not being able be in the same room as the performer AND not being able to control the camera shot has proven difficult for the music video I had planned for the track My, my.
The initial idea was to have Krystal Lowe (professional dancer & choreographer) dance her way around a storage warehouse whilst the lights flicker. However, we are unable to visit the warehouse and it would be unsafe and unfair to expect Krystal (and crew) to create the video as it isn't 'essential'. After a re think on my end, I decided to approach Krystal about filming herself around the house. The purpose of the video then being around the mundane activities we do day to day which are emphasised now during the lockdown - how can we make the mundane a bit more FUNdane. Creating hilarious puns is a good example of this. Before the phone call I prepared some questions - Krystal and I are friends already, so there was no need to be overly formal with my approach. I wanted to know A) would she be ok with her house being used, B) What phone camera she had and C) is this possible. Luckily she was up for it and her phone camera is of high quality. Then we discussed shots, But I found it hard to describe over the phone. I explained how I like symmetry a la Wes Anderson, she then went away and took some photos of possible angles. I told her which ones worked well and which ones wouldn't be suitable. She then sent some test footage of her dancing in the space, asking if the shots were good and the dancing was suitable. At this point I suggested that she used more 'traditional ballet' moves - which made sense to her! I have zero knowledge of dance in all senses - I knew I wanted it to be ballet around the house, and Krystal definitely delivered this. The process was a challenge and a lot harder than if lockdown want happening, but the experience of adapting my skills and communications was worth while to develop a good video. I am going to start planning how I want my show to look and what it will consist of. I have made some decisions based on my past live stream experiences. Firstly I will not be telling many stories - I will save those for a later time, mainly because my audience at the moment still isn't expecting it of me and I'd rather play more songs to get the music out there as I feel that is a more universal medium and more easily absorbed by viewers. I will still tell at least one story and I will most probably blabber on about some things too. Secondly, I've decided to stream on Facebook and YouTube rather than a zoom call. This is because having experienced zoom gigs before with lots of participants, I find it distracting as a viewer and as an admin, I'd have to mute people and it would feel too formal. So I started with a napkin pitch that looked like this - I then took this to my fiancee and we both applied the Disney Method of design thinking, here is what we came up with.
ARABY LIVE - #1 - the outsider. - This sounds like a nice bit of escapism for an evening. If it looks good (like a tv show) then it would even feel like things are back to 'normal'. - I hope it's funny, I good do with some light comedy in light of everything that is happening. - Where will this be available? - I hope I don't have to pay to gain entry, as it will be on the a digital screen, I don't feel like I'd want to pay in the same way I feel like I don't really pay for the TV shows. - Will there be a way of interacting with Araby? Could I ask him questions about the music he is playing? - I hope there is a clear and simple way for me to not only watch the show, but also to purchase the songs I am listening to. - What will the show actually consist of? Is it just Araby singing some songs? Who TF is Araby anyways? ARABY LIVE - #2 - the dreamer. - "Wow, that was like watching top of the pops or Jools Holland or Singer songwriters at the BBC!" - The multi camera angles and changing lights made it look so professional - plus it sounded so good! - That guest performance by Damien Rice was amazing, he is clearly very VERY good friends with Araby. - It took me back to feeling normal again. It was emotional and funny, I loved every song. - It was great that it was streamed on UK television, now lots of people will know who araby is. ARABY LIVE - #3 - The Realist. - Local artist as a guest will be good. No one is expecting you to have a superstar guest. - HD is certainly possible given the right equipment - is it available? - Streaming live online is more than adequate - choosing the right platform(s) is crucial for traffic. ARABY LIVE - #4 - The Critic. - Who will watch? Nobody knows who Araby is or what they do. - People definitely wouldn't pay. - I've seen a million live streams - what makes this different from the others? - I don't have access to YouTube or Facebook... now what?
The restrictions of the lockdown have moved most performers into using live stream as a way to continue interacting with fans and performing. There are restrictions as a particularly unknown entity with this as if I stream on facebook, only my friends will see it, so I need to find new audiences online.
From a dabble of research I have found several groups that are helping promote music, here is some info. SOFA SHARE WALES (SSW). Run by Fez & Justin in Newport, South Wales. This is the first live stream platform that made itself known to me in the lockdown. I am friends with Fez and he approached me asking if I'd like to perform. SSW have three streams a day - 3pm, 6pm & 9pm and initially there was no preference for performance type in the time slots, but it has since been organised and there are certain recurring slots for specific stream. For example, Sundays at 3pm are now food/cooking based and Tuesday at 6 is always yoga. I will talk about the performance experience for SSW in another blog post HERE. BIG BEAR SOCIAL CLUB / COVAID LIVE Big Bear Social Club hadn't long started as a platform for music videos a live music videos to be released on facebook as well as promoting gigs for artists, but the lockdown hit so they adapted by co-curating daily streams. I'm not 100% sure who is running the show and the scheduling as there isn't that much information online other than the posters for specific days. Plus some of the video streams seem to be linked to Forte Project - of which I think is a similar project to BBSC. I was on the list for a live set but had to re-arrange, so I'm hoping to be back on the books for them soon. UTILIPIB This is the first platform that hasn't used a 'live stream' approach, but rather a 'Zoom Meeting' set up. This makes it much more personal, but more restricting for the audience. The performances have evolved so that it is now also broadcast on Twitch, which is great. As a performer I much prefer the zoom feeling which I will talk about HERE. The Utilipub audience is a small community friends and I know that they are trying to expand from that. I'm happy to ride the wave with them. RATIO STUDIOS Live studio coming soon - very much in the works but very very exciting - A different league in terms of equipment and set up. One to watch. OMNIBOSCH TactileBOSCH have set up streamed gigs over the lockdown and although my music doesn't tend to fit with their vibe, I think Pablo may be able to get involved. SOFAR SOUNDS Sofar Sounds are a global company and are letting artists live stream onto their facebook page. I've been looking for a way in but can't get very far. I think that maybe you have to be of a certain calibre to get in. The streams look pretty basic, like most streams these days. I'll keep you posted in this one. |
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January 2022
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