Picture from And of Other Things

A little while ago when I wrote this piece about Captain Dangerous, I went on YouTube to find the video I linked to, the one I filmed with them on a balcony overlooking the River Trent. In the related videos obviously some of mine came up, mostly Random Saturday Sessions, and a few things I had forgotten about such as Jake Morley performing in the beer garden at Bodega. Somewhere in my archive there is a video I made with a band from Southend called Redtrack when they appeared in Nottingham a few years ago that involved the lead singer singing in the toilets of the old Gatecrasher nightclub, so there is a theme. I have said before that these videos were an unknowing prototype for what I am doing now but it is by no means an original idea and I don't pretend it is.

Captain Dangerous filmed a series of videos for a filmmaker called Raj Pathak (uploaded in 2008 so I assume they were filmed then too) which I discovered a while ago and realised that Pathak was doing the same sort of thing, but my interest was peaked by his description stating that these were influenced by the original Take Away videos made by a guy called Vincent Moon. I had never heard of the guy until I looked up his name and found that he is the patron saint of this kind of thing.

Vincent Moon filmed the Take Away music videos between 2006 and 2009 using almost exactly the same techniques as I do, in other words just turn up and film it with the minimum amount of fuss. There's also the Addistock Sessions in which singers did one cover and one original, again in an unusual location. I don't want to declare myself the new king of this kind of thing, (that's for other people to say) because I think that these music videos are a great way to promote music and more and more people should just get out there and do it. We all carry video cameras in our pockets so with the greatest of ease anyone can make a one take music performance. It also brings music to people who might not otherwise get to hear it and could make a new fan for the singer, I doubt Paul Carbuncle was playing to his key demographic in a fruit shop but he went down really well for example.

PLUG: The Random Saturday Sessions returns to business as usual in January.

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 This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative is here. 

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The most photogenic person almost obscured by a guitar case

This is turning into my favourite project of all, today we hit Beeston for the first round of impromptu performances for The Random Saturday Sessions. Part of the beauty of this series is the simplicity, it is 100% acoustic music so there's no fannying about setting up and sound checking and the only microphone is the one on the video camera. This means that the YouTube videos can be turned around pretty quickly and it gives me five weeks worth of content (starting next Saturday with Paul Warnin singing in a laundrette) before we have to do it again. Once again it was raining and we had issues with nobody turning up on time (not dissing anyone, I was late too) but we soon got down to business and started at one end of the High Street and working our way down. 

I'd never met Paul before but he fitted right in and played first off in a laundrette, thankfully it was quiet and a couple who were doing their washing kept out of the way, not that we asked them to rather I don't think they wanted to get involved. As an antidote to their discretion a man came in and started emptying a machine right in front of the camera unaware that he will soon be a viral superstar (assuming anyone watches the video). To be honest, this isn't for the general public. That is how I treat all of my work, I do it for my enjoyment and if other people like it then that is a bonus. I love the way that this concept has taken off with the minimal amount of planning, it isn't a new idea by any means - Gerry Trimble was involved with a series called Addistock Sessions a little while ago that filmed performances without amplification in a variety of locations - but it's a wonderful way to promote local musical talent to those who might not usually be exposed to it, whether they like it or not. Incidentally, it was Gerry's idea to do the Hockley Hustle promo video which spawned the idea of making it a regular event.

George Gadd performed in a bicycle shop, Fleets singer Cameron Sinclair-Harris played in the outside seating area of a coffee shop in the pissing rain, Cibele played in the much needed warmth of a bookshop (when her video comes out check what book I'm holding during the introduction, it's a funny in-joke) and Gerry played in a churchyard. One of the best things about the days spent doing this is the social aspect, we had a nice pub lunch and wiled away the afternoon playing pool. 

We have already arranged our next day out in West Bridgford on the 21st of November and the videos will start appearing on Saturdays. I can't be arsed setting up yet another Twitter account (I hate the way you need a different email address each time you set up a separate account) but there is a page on Facebook you can 'like' if you like. I'd like that.

The Sunday Alternative Podcast #60 is available from here

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October Housekeeping

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