Leeds is a city known for it’s music scene - there is a vast array of music venues across the city, from little jazz clubs and indie bars, to the brand new First Direct arena. As well as there being hundreds of local bands that frequently play across Leeds, the city has produced many big-name artists over the years, including indie rockers The Pigeon Detectives and The Kaiser Chiefs. Another local band on the same path as these bands are Quentin’s Basement. The indie-rock four piece burst onto the scene in 2010, and have been making a name for themselves across the county ever since, including endorsement from fellow Yorkshireman Matt Bowman of the Pigeon Detectives, as well as both headline and support slots at the city’s most loved and now defunct rock venue, The Cockpit.
Quentin’s Basement are no strangers to the Leeds music scene. “I reckon since we started, we’ve played between 150 and 200 gigs.. I’d say we’ve played in maybe thirty venues, ranging from places that hold about fifty people, to the O2 Academy in Leeds”, Quentin’s Basement’s drummer Tom Hawran tells me. Having formed five years ago, they’ve already got a massive amount of shows under their belt, with plenty of stories to tell, both good and bad. “We supported bands like The View, The Strypes and General Fiasco.. but we played the O2 Academy which was a much bigger crowd, and we even played before the match at the Bradford Bulls stadium to thousands of people! There was probably about seven or eight thousand people there.. the nerves were kicking in beforehand, but luckily it all went well and was a good laugh!”
Not all gigs go as smoothly as that though - most bands have a disaster story to tell, and Quentin’s Basement are no different. Hawran tells of one gig that didn’t quite go to plan at Oporto. “Soundcheck went well, and we were ready to play, but as soon as we hit the first note, Ollie’s fuse went on his amp, and my cymbal was loose and falling over.. it was pretty annoying, but you just have to get on with it!”
Quentin’s Basement play Oporto once again next week, to promote their first new single in close to a year ‘Remiges’, which will be available to buy on CD at the gig on 22nd of April. (Let’s hope it goes better than last time..) Also on the CD will be another new track, ‘Fluoxetine’, as well as a range of new merchandise. Hawran hints that we could be hearing the Leeds indie-rockers moving in a new musical direction, away from their current sound. “I think we’ve got a slight bit heavier since this time last year. I think it’s down to Callum, who writes the songs.. He’s a fan of Drenge and similar bands like that, and I think it really reflects in our music.” Anyone who has heard Drenge’s music will know that their signature noisy, grungy, punk sound is a whole world away from that of Quentin’s Basement, so it’s interesting to see what the new songs will sound like.
For those fans who prefer Quentin’s Basement’s older, laddish indie rock sound however, there’s still something for you. Also available to buy at the Oporto show is another CD, featuring an alternative recording of their single ‘Good Books’ (which Hawran admits is probably better than the original), and a few demo’s of previously unrecorded songs only ever heard at live shows, including ‘Wish I Did’ and ‘You’d be a Fool’.
Quentin’s Basement are definitely the kind of band you want to see in concert. From the minute they step on stage they have the room in the palm of their hands, bantering with the audience before launching into a set packed with plenty of anthemic songs. As lively as their tracks seem on CD, they are nothing compared to the live performances. Hawran’s energetic rhythms along with frontman Callum Talbot’s roaring vocals, Ollie Grubb’s sleek guitar riffage and Martyn Alderman’s groovy bass lines always promise a real knee’s up.
For anyone unsure about their show next week, Hawran promises a great night. “We’ve been away from the Leeds music scene for a while now, working on our set and getting some new tunes together! We’ve got new songs, new CDs and new t-shirts.. it’s gonna be a top night.. and what else is there better to do on a Wednesday night anyway?!” He has a point. There’s not much better to do on a weeknight then have a few drinks and a dance at one of the cities best venues, listening to one of Yorkshire’s hottest bands, so why not get yourselves down to what is sure to be a brilliant night. Tickets are available from the band themselves, who are contactable on their Facebook page.
The future looks bright for Quentin’s Basement. Tickets are flying for the single release show, and their music will soon be available on music streaming services Spotify and iTunes. Hawran also mentions possible plans for a tour of the country in the coming year, as well as there being “a few exciting things in the pipeline”. Exactly what this means is unclear - a new album, another show, or something even bigger - but it certainly suggests that the band have a very exciting future.
Twitter: @Quentbasement
Facebook: facebook.com/quentinsbasement
Instagram: @quentinsbasement
Email: Quentins_basement@hotmail.co.uk
Showing posts with label Leeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leeds. Show all posts
Sunday, 19 April 2015
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
LIVE: The Skints + Support, Leeds Musiquarium, 25/05/13
After months of anticipation, I finally got to saw The Skints live again. This was the fourth time i've seen them, and it's probably my favourite. It's not my favourite set of theirs, or my favourite gig performance-wise (not that they weren't amazing) but the atmosphere at this gig was like no other. I've got a few videos of the night but you can barely see anything - im mainly posting them so you can hear! It was at a venue in Leeds called Musiquarium - it was quite a way out of the city centre, but it was a really cool place. You stepped through a little doorway and there was an outside area, with some wall art, fairy lights all over the ceiling, and a few sofas. When we arrived we chilled here with a pint, it was really relaxed and their was a few people from the support bands hanging around.
After we'd chilled out there for a bit, we went inside ready for the first bands. It was really warm which I thought was pretty normal for a gig but it got a lot worse. There was a bit of a delay - a lot of the gear had stopped working because it was so hot. We met the singer from Outl4w in the crowd aswell. He was a nice lad, we chatted to him for a few minutes.
The first band were Midnight Landing - a ska band who were a lot better than i expected. I'd only gone to the gig to see The Skints and Outl4w - I hadn't really listened to any of the other support bands. But these guys were really good, and we met them afterwards and talked to them for ages, they were really sound guys.
I'm pretty sure there was another band just after these, although I have no pics/videos of them, and can't remember what they were called - oooops. Outl4w played next, and they were sick. (I've written a bit of a post about them but I haven't actually posted it to the blog yet - I will in the next few days, it's got a few of their tunes on). Had a good old jump around to them, was screaming like a madman (I was a bit drunk at this point). They only played a short set, but they did all my favourites - Blackpool to Leeds, Thank Fuck for Randall and Ball and Chain.
After Outl4w, a band called Extra Curricular played. Again, a band i'd never heard of, but wow. Very, very good band. They sounded absolutely amazing, with live horns, and a great singer who really knew how to work the crowd. They weren't really the same as any other band there, but they were still very well recieved. They were Funk/Soul Jazz Blues? I have no idea haha. They had an AMAZING song that everyone there was singing called Last Day, which is ridiculously catchy and since the gig I've listened to it about 20 times. The dudes voice is just unreal. I didn't manage to get it in video, but I do have another video to post.
The crowd really started to build up by now. And it was getting really, really hot. The walls were all padded, which i guess was for soundproofing reasons, but it acted as an insulator too so it was like an oven in there - it got hotter and hotter all night. You can tell in those last pictures - Extra Curricular's singer was drenched in sweat! It only got worse through the night aswell. You can see in this picture that I was sweating buckets.
The Skints were almost an hour late on stage, through no fault of their own - the gear was breaking in the heat! But they took to the stage around 2:15am and they were incredible. As always. They've always sounded amazing every time i've seen them, and this time they didn't disappoint. They played a slightly shorter set than normal (and they didn't play the new single which I was gutted about) but it was still great. I even managed to snatch a setlist at the end which Josh signed.
Again, you can see how warm it was. I think they planned on playing for longer but they literally couldnt carry on with the heat. Afterwards I chugged lots of free ice cold water that the bar were leaving out, cos i was actually struggling to breathe. My lungs were killing, it was awful. We went outside afterwards and were lucky enough to have a chat with Josh for a bit! Then later on when they were loading their stuff into the van we got to talk to Jamie and Marci.
So thats about it. Great gig by one of my favourite bands, and I can't wait to see them again soon! Could be a year or so now :( But it'll be worth the wait!
After we'd chilled out there for a bit, we went inside ready for the first bands. It was really warm which I thought was pretty normal for a gig but it got a lot worse. There was a bit of a delay - a lot of the gear had stopped working because it was so hot. We met the singer from Outl4w in the crowd aswell. He was a nice lad, we chatted to him for a few minutes.
The first band were Midnight Landing - a ska band who were a lot better than i expected. I'd only gone to the gig to see The Skints and Outl4w - I hadn't really listened to any of the other support bands. But these guys were really good, and we met them afterwards and talked to them for ages, they were really sound guys.
I'm pretty sure there was another band just after these, although I have no pics/videos of them, and can't remember what they were called - oooops. Outl4w played next, and they were sick. (I've written a bit of a post about them but I haven't actually posted it to the blog yet - I will in the next few days, it's got a few of their tunes on). Had a good old jump around to them, was screaming like a madman (I was a bit drunk at this point). They only played a short set, but they did all my favourites - Blackpool to Leeds, Thank Fuck for Randall and Ball and Chain.
After Outl4w, a band called Extra Curricular played. Again, a band i'd never heard of, but wow. Very, very good band. They sounded absolutely amazing, with live horns, and a great singer who really knew how to work the crowd. They weren't really the same as any other band there, but they were still very well recieved. They were Funk/Soul Jazz Blues? I have no idea haha. They had an AMAZING song that everyone there was singing called Last Day, which is ridiculously catchy and since the gig I've listened to it about 20 times. The dudes voice is just unreal. I didn't manage to get it in video, but I do have another video to post.
The crowd really started to build up by now. And it was getting really, really hot. The walls were all padded, which i guess was for soundproofing reasons, but it acted as an insulator too so it was like an oven in there - it got hotter and hotter all night. You can tell in those last pictures - Extra Curricular's singer was drenched in sweat! It only got worse through the night aswell. You can see in this picture that I was sweating buckets.
The Skints were almost an hour late on stage, through no fault of their own - the gear was breaking in the heat! But they took to the stage around 2:15am and they were incredible. As always. They've always sounded amazing every time i've seen them, and this time they didn't disappoint. They played a slightly shorter set than normal (and they didn't play the new single which I was gutted about) but it was still great. I even managed to snatch a setlist at the end which Josh signed.
'Rise Up'
'Ratatat/No No No'
'Culture Vulture'
Again, you can see how warm it was. I think they planned on playing for longer but they literally couldnt carry on with the heat. Afterwards I chugged lots of free ice cold water that the bar were leaving out, cos i was actually struggling to breathe. My lungs were killing, it was awful. We went outside afterwards and were lucky enough to have a chat with Josh for a bit! Then later on when they were loading their stuff into the van we got to talk to Jamie and Marci.
So thats about it. Great gig by one of my favourite bands, and I can't wait to see them again soon! Could be a year or so now :( But it'll be worth the wait!
Wednesday, 15 May 2013
LCM Year One is Over!
The past month or so has been hectic! So much coursework to do - I've not had time to update here but it wasn't just laziness! My bad.
So my first year at Uni is over. Mental. I feel like i've only been here a few months. Time's gone too quick, its crazy to think im a third of the way through Uni already. It's dawned on me that I've wasted a lot of time this year, and I could have used the time a lot better and got a lot more done. I mean, i've still done quite a bit of music, but not nearly as much as i could have. I live in a city with an amazing music scene but i've still not started any bands or got any gigs or anything, which is what i really wanted to do! I now have close to 4 months with not a lot to do, so im going to make sure i get a decent bit of music made. A quick recap of what I've recorded or helped with recording this year..
Revenge
This was the first bit of coursework I did! I took an old piece that i'd done months ago, and took all the MIDI files and put them into logic, and did a lot of work on it. I extended it, added new parts, used better samples, mixed it all better. It sounds a hell of a lot better than the original.
Lots and Lots of Bedroom Recordings
Lots of bored nights in with my flatmate resulted in these. 5 songs recorded for Tom, 1 recorded with Tom and his mate for his LCM Audition (which he passed), and then 3 songs with me on guitar and Tom singing. Probably a lot more of these to come.
Crimestoppers Dub
I recorded this for the Crimestoppers assignment at LCM - this is the first of 2 pieces. This is one of my favourite pieces i've produced this year - It sounds great and I'm really wanting to make some reggae/dub kinda music soon. Its one of the projects that im hoping to start over the next 4 months.
Mugging
This was the second piece i produced for the Crimestoppers assignment. This came from an idea I had when listening to a song The Prodigy did with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. I had this little guitar riff in Logic on a distorted guitar with a wah pedal, and some drums, and that developed into this.
Safari
This is a more recent one that I haven't shared on this blog yet! I had to create a 4 minute piece of music and write a 2000 word essay about it (and transcribe it!) This is what I made. I wanted to do music for a certain purpose so I had more i could write about in the essay. My dad suggested doing music for a David Attenborough programme which gave me the idea to use African instruments, however this is what came. It isnt actually for a nature programme, it just kinda.. tells a kind of story. There's a theme representing a herd of gazelle at the beginning which is repeated in a minor key later to show that something has happened to the herd, theres another theme to represent a predator.. it's all explained much better in the essay!
Babies
One of my studio assignments was to record a cover of a song as a group, and it had to fit into a certain category. Then we all had to do an individual remix. It had to:
Only use the original vocal track.
Use Found Sound Drums (the version i've posted doesnt use these).
Use a synth that we have made from scratch.
Write and Record 2 original instrumental parts.
I did another reggae style remix which I think turned out pretty well! It was pretty hard to do cos the acapella tempo fluctuates from 150 bpm to 160bpm. It sounds pretty good though, I think. I never recorded 2 instrumental parts, which I could lose marks on. But there is different instrumental lines on this so they could count, i'm not sure. For the Found Sound Drums, which I didn't use on this version as it sounds better with the proper kit, I used quite a few weird things around my room. The Hi-Hat was just me ripping up a takeaway menu, then I added a bit of noise, and a lot of reverb. The Snare was me hitting the bottom of a metal bucket, layered up with me hitting a bottle of salt. I added lots of reverb and delay onto to bucket sound so as to create the typical dub sound. The kick was me slamming a cardboard box over my knee, layered up with me punching myself in the stomach. I EQ'd these and raised the low ends so it was thumpier. One thing I didn't do which i didnt think of till after, was pitch shifting the sounds so they were lower. Still, it sounded ok.
So, that's pretty much all the music i've made in my first year at Uni. Expect some more coming over the next few months as I have a lot of free time! I've just bought a melodica, so I'm hoping to use that for a couple of acoustic recordings. I'm also gonna go acoustic guitar hunting this week, so I can record some much better songs. I'm also finally gonna get my electric guitar fixed and get it restrung so I can record some reggae vibes with that! Hoping to do some kind of Skints covers!
Thanks for reading - I'll be posting more regular again from now!
So my first year at Uni is over. Mental. I feel like i've only been here a few months. Time's gone too quick, its crazy to think im a third of the way through Uni already. It's dawned on me that I've wasted a lot of time this year, and I could have used the time a lot better and got a lot more done. I mean, i've still done quite a bit of music, but not nearly as much as i could have. I live in a city with an amazing music scene but i've still not started any bands or got any gigs or anything, which is what i really wanted to do! I now have close to 4 months with not a lot to do, so im going to make sure i get a decent bit of music made. A quick recap of what I've recorded or helped with recording this year..
Revenge
This was the first bit of coursework I did! I took an old piece that i'd done months ago, and took all the MIDI files and put them into logic, and did a lot of work on it. I extended it, added new parts, used better samples, mixed it all better. It sounds a hell of a lot better than the original.
Lots and Lots of Bedroom Recordings
Lots of bored nights in with my flatmate resulted in these. 5 songs recorded for Tom, 1 recorded with Tom and his mate for his LCM Audition (which he passed), and then 3 songs with me on guitar and Tom singing. Probably a lot more of these to come.
Crimestoppers Dub
I recorded this for the Crimestoppers assignment at LCM - this is the first of 2 pieces. This is one of my favourite pieces i've produced this year - It sounds great and I'm really wanting to make some reggae/dub kinda music soon. Its one of the projects that im hoping to start over the next 4 months.
Mugging
This was the second piece i produced for the Crimestoppers assignment. This came from an idea I had when listening to a song The Prodigy did with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello. I had this little guitar riff in Logic on a distorted guitar with a wah pedal, and some drums, and that developed into this.
Safari
This is a more recent one that I haven't shared on this blog yet! I had to create a 4 minute piece of music and write a 2000 word essay about it (and transcribe it!) This is what I made. I wanted to do music for a certain purpose so I had more i could write about in the essay. My dad suggested doing music for a David Attenborough programme which gave me the idea to use African instruments, however this is what came. It isnt actually for a nature programme, it just kinda.. tells a kind of story. There's a theme representing a herd of gazelle at the beginning which is repeated in a minor key later to show that something has happened to the herd, theres another theme to represent a predator.. it's all explained much better in the essay!
Babies
One of my studio assignments was to record a cover of a song as a group, and it had to fit into a certain category. Then we all had to do an individual remix. It had to:
Only use the original vocal track.
Use Found Sound Drums (the version i've posted doesnt use these).
Use a synth that we have made from scratch.
Write and Record 2 original instrumental parts.
I did another reggae style remix which I think turned out pretty well! It was pretty hard to do cos the acapella tempo fluctuates from 150 bpm to 160bpm. It sounds pretty good though, I think. I never recorded 2 instrumental parts, which I could lose marks on. But there is different instrumental lines on this so they could count, i'm not sure. For the Found Sound Drums, which I didn't use on this version as it sounds better with the proper kit, I used quite a few weird things around my room. The Hi-Hat was just me ripping up a takeaway menu, then I added a bit of noise, and a lot of reverb. The Snare was me hitting the bottom of a metal bucket, layered up with me hitting a bottle of salt. I added lots of reverb and delay onto to bucket sound so as to create the typical dub sound. The kick was me slamming a cardboard box over my knee, layered up with me punching myself in the stomach. I EQ'd these and raised the low ends so it was thumpier. One thing I didn't do which i didnt think of till after, was pitch shifting the sounds so they were lower. Still, it sounded ok.
So, that's pretty much all the music i've made in my first year at Uni. Expect some more coming over the next few months as I have a lot of free time! I've just bought a melodica, so I'm hoping to use that for a couple of acoustic recordings. I'm also gonna go acoustic guitar hunting this week, so I can record some much better songs. I'm also finally gonna get my electric guitar fixed and get it restrung so I can record some reggae vibes with that! Hoping to do some kind of Skints covers!
Thanks for reading - I'll be posting more regular again from now!
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Eminem to Headline Reading/Leeds Festival
This definitely took me by surprise a little bit! Leeds always seem to leave it a long time before they announce any acts, so to have already announced acts is weird enough for them. But they didn't even announce that they were gonna announce a headliner until the same day! I also think he's pretty good for Leeds Festival.. they've had some good bands but recently they aren't as big.. My Chemical Romance were not headline material in my eyes. Eminems one of the biggest artists on the planet. Now I don't listen to Eminem a lot, but I do like a lot of his songs so I think he'll be a good headliner. People are bitching that he doesn't fit into the festivals scene/genre.. well for one, he played over 10 years ago and apparently he got the crowd going a lot. And tbh, who doesn't like at least one Eminem song? The Real Slim Shady, We Made You, Lose Yourself.. or my personal favourite, Like Toy Soldiers.
So lately he's sold out a bit, done a few poppy tunes.. he's still done some ok stuff. Fast Lane with Bad Meets Evil, No Love with Lil Wayne was ok too. I think he'll be amazing and definitely can't wait to get my ticket. It's got me thinking who else could be headlining though? I definitely didnt expect Eminem, so will they pull another surprise out of the bag? They tend to have a fairly recent band, a classic band, and someone inbetween (This Year was Kasabian who are fairly recent, Foo Fighters who are a little older, then the Cure who are Classic, The Year before was MCR, Pulp and Muse.)
A few bands that I'd love to see headline.. Rage Against the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim. Other likely bands that could do it that I'm not particularly bothered about.. The Killers, Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons. I've heard Green Day, who would be ok although I wouldn't be too excited. I really wanna see some other bands there like Frank Turner, Enter Shikari, The Skints. There's 3 new stages this year so there's gonna be more music. I Know Nick Cave has a new album out with the Bad Seeds next year.. they could headline one of the smaller stages? What do other people think, who will be the other 2 headliners, and who else do you wanna see at Leeds Festival?
So lately he's sold out a bit, done a few poppy tunes.. he's still done some ok stuff. Fast Lane with Bad Meets Evil, No Love with Lil Wayne was ok too. I think he'll be amazing and definitely can't wait to get my ticket. It's got me thinking who else could be headlining though? I definitely didnt expect Eminem, so will they pull another surprise out of the bag? They tend to have a fairly recent band, a classic band, and someone inbetween (This Year was Kasabian who are fairly recent, Foo Fighters who are a little older, then the Cure who are Classic, The Year before was MCR, Pulp and Muse.)
A few bands that I'd love to see headline.. Rage Against the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim. Other likely bands that could do it that I'm not particularly bothered about.. The Killers, Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons. I've heard Green Day, who would be ok although I wouldn't be too excited. I really wanna see some other bands there like Frank Turner, Enter Shikari, The Skints. There's 3 new stages this year so there's gonna be more music. I Know Nick Cave has a new album out with the Bad Seeds next year.. they could headline one of the smaller stages? What do other people think, who will be the other 2 headliners, and who else do you wanna see at Leeds Festival?
Thursday, 16 August 2012
Got into Leeds College of Music!
After all that doubt of wether i'd get in or not.. I'M IN! I'm going to University.. stress!
Got into Leeds College of Music!
After all that doubt of wether i'd get in or not.. I'M IN! I'm going to University.. stress!
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Friday 3rd August: The Skints @ The Leopard
This Friday was great. I got to see one of my favourite bands perform, which is always good. But they actually performed in my home town of Doncaster, which made it even more special. Doncaster rarely sees any big names play here - you could probably count the well known bands that have played here in the past few years on one hand. I've seen The Prodigy here, and Dizzee Rascal, and I think Plan B has played. But none of them were as good as this.
We started the day the same way most of my days out start - alcohol. 20 pack of Fosters, sat in the sun, listening to Reggae - it was good :)
After this we went straight to the venue, and just sat around chatting with people, having a couple of pints. It was fun, although i am having trouble piecing together exactly what happened, because I was pretty drunk. Anyway about half 7, 8, we went upstairs for the bands. This was my first time at The Leopard, which has been around for longer than I have I think. The upstairs part where the bands perform is tiny! But I loved it.. it was such a good atmosphere! The first band that were on are called The Beaus. They're a local band, i'd heard the name but never listened to them. But i'm definitely a fan, their set was pretty enjoyable and i've listened to a couple of their songs since and they're good.
Whilst we were watching these, Marcia and Jonathan from The Skints came out and watched them! I went over and got a photo with them, talked to them for a bit and then they left.
The Skints came on about half 9, and their set was amazing. Being so close to one of my favourite bands while they played live was just incredible! They played all their best songs (apart from Live East Die Young :( thats my favourite), including Roanna's Song, Rise Up, Culture Vulture, and Rubadub. They also played brilliant cover of Bob Marley + The Wailers classic Stir It Up. And, I think they filmed something there, part of a video or something. It was a great gig - they sound brilliant live and I was dancing nonstop all the way through. I'm jealous of their talent!
Afterwards, we hung around outside the back of the venue and just chilled, talked to a few people. Then we saw Jamie Kyriakides, the drummer, just chilling with his girlfriend! So we went over and had a chat - he was one of the nicest guys i've ever met!
We also got chatting to the guys from the Beaus, who were pretty sound, and they gave me a free t-shirt, woo. Me and my cousin Aiden decided to let ourselves backstage, which looking back probably was a bit out of order and I wouldn't have done If i was sober. But, it ended up in us meeting the guys and chatting with them for quite a while! We got a photo with them, but Aiden's camera was pretty blurry, so The Skints' photographer guy took one on his posh camera, and has said he'll email it to me! :D top bloke haha. All in all it was an amazing day, and I will definitely be buying tickets to see them again! They're playing Leeds Festival, so I'll see them there. And they're playing Leeds Cockpit in october - I should be going to University there hopefully, so i'll probably go to that too. I would definitely recommend their live gigs - it was bloody brilliant!
We started the day the same way most of my days out start - alcohol. 20 pack of Fosters, sat in the sun, listening to Reggae - it was good :)
After this we went straight to the venue, and just sat around chatting with people, having a couple of pints. It was fun, although i am having trouble piecing together exactly what happened, because I was pretty drunk. Anyway about half 7, 8, we went upstairs for the bands. This was my first time at The Leopard, which has been around for longer than I have I think. The upstairs part where the bands perform is tiny! But I loved it.. it was such a good atmosphere! The first band that were on are called The Beaus. They're a local band, i'd heard the name but never listened to them. But i'm definitely a fan, their set was pretty enjoyable and i've listened to a couple of their songs since and they're good.
Whilst we were watching these, Marcia and Jonathan from The Skints came out and watched them! I went over and got a photo with them, talked to them for a bit and then they left.
The Skints came on about half 9, and their set was amazing. Being so close to one of my favourite bands while they played live was just incredible! They played all their best songs (apart from Live East Die Young :( thats my favourite), including Roanna's Song, Rise Up, Culture Vulture, and Rubadub. They also played brilliant cover of Bob Marley + The Wailers classic Stir It Up. And, I think they filmed something there, part of a video or something. It was a great gig - they sound brilliant live and I was dancing nonstop all the way through. I'm jealous of their talent!
Afterwards, we hung around outside the back of the venue and just chilled, talked to a few people. Then we saw Jamie Kyriakides, the drummer, just chilling with his girlfriend! So we went over and had a chat - he was one of the nicest guys i've ever met!
We also got chatting to the guys from the Beaus, who were pretty sound, and they gave me a free t-shirt, woo. Me and my cousin Aiden decided to let ourselves backstage, which looking back probably was a bit out of order and I wouldn't have done If i was sober. But, it ended up in us meeting the guys and chatting with them for quite a while! We got a photo with them, but Aiden's camera was pretty blurry, so The Skints' photographer guy took one on his posh camera, and has said he'll email it to me! :D top bloke haha. All in all it was an amazing day, and I will definitely be buying tickets to see them again! They're playing Leeds Festival, so I'll see them there. And they're playing Leeds Cockpit in october - I should be going to University there hopefully, so i'll probably go to that too. I would definitely recommend their live gigs - it was bloody brilliant!
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Leeds College of Music
If you follow my blog or know me, you may or may not know that I am applying to Uni, and for the past few months, I have had Hertfordshire University firmed. However, last week, after a trip to the pub (which wasnt the best time for them to ring as I was slightly pissed), I got a call from Leeds College of Music. They initially rejected me, after I made it through 2 phases of the application process - I fell at the final interview stage. The first stage was just applying and they approved me. The second stage left me with a task to complete - I was given 6 little sound bites. I had to use these in my own creative way - Loop them, chop them, add effects etc, and incorporate them into a piece. Here is the piece I produced..
(wtf, not been on my soundcloud in a while, I've just discovered people from Australia, Germany, America and Indonesia listen to my music!)
That track, which I am very proud of, got me through the second stage. I failed at the third stage - I had an interview, where I had to take 3 pieces of my own along that displayed my talent. They only listened to 2, which was a bummer. The third one was really good and I had a lot to say about it. But yeah. I failed.
ANYWAY. I got this call from LCM, and they said they were pleased to inform me that places had become available, and they could offer me a place! I'm absolutely ecstatic. Such a good, prestigious place wants me to study there! And they really do want me. Everytime I call them, they ask if I'm still interested and seem very happy when I say yes, repeating 'Oh, Excellent Raven, Fabulous' and things to that effect. The only only bad thing, is that I have to ring every Uni that I have accepted a place at, and ask to be released from my offer. So LCM really is my only hope once i've done this. By the sounds of it though.. i'm pretty much guaranteed a place there!
I'm a bit annoyed that I have to apply through clearing, which means I can't get anything sorted until results day. I have to redo part of finance, look into and reapply for accommodation. But i suppose i can't complain - I'm almost guaranteed a place at a GREAT conservatoire. I'm a bit nervous however.. it's a specialist place, so everyone there is gonna be great. and seen as i initially got rejected.. i'm only just good enough. I'm a bit intimidated by the fact that everyone there is gonna be really talented.. but I suppose being around more talented musicians can only rub off on me! And the staff there will be better as its a specialist place, so it's definitely gonna be a better place for me. Also I'm a bit dismayed about being closer to home, although when I think about it, it's not a bad thing. I was looking forward to being close to the capital, and I have a mate down there who I was looking forward to seeing haha. But it's easier being this close to home. If i'm skint or need help or owt, i can go scrounge off me parents!!
(wtf, not been on my soundcloud in a while, I've just discovered people from Australia, Germany, America and Indonesia listen to my music!)
That track, which I am very proud of, got me through the second stage. I failed at the third stage - I had an interview, where I had to take 3 pieces of my own along that displayed my talent. They only listened to 2, which was a bummer. The third one was really good and I had a lot to say about it. But yeah. I failed.
ANYWAY. I got this call from LCM, and they said they were pleased to inform me that places had become available, and they could offer me a place! I'm absolutely ecstatic. Such a good, prestigious place wants me to study there! And they really do want me. Everytime I call them, they ask if I'm still interested and seem very happy when I say yes, repeating 'Oh, Excellent Raven, Fabulous' and things to that effect. The only only bad thing, is that I have to ring every Uni that I have accepted a place at, and ask to be released from my offer. So LCM really is my only hope once i've done this. By the sounds of it though.. i'm pretty much guaranteed a place there!
I'm a bit annoyed that I have to apply through clearing, which means I can't get anything sorted until results day. I have to redo part of finance, look into and reapply for accommodation. But i suppose i can't complain - I'm almost guaranteed a place at a GREAT conservatoire. I'm a bit nervous however.. it's a specialist place, so everyone there is gonna be great. and seen as i initially got rejected.. i'm only just good enough. I'm a bit intimidated by the fact that everyone there is gonna be really talented.. but I suppose being around more talented musicians can only rub off on me! And the staff there will be better as its a specialist place, so it's definitely gonna be a better place for me. Also I'm a bit dismayed about being closer to home, although when I think about it, it's not a bad thing. I was looking forward to being close to the capital, and I have a mate down there who I was looking forward to seeing haha. But it's easier being this close to home. If i'm skint or need help or owt, i can go scrounge off me parents!!
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