Metal Outlaw TV update and how to support the show

An update on this blog is well overdue so i figured I'd better write something worthwhile. At the moment Metal Outlaw TV is on hiatus in terms of full episodes. Episode 6 should surface sometime in July. Apologies for the delay but we all have our other work commitments to take care of too. At least we haven't given up on the show but we are looking to divide it in to more manageable chunks. So instead of a monster 10-15 minute episode we'll be dividing it up in to 3-5 minute chunks and release them over a few weeks. Hopefully this will lead to more views and greater audience retention. It will also help us determine what works and what doesn't in the show. Feel free to comment your feelings on the changes. We do listen to our fanbase... sometimes, lol.

Although full episodes are on hold until the middle of the summer we are still producing new content. We have just released a new Metal Spoken Word featuring "Heartwork" by Carcass and we'll be following with another one in the next couple of weeks. Then it is on to out Les-Fest coverage. We will be trying to land as many interviews as we can. At the moment the list of potentially interested bands is somewhere between 10-15. Ideally we're looking to whittle that down to a dozen. In the days following Les-Fest we'll be putting out roughly an interview a day and we'll probably be topping it off with a longer recap video featuring live shots and random nonsense. We're looking for bands to loan us some of their live tracks for the recap video. If anyone is interested then please get in touch. We'd certainly be grateful.

Now on to the monetisation of Metal Outlaw TV. I'm sure you'll all appreciate that MOTV is not a money making operation as of yet. In fact it is costing us money, studio time, and most importantly our own time. It is worth it though as myself, Roddy and Big C enjoy it and want to support the UK metal scene as we are all life long metal listeners. We don't feel that our support should be one way though so here is a list of ways that you as fans can support us, help build our audience, and contribute to our product:

1. Watch and share all of our videos. I know this is kind of obvious but we want as many eyes on our videos as we can get. Word of mouth is by far the best way to get us out there. We can only do so much on our own so anything you can do to spread the word would help greatly.

2. Paypal donation or downloadable track donation. Donations can really help us buy things like batteries, bulbs and other general consumables. Personally I'd rather you share and download the tracks while giving us a donation of your choice. That way you get something for your money. Of course if you can't afford to donate you can still download the track and enjoy on us. I don't want to discourage paypal donations though. If you have a spare £1000 kicking about we could definitely use it.

3. Click on our google ads on the website. I've been keeping my eye on the CPM for banner ads and roughly we make around 30-50p per click on the adverts embedded on the page. Not too shabby really so if you have a spare minute or two we'd love you to visit the website and give an advert a click. Just don't go clicking a million times. It doesn't work like that (sadly). Obviously we get some adsense revenue for video views too but it is peanuts really (around $1 per 1000 views). We'd much rather you visit www.metaloutlaw.tv and click an ad.

4. Buy a t-shirt from Redbubble. We get a small cut of any merchandise we sell through Redbubble. However, we are more interested in getting our logo out there by you guys wearing our gear.

So there you go. That's how to support Metal Outlaw TV. Now go do it NOW!!!!
    

   
   

Metal Outlaw TV and my philosophy on UK TV

With the imminent appearance of Metal Outlaw TV's debut episode I thought it was a good opportunity for a wee bit of a rant. Hopefully the show is going down well and people are interested enough to start following it. Now although I am promoting the show here I actually want to get a little "analytical" and discuss where my head has been at and what I have learned through it all.

This past year has been a real trial for me. It started with a major drought in paying work and had me questioning my future doing what I'm doing. A scary prospect given that I'm OLD (as I've been cheekily described as lately). When things picked up around summer time I was still lacking passion for what I was doing and I was wondering why. To be perfectly blunt I haven't been happy for around 90% of this calender year. It wasn't until the last couple of weeks that I finally put together why I've been feeling the way I have. It all came down to being put on the spot by a friend who asked the weighted question, "Colin, what do you want?" I'm sure anyone reading this wouldn't  feel the slightest bit rattled by this question but in the frame of mind I've been in it really made me sit back and re-evaluate. Well taking personal life out of the equation because I've known what the solution to that is and really depends of finding my opposite number. On the other aspects of life front  I've concluded I want to see my views, perspective, tastes in music, sense of humour, and "self" represented on screen and in society. "Why?" you ask. Well because in a so called diverse society priding itself being tolerant of cultural diversity everyone deserves to have their tastes catered for. Yet funnily enough I don't think British television does a good enough job at that.

I fit in to a minority of people who you would consider different from the norm. I look at the current crop of "prime time" entertainment (some of which I've worked on) and I just can not fathom it's appeal. Lets take some examples of "quality" British programming. "I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!" I read this point on Facebook the other night and it hit the nail on the head. The premise of the show is the in essence Big Brother fused together with a 20 year old show concept from Japan, "Endurance", a show that 20 years ago was pointed at and ridiculed by Chris Tarrant (Tarrant on TV) for being juvenile and a bit cruel. It WAS juvenile and a bit cruel but it was okay to point at and laugh because we didn't make it. It was those wacky Japanese and they're nuts. We in Britain would never stoop such low brow depths. Fast forward 20 years and apparently it's okay to show cruel, mean spirited challenges as long as a group of Z-list celebrities are involved. By the way, when I say cruel I mean to the animals harmed/devoured during the show's challenges not the celebrities. I value a cockroaches life more than some poor desperate sod clinging on to what little fame they had in the 80's. On that note moving on...

How about, Geordie Shore, The Only Way is Essex, Real Gypsy Weddings? Shows like this are even trashier in my opinion. Not only have these shows convinced a whole generation that a skin tone that does not exist naturally on this planet (and hopefully none other) is "sexy". Seriously I wonder if these people glow in the dark, they've smeared so much crap over their prematurely aging bodies. Perhaps I don't get the aesthetic appeal of this but it is only part of my point. My real issue with this kind of show is that it is yet again cruel. It allows the audience to shake their heads at these people who are presented as the lowest common denominator and made to be figures of ridicule through selective editing. Now they are being paid for the "privilage" of having 15 minutes of fame so it is hard for me to feel sorry for them but why does the majority viewing audience get a kick out of people being presented as figures to be thoroughly humiliated? To me this type of show and the "I'm a Celeb" are like the modern day equivalent of putting people in stocks and taking pleasure in tossing rotten fruit at them. In fact it has a lot in common with the torture porn genre of film as it focuses unpleasant people having unpleasant things happen to them for the enjoyment of the viewing audience.

I could go on about this theme of cruelty... X-Factor/The Voice, Take Me Out, The Scheme... to name but a few. However, I'm going to leave it at that as I think you get the point that as a viewer I do not feel these shows represent what I want to see on television. Should they be banned? Absolutely not but I want to know is, "Where's my alternative?" Now I'm well aware that there are a ton of quality American shows on our screens and thank fuck for "The Big Bang Theory", "Sons of Anarchy", "Battlestar Galactica" and the numerous shows that I haven't had the time to watch but hopefully will (Dexter, The Wire, Breaking Bad). What we are talking about is domestic television and as someone who has his toes dipped in that industry, how I feel about the quality of programming we're producing is complete and utter apathy. I will go as far to say I have never worked on a television show that I'd actually watch. Now I want to stress I am not talking ill of the experiences I've had just the end result. I mean one of my favourite jobs was working on the auditions for The Voice. A top notch crew and lovely lovely people to boot.  So before I go on a tangent I once again ask, "Where is my television show, UK? Why aren't my tastes being met in the age of multi-channel television? Which surely encourage diversity and variety above everything else. 

Simply put I believe it's because I'm not normal enough. I'm a freak. I'm an intense, morally high strung, straight edge loner, who listens to heavy metal, plays video games, and loves a good conspiracy theory. I don't want to see cruel mean spirited programming. I want to see a video game review show. I want to see counter culture programming giving a critical opposing view to popular culture. I want to see rock music back on our screens. Scuzz and Kerrang absolutely do not count. Where can I find that? Not on TV that's for sure. Thank fuck for the internet. As a rule I spend more time on Cinemassacre, ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, Blistered Thumbs than I do watching TV. The simple reason for this is as an outsider it gives me what I need in entertainment. Why isn't stuff like this on television in the UK? Do we really need to see "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps" repeated on BBC3 for the 60 millionth time? Why not commit half an hour a week to let Ashen's review tat on his sofa? So being that I'm a metal fan and I really don't think anyone has nailed a web show centered around that theme yet. I decided to give it a bash. This is the idea behind Metal Outlaw TV. It is very much in it's genesis at the moment. To most people who aren't the target demographic it might seem to be low brow shit... and you'd have a point. It is low brow (especially Metal Spoken Word) and it may even be a bit shit if you're just casually looking on. However, it's my kind of shit and I've got to think that there are more of me out there who feel the same way. Remember what I said about having myself represented? Well this is it. Now you could argue that I am a hypocrite for putting the moral guilt trip on the majority viewing audience when I have made a video or two featuring poetry readings containing offensive and explicit lyrics. That is fair comment but in my defense it is only language. Words hold no real power. In fact they only really hold any value when used with intent. "I'm going to kill you!" with a smile on your face is vastly different from the same words wielding a knife. Get my point? Probably not.  That is why I see the PC brigade as a bunch of prissy grammar nazi's. Is a man reading lyrics about cumming blood anywhere near as offensive as degrading exploitation of human beings for the sake of entertainment (*cough* *cough* I'm a Celeb)? From my moral stance I'd say "No!" and I think I've justified my point adequately. The rest of you may feel differently and if you can argue your point better than mine I'll concede that you might be right. All I know is Metal Outlaw TV has made me enjoy what I'm doing again and I hope to make it in to a successful brand so that I no longer have to work on British television shows that I can never enjoy. Hopefully this rant makes sense to someone out there even if it is only a freak like me. Till next time, Cheers.

Attica Rage: Road Dog Forever release

I'm aware it has been a long time since my last post but I've been very busy with the odd bit of industry work, getting Metal Outlaw TV up and running and finally completing the Attica Rage film. Yes! You read correctly. After 3 years of set backs and stress I'm happy to report that the film is now in the final stages of production and within a couple of weeks it will be pressed on to many shiny new DVD's. Now all I need is all of you (all 5 of you) to go out and buy it. ;)

So where to buy. It can be bought directly from the band at gigs or if you are local to me or any of the band members, directly from one of us. The best place to pre-order/buy for the rest of you is from the band's official website www.atticarage.com . Easy as that. I want to stress what you are getting is of far better quality and better value for money than what other bands at Attica's level have put out. I'm not pointing any fingers *cough* *cough* Fury UK. So I believe it warrants the £15.00 asking price. Bare in mind this is a short run, fully independent (no label involvement, no grant funding) feature plus a whole host of extras. For me it's a personal achievement and I'm extremely proud of the end result. So if I see any part of it online a week after its release I will be out for blood. No joke! Pirate Metallica's DVD's, not mine. Attica Rage: Road Dog Forever available to buy December 1st, 2012. Check out the trailer:


Now that I have the sales pitch out of the way I think it would be a good time to talk about the project a little. It basically started life while I was at university and one of the things on my bucket list was to make a band documentary. Unfortunately a lot of bands on the scene at the time were completely dicking around and never took it seriously. The last thing I wanted was to spend a year making a film only to have the band disband and be forgotten by the time I had finished. I came across Attica Rage who had been around a wee while so I figured they would be a safe bet. I also liked the style of music and the contrast between the band members. I'm a classic metal fan through and through since I actually like comprehensible lyrics and an actual tune so it seemed to fit. I pitched the singer, Jonny,  at a gig in the Cathouse and gave him a very studenty sample of my work. Months went by and I assumed that the band had decided that they weren't interested. Rejection is something you have to get used to if you do what I do. As it turns out though I was wrong. Jonny got in contact and we set up a little meeting in the Solid. I told the band exactly what I wanted to do and what I wanted to get out it. My only condition was that they were serious about it and that we all see it through till the end. Although there were times when I felt like giving up I'm proud to say I kept my word.

From there I shadowed the band at more or less every event they played over the next two years. The only exceptions were a gig in Edinburgh and High Voltage festival. I regret not doing one of these guess which one. Beyond gigs and festivals I also delved a little in to their lives outside the band and covered the making of the Road Dog album. Unfortunately the personal stuff did not come off as I had hoped. I think a couple of the members were a bit uncomfortable sharing their stories which was really disappointing to me from a film makers point of view. To me that's why Anvil works better than any "rockumentary" ever made. The guys wore there hearts on their sleeves and were very interesting characters. I think the Attica guys are interesting enough to hold an audiences attention but it was difficult to get a personal, mass appeal,  narrative out of them. This may be my failing as a film maker. Perhaps I wasn't invasive enough but it's one of those risk/reward scenarios. If you push too hard and overstep your bounds there is nothing stopping the guys from pulling the plug completely. At the end of the day I knew that the film would only be something that would appeal to fans of the genre and band anyway so it was easy to live with that disappointment. At the end of the day you work with what you've got and I am really happy with the end result, especially the Classic Grand gig which looks and sounds brilliant. I'm also glad that I managed to catch a bit of the humour going on as well as some of the drama of being in an unsigned band.

As an experience it was fun for the vast majority of it. I got to go to several festivals, get plenty of practice filming and editing, met many folks who have since become friends. Although I'm not going to lie, I met one or two folks who really get my back up too and I also had to endure a trip to Ibiza and the worst people in the world (British clubbers). On the whole the experience was positive. I learned a lot. I got better at what I do. I made a few important contacts and at the end of the day at the very least I can say that I had the guts to go out there and create something I wanted to make. I struggle to think of anyone working in film and TV who can claim that. Which is maybe why British TV is the pit of reality TV pish that it's become. I know from experience. I've worked on some of it.

Next for me is getting Metal Outlaw TV off of the ground. Heavy metal/rock needs a platform for up and coming bands to be seen. I'm hoping that myself Roddy and Big C can develop this concept in to that platform. I'm guessing time will tell. I'm also looking to get involved with working on anything that comes my way in any role (as long as it isn't a tea/coffee go fetcher or chauffeur). I want to build up as much experience and as many contacts as I can for the future. So if anyone is interested in working together on absolutely anything I'm more than willing to talk. So until next time, BUY THE DVD!!!!!
 

Metal Spoken Word, Les-Fest, and a wee rant.

So while I've been busy doing some events videography and photography (snore)  I've managed to chuck together a couple of new videos together for Metal Outlaw TV. The first one was a concept I've had in my head for a wee while and all came about from watching a classic Christopher Walken video on you tube. The video I'm of course referring to is the one where he reads "the three little pigs". If you haven't seen it yet it is fucking hilarious. Anyway this led me to conclude that certain people have the ability to read the phone book and make it funny. So I racked my brain and decided that the perfect person to try this little experiment  was right under my nose for the past 3 years. I'm of course referring to former Attica Rage bassist, Big C. Having filmed the man for ages I knew how funny the guy is and unlike a ton of actual "funny" men his humour doesn't seem forced. Gary Tank Commander and Limmy take note. So with the idea and star in place all that was left to figure out was what to have him read. I finally settled on "I Cum Blood" by Cannibal Corpse. I'm by no means a fan of that style of music or the content but the lyrics are intended to offend and if you want peoples attention being offensive is a pretty good way to go about it. So after about an hour setting up and half an hour (3 takes) filming we had probably one of the most popular videos I've shot. I'd probably adjust the lighting slightly in hind sight but technically I'm really happy with it. And judging by the overwhelming number of likes per view I'd have to say that my first ever Metal Spoken Word was a complete success. A lot of the credit does belong with Big C as he delivered exactly what I expected. If you've not had the chance to view it yet. here is the first ever Metal Spoken Word with Big C.

The weekend before last saw me attending the first ever Les-Fest rock and metal festival in a sort of semi-official capacity. I figured since I was going anyway it would be a good opportunity to grab a little coverage for Metal Outlaw TV and hopefully spread the word for the channel. So I managed to snag a few wee interviews with 15 Times Dead, Fantasist, Dirty Rose, and the event organiser Dave Ritchie. I would have liked a couple more interviews but I was too busy the week before to actually organise most of them ahead of time. Anyway, I was happy with the resulting video and I think my interviewing, which is usually hit or miss, was pretty good most of the time. And even if you're not a fan of a lot of the bands on the line up the video is worth a view for the delight that is absinthe man. What a fanny!

So my impressions on the event itself. Overall i was fairly impressed with the set up. The Valley International Park is a great location and I was pleasantly surprised at how many people were camping. What you get for your money is really good value and the venue itself sounded pretty good. I liked the atmosphere of the whole thing and you can tell it was organised by a fan of music instead of your typical promoter type. If I'm sounding like I have an axe to grind it's because I do. In general I'm not a fan of people exploiting the talents of others and ripping them off in the process. I've witnessed quite a wee bit of it in my time. I'll leave it at that for now and here's the video. Hope you enjoy.

So what does the future of Metal Outlaw TV hold? Well I'm finally deciding to get serious about it and the goal is to try and build a monthly show around it. I will be standing down in front of the camera and will be replaced with someone else. I know who I want for the job but we've still to sit down and talk over the specifics. We will also be doing interview and recorded sessions (courtesy of Roddy Macaudio) in order to help promote bands who wish to take part. On that note anyone wishing to be featured can they please get in touch at metaloutlattv@gmail.com and we'll see about featuring you on the show. The whole reason I started the channel in the first place was to give bands some exposure beyond mobile phone/ camcorder videos with shitty sound. Myself and Roddy have discussed this at length and we are becoming increasingly annoyed by this attitude that everything can be done at home. In some cases bands can do it for example Bleed From Within, who have been putting out some really good promo content recently. However, the majority of you really should invest time and money in your recordings and promo materials. Metal Outlaw TV is a free service that will allow you to do get that so please get in touch to have your band showcased properly. It's your loss if you don't. Until next time. Later. 

Artsy Fartsy Nonsense

This week I had one of those one in a life time mind blowing experiences that will live with me forever. The kind that I'm not content just storing in memory and giggle about from time to time. This was one of those once in a life time experiences which you just have to rant about on a blog that no one other than your most sarcastic of friends would read. Any how lets cut to the chase. This Tuesday night I caught up with a uni mate for a bit of a catch up. Now the plan for the evening was to go and see one of our former uni lecturers do some stand up and heckle...erm...I mean show our support. So anyway we had time to kill before the actual show so we had a couple of games of fooseball which resulted in me being defeated and humiliated much like Scotland in their friendly against the yanks. After that we decided to grab a couple of Krush'ems from KFC. After taking around 40 minutes to finish mine I came to the conclusion that I would make a terrible gay guy. Just as well I wwasn't planning on going down that road anyway.

So after finally finishing my Krush'em and taking a couple of minutes to regain my breath we headed back to the gig to discover that our former uni lecturer had just got off the stage. Doh! We had a brief chat with him and he said we should stay and check out the remaining acts. I said, "Okay!" So me and my mate paid our £3 to enter, and looked like complete fools trying to get our glowstick wrist bands on (mine was pink by the way). We took a seat in the corner and eagerly anticipated the next act.

So trying to keep an open mind we watched the first performance which to my surprise was actually pretty good. It was a 3 actor performance piece that satirized the self righteous atheist movement. Since I am a self righteous atheist I got a real kick out of it. The message was seemed about as subtle as a punch to the face. I prefer my satire subtle. Anyway, after being pleasantly surprised the hostess gets up on stage and introduced the next act who was a DJ. Now the letters D and J stuck together strikes absolute terror in me and has done so ever since I stood in the Garage a few years back, bored out my mind listening to some twat dicking around on a MacBook for an hour while I was waiting for Steel Panther to come on. Now if I can go off on a tangent for a second. Just because you spent £800 pound on a MacBook with the same spec as a £400 PC does not make you a musical legend. It makes you a superficial wank pot. I can not fucking stand this super pompous aura that a lot of Mac owners have.  It is not a gimmick for impressing your mates and giving them metaphorical penis envy. It is merely a tool used to do work. Simple as that. Reigning it back to the topic at hand. So after his introduction a guy in a Pingu outfit gets on the stage and sets up a reel to reel tape player, a mixer and a bunch of other audio equipment. I thought to myself, "this looks interesting" as he starts "performing". Now how to describe what I heard. I'm known for my honesty so let me just say it was the most horrifically bad thing I've ever heard in my life. It sounded like white noise being fed back without any discernible tune. I felt like my brain was going to explode like the dude in Scanners. The noise droned on and on, and then then pingu pulls out what looks like a Kazoo and starts groaning through it in to the mic. From there he went out to the crowd, still growning, while I suddenly found religion and was praying that he wouldn't come near me. Thankfully it was heard and he walked on by. So after what seemed like an eternity, he finished and I took a sigh of relief. My mate turned to me and asked, "Have you ever felt so out of place?" I pondered that for a second, going through my personal hall of shame. I have been to the odd night club, surrounded by drunk idiots. I have been to a Juliet Lewis gig and listen to her talk pish in between mediocre tunes. I have even been to Ibiza or as I like to call it, "The land where culture goes to die". So weighing everything up I'd have to say that this probably wins the title of the most out of place I have ever been in my life. I think the thing I found most shocking was that the dude got a round of applause at the end. I know it was an artistic showcase and all that but get real what was that pish all about? It was like the musical equivalent of that chick who presented her unmade bed as an art exhibit. I would google her name... if I cared. It had absolutely nothing to convey as far as I could tell.

Now maybe the performance was a piss take or I could be a complete philistine and be missing the point entirely but that would require it either being funny or communicating something audible. It did neither. So how can I best describe what I had just experienced? I like the term "inaudible wank". Now I'm sure if I were to play the audience on that night a bit of Slayer they would have the same reaction as I had to this. And they would be justified in doing so if it ain't their thing. However,even on Slayers worst day they are more artists than any so called DJ. As a metal fan I often get people looking down their noses at what I listen to, dismissing it as just noise. Trust me there is more to that "noise" than there is all this techno, dance, trance pish. I think I'll close by saying that although what I experienced was a huge shock to my system I at least had the balls to endure it. I challenge anyone reading this to give metal the same chance I gave this performance. Rant over.        

Attica Rage "Ashamed", Christie Connor-Vernal photo shoot, and other stuff

Finally the Attica Rage "Ashamed" music video has surfaced. I completed the video around 3 months ago but the band decided to sit on it until they had announced their new record deal with "Off Yer Rocka records", which is possibly the most cringe worthy name for a record label I've ever heard (sorry boys). So like I said it is finally out there and looking back I could have done so much better with it. A combination of circumstances and time constraints on the day plus a lack of proper planning on my part just resulted in the video not coming off quite like it could have. So looking back I'm kind of disappointed with it but I'm sure the fans of the band will appreciate it. Hopefully my next music video will be a little more well conceived and technically better executed. Anyway, here's the video to check out and critique. Off the back of last months session video with solo artist Christie Connor-Vernal I decided to go in to photography mode and do a set of promo shots for her. So I brought her out to Larkhall and Chatelherault on what luckily turned out to be an amazing day weather wise. The shoot also ended up being quite successful. Christie certainly has a unique look and it allowed to be quite creative with the shots. My personal favourite is the head shot with the "Rock and Roll" tattoos in front. The shoot would have been a lot more fun if I wasn't suffering with a killer bout of man flu which I am now just getting over. Here are some of the best shots from the shoot. About a week ago I was at Rock for Funds at Ivory Blacks for a night of rock and to pick up an interview with a band I've been eager to see for a long time, the almighty Kyrbgrinder. I also thought it would be a good idea to film some of the set for "Metal Outlaw TV". This is something I'd like to more of for the channel as I think it will garner more interest than just interviews. The problem with interviews is that it's difficult to set yourself apart. Having said that from a production value stand point Metal Outlaw is in a different league from 90% of what's out there, including some stuff I've seen on Scuzz. Typically though with an interview I'm finding I get around 150 views per video. Not really a lot to be honest. They are very easy edits so I don't mind. Gig tracks on the other hand I'd expect to get between 300 and a 1000 views depending on the band. Maybe more if I could get one with a biggish band like say Fozzy (hint hint to anyone who works with Triple G). So going forward I'm definitely wanting to film more bands live or maybe even in a studio environment. Anyone interested contact me through the channel or email me at metaloutlawtv@gmail.com . In the mean time here is the first of two tracks I filmed for Kyrbgrinder. Staying on the subject of Metal Outlaw TV, I have just been confirmed as providing the official video coverage for this years LesFest, Scotlands only rock and metal festival. There are a lot of names I fancy interviewing at this event which is shaping up very nicely and any festival that I can travel to in 20 minutes is a winner for me. As long as the weather is not typical Scottish fair it should be helluva fun couple of days where I'll once again get to see Kyrbgrinder, Dirty Rose, Fantasist, and perv on the Amorettes. Roll on the end of June.

Christie Connor Vernal session video and other news

Time for some more blabber about what I've been up to. A couple of weeks ago I was commissioned to do a video for my good friend Roddy Macaudio who was recording a couple of demo tracks for up and coming artist Christie Connor Vernal at the under construction Titan Studios West in Clydebank. Before I get started properly let me just say that this studio is going to be awesome when it is finished and any band or artist who take themselves seriously should be recording there. So with the shameless plug out of the way lets get on to the video. At the time of writing this it has had a fair amount of attention with nearly 1000 views in under a week which I'll admit is no Justin Bieber (who's success is proof that people are morons) but it is quite substantial. Most of this can be attributed to the fact superb quality of the recording and Christie's tremendous voice and song writing, but here I'll gladly take my third of the credit. Well actually it should be the medium of video that deserves the credit. Roddy and I discussed this at length during the process of the collaboration and we agree that the way people digest music is through video. We connect with things a lot more when we see the artist perform. Again I refer you back to Justin Beiber (douche). I'm not trying to downplay the recording or the musicianship they will always be more important but in this day and age video is a must. It seems though that musicians for the most part are slow to catch on to this or if they have are content to post mobile phone footage of them playing a track. One in a million times this will get them noticed but in the rest of the 999,999 cases it just makes them look like complete amateurs. This is where someone like myself comes in. Even something as simple as a well shot session video is enough to make a recording artist or band look a million times more professional and in this world if you are perceived as professional you ARE professional. So my advice to musicians, stop playing about with mobile phones and DIY recordings and intelligently spend a bit of cash to get a professional recording done with Roddy and have it filmed by myself. Feel free to check out the video below.



Last week I also attended the Breast Way Round charity event in Ayr at Harleys. The reason for doing so was to film another interview for my Youtube channel Metal Outlaw TV. This time I was interviewing the new look Attica Rage and getting to know their new bassist Colin Wilson. The interview went okay and featured camera work almost entirely done by my little brother, Keith. I thought it would be a good opportunity to give him a bit of experience... actually that is a massive lie. I really just fancied checking out a blonde getting in to the music across the room from me. If only I wasn't accompanied by my mum and she wasn't accompanied by hers I might plucked up the guts to actually chat her up. Probably best that didn't happen my chat up skills are famously poor. Anyway, back to the video. The whole point of Metal Outlaw TV is to create exposure for hard rock and metal bands through video. I'm doing this because 1. No one is doing this properly in Scotland and 2. The grass roots scene needs as much support as it can get. I actually know people who will not check out a band at the club level because of the, "they can't be good if they are playing in front of 100 people" logic. Quite frankly they are idiots. I have often been quoted saying, "Success and talent are in no way shape or form linked." It's a fact people. Just watch the Christie video and ask yourself, "is she more talented than Cheryl Cole?" Or if you are a fan of comedy ask yourself, "why isn't Billy Kirkwood better known than Russell Brand?" Or if you are in to film ask yourself, "why is Uwe Boll allowed to make terrible video game adaptations?" I rest my case. Anyway, back on topic, I hope you all support the channel and help it grow. Bands who want filmed should not be shy about getting in touch. I get content, you get content and viewers get content. We're all winners. Check out the Attica vid below (apologies about the video glitches. This happened while uploading to youtube.)

Metal Outlaw TV

So a couple of weeks ago I went to see Beholder (supported by 15 Times Dead). I decided ahead of time that I wanted to take this opportunity to create a new youtube channel centered around rock and metal. So I picked up a couple of interviews with the bands and edited a couple of video packages together. Okay so I fully acknowledge the interview thing is not the most original concept ever created but I'm not going to solely limit myself to that. My reasons for doing this was because I went through a rough few months where I really wasn't having any fun editing the Attica Rage concert film and several runner jobs falling through. I was also frustrated with life in general and was sinking in to a bit of a pit. So I decided to say, "fuck it", and do what I wanted as if I was being paid for it. Filming is supposed be fun after all.



Logically I went back to my metal roots even although I'm not a conventional rocker/goth/(insert arbitrary sub genre here). In fact I'm probably the most anti-rocker values guy on the planet with my uncompromising straight edge life style, and my lack of tattoos and piercings. But anyhow I noticed that a lot of interviews out there absolutely suck. You find you can watch around 10 different interviews with a single band and you end up getting the same questions and answers. I intend to be a bit different in at least offering a bit of gig footage and decent production values. I'm not saying what I'm doing is Scuzz TV (which isn't all that great either) but at least a bit of effort has gone in to the videos. Hopefully as I develop as an interviewer and come up with other ideas the videos will get better and better.



Speaking of interviewers, I wouldn't mind stepping aside on the interview front and let others give it a go. There's a couple of friends, with much better connections than me, who I think could do a great job IF they were to commit the time. I've put up with unreliable co-workers in the past I'm not looking for any more. I think having other people's contributions would help the channel become more balanced. After all, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the best guy in the world to be interviewing certain bands. I am openly biased in my opinions, my likes and dislikes. You may call that shitty journalism but I never claimed to be a journalist. So if anyone is interested on jumping on board contact me via metaloutlawtv@gmail.com or personally through facebook, carrier pigeon, or however else you'd get hold of me.

Last but not least Metal Outlaw TV is on facebook here:
http://www.facebook.com/MetalOutlawTv

and on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MetalOutlawTV

If you are interested in what I'm doing or are in a band looking to promote yourselves please like/subscribe to the channel and get in touch. It doesn't matter how big or small you are. I'm all about producing fun content which will hopefully be beneficial for my favourite genre of music. Until next time. \m/

First photoshoot, Attica Rage film, Warrior wall

Well, it's been a while since I last wrote on this thing. This is due to a slump in productivity due to my annual seasonal depression. Nothing to get all heavy and emo over so I'll cut to the chase. First things first, where am I at with the Attica Rage film? I'm aware the whole thing has taken longer than expected. This is due to several factors. Firstly, I was feeling mentally burned out with the whole thing due to the duration I've been working at it and repeatedly revising. The edit wasn't working and I needed a break. Secondly the departure of one of the bands founding members, Big C, threw an additional spanner in the works. It was something I expected but was hoping wouldn't happen till the film was done and released. I'm never that lucky. Anyway, the whole situation was bumming me out and it forced me to look at the project in a new light. I think I had become wrapped up in making it a story much in the vain of The Story of Anvil. Not imitating it but trying to find a narrative to make the whole thing work. Unfortunately I didn't discover a strong enough narrative to make this happen. The frustration became too much for me to the point where I downed tools for month and a half and did other things. I had a decent amount of running work till the end of last year so I was pretty occupied anyway. Around the new year I looked at it again and asked finally asked myself, "What have I got here?" not "What story do I want to tell?". Ironically this led me to a complete restructure of the project to the point where the film is more or less what I initially pitched to the band over two years ago. After this and a couple of sit down viewings with Jonny I am sure it is the correct way to go and am feeling a lot more positive about the project. I am at the point where it is mostly minor changes and polishing that is needed and then (hopefully) everyone will get to see it. I'm predicting a summer release. I plan to stick to it this time.

I haven't been focusing solely on the Attica Rage film though. I have been doing a lot of plotting, planning and a wee bit of photography with my new macro lens which is now like the favourite of my children. I also did my first studio photo shoot with my wee pal Emy. I wanted to do a glamour shoot for quite a while and it was something I kept putting off and putting off, partly because I felt I wouldn't get taken seriously by model types due to my inexperience and partly because I didn't feel comfortable asking friends to pose for me to basically perv on with a camera. Okay, that's an exaggeration but you get the point. So I asked Emy to help me out. She reluctantly said yes at first but gradually warmed to the idea. Cue much moaning from me, asking her to make the time for it. She eventually realised that she'd get rid of me if she agreed to do it so she gave in. Harassment! Works every time. To Emy's credit she was game and put in a ton of effort and given that it was the first time either of us had done a shoot I think we did pretty damn well. So I'd like to thank Emy for helping me out and also for eating my Fox's Ambers (means I don't have to). I'd like to get a couple more shoots going and to build a wee portfolio. So if anyone is interested in modelling for me then please give me a buzz. Here's some of the pics from the shoot.









The final thing I want to talk about was a video I filmed ages ago but didn't bother doing anything with. I had my garage/gym wall painted with a mural of the Ultimate Warrior by urban artist Conzo and filmed the whole process. Unfortunately I never got round to editing it at the time and as a result the footage lay about on my drive taking up space. So after me snapping out my seasonal depression I was looking to have a wee bit of fun editing and decided to finally get to work on this video. I decided I wanted to try and capture the late 80's early 90's wrestling presentation with this which if you're not familiar is basically cheesy as fuck filters and transitions. Stuff I would never use in a million years in a proper edit. So if you're watching the video and thinking this looks rubbish then I've done a good job. Here it is if you want to take a look.



That pretty much covers what I've been up to. Until next time, cheers.

"Under The Skin" and "Emergency"

It's been a while since I've had anything to report on my projects, mainly because I've been trying to earn money like a responsible adult for once. This past week I worked a day on a Scarlett Johansen film called "Under The Skin" where she plays a man eating alien (Species rip off????) followed by a 3 day stint on Emergency with Angela Griffin (Coronation Street). Two entirely different projects and experiences.

"Under The Skin" was one of those experiences that disheartened the hell out of me. I think they overestimated the amount of runners they needed and as a result there were many of us who were hardly used. I was one of them. Out of a 10 hour shift I must have done about 30 minutes of work. That was essentially locking off a street while filming was happening. The rest of the day I felt like a complete spare part. The only consolation was that I got to catch up with some peeps I met while working on World War Z. I also handed out a couple of cards here and there but if I wasn't getting paid for the day it would have been a complete waste of time.

Emergency with Angela Griffin kept me a little busier, even although there were periods of boredom here and there. I was basically a runner/driver with a bit of data wrangling. My main worry going in was the prospect of driving a Ford Galaxy about Glasgow for a few days. Let me put it this way, there were a good few stalls during the course of the shoot. Having said that by the final day I had the hang of it and was actually quite enjoying how the car handled. Parking was still a nightmare though. The data wrangling part I was fine with once the naming conventions were established. The first and the third days were fine and quite slow. The second on the other hand was a fucking nightmare. The low point was having to drop off rushes to a runner flying up from London, in shitty weather, while suffering from the migraine from hell. Me being me I didn't take any medicine because that's how we straight edgers roll. Then I had to return back to the production office at rush hour . Nightmare and a half.

I think I probably learned more about the emergency services than I did about the shoot. What these men and women have to deal with is fucking unreal and they deserve the utmost respect for their role in society. Unfortunately from what I hear they seldom get it. A lot of the call outs were a huge waste of their resources. Seeing playbacks of some of the footage made me feel really ashamed of some of the people I share a country with. Most of the call outs were alcohol related and their behaviour disgusts me. It further reaffirms that my stance on alcohol is correct. If you are looking for a way to cut spending on the NHS do something about the rampant alcohol problem in Scotland. I wonder how many people have died over the years because an ambulance didn't get to them quick enough because they were all out dealing with drunken barbarians or drug overdoses?

I look at the life of a paramedic and I feel so bad for them because a large amount of their time is spent dealing with the crap of humanity. It must really skew your outlook on the world. I definitely could not do their job, I'm jaded enough. Paramedics definitely deserve a tonne of respect for their dedication and for generally making a difference in peoples lives. They have to put up with a lot of shit from the public for very little pay and to be perfectly honest they deserve better. They should only be going out on calls for people who generally need help, people who respect their own health and respect the health of others. They deserve a more considerate public than they have. Well that's my feelings on it. I hope to be getting on with my own work soon. Until next time. Cheers.

Ultimate Sports Day overview

I'm conscious it's been a while since my last self indulgent rant so I thought it would be a good time to make an entry. Part of the reason I've been quiet is because up until last week I have not really had much on other than editing a few Attica related videos to the point where I'm lacking inspiration. The other reason is that I've been going through a bit of a shit time with things at home and my personal life. Without going in to too much detail I've been forced to take a good long look at myself and make an attitude adjustment. This is something I'm struggling with but need to do for my own good. Anyway, up until last week things were pretty shitty.

So what happened last week to change things? Well I got a weeks worth of work on a CBBC show called Ultimate Sports Day. Now there's a little story to go along with this and it started a couple of weeks earlier when I got a phone call from a member of the production office asking if I wanted to come in for an interview about being a runner on a childrens TV show. I didn't know anything about it at this point but it was work and that's all I cared about. So I went to the office later in the day and met with the production manager who explained a bit about the show. It came across as a kids reality TV show. It sounded okay but the production manager explained to me that they were wanting a runner to stay at a youth hostel with the kids 24/7 for 6 days. I wasn't keen on this idea for several reasons but most of all was the money they were offering was woefully inadequate for what they wanted me to do. The way I look at life is that the most valuable thing you have is time. I was not about to stick myself in exile for 6 nights for what more or less slave labour wages. So initially I turned down the job. I really hated doing this but I felt that the production manager saw that I was inexperienced and was looking to take advantage.

So fast forward a week and I got an unexpected call from one of my former colleagues on World War Z. He asked if was available to which I replied, "Sure, what's the job?" He went on to explain the job and guess what... It was the same fucking job. I told him this and explained that I already turned it down. He told me that the person they got walked out on the job and they needed a replacement. The deal I was being offered was much more to my liking. Still not great but definitely worth my time. Plus I knew and respected a couple of people on the project. I also found out that all the locations were withing 15 miles of my home so I wasn't going to get in at ridiculous times. So all of this taken in to account I agreed to do the job and boy am I glad I did.

I had so much fun working on this project and I felt like I learned a lot too. There was a fair amount of down time which was a great opportunity to pick the brains of some of the more experienced crew members. I also got to know a couple of new runners and hit it off with them. Life is so much easier when you get on with the people you work with. The programme was filmed between several locations in Lanarkshire, Ravenscraig Leisure Centre, Strathclyde Park, Wishaw Sports Centre and the Time Capsule. There was a lot of driving around and since my car was handy I was given a bit more responsibility, basically being the last one to leave the locations and making sure all was well. Another thing I liked about it was that I got to meet Barry McGuigan who turned out to be a really nice guy and is still in amazing shape for his age. It's really cool to see guys give the finger to getting old.

Overall, Ultimate Sports Day was well worth doing. It distracted me from my problems and introduced me to some new friends and co-workers. I also got paid which is always a plus. Awesome!

Classic Grand Shoot & A Couple of Fannies

So nearly two weeks have passed since Attica Rage's Road Dog live set at Classic Grand and I already have a rough edit in the can. The night came off more or less perfectly and featured the band at their absolute best and unlike Hammerfest it was all about the music. No frills, no skanky dancers smeared in make up and no pyro. The night is what it should have been, a 100% celebration of the music. Quite frankly if you missed this one you missed out.

From a filming perspective it came off perfectly despite the chaotic circumstances. What I mean by this is mainly technical problems, but also one of the two fannies mentioned in the title of this post. First of all the technical problems were annoying more than anything and at least one was of my doing. First of all three of my SD cards didn't work. I later found out that I was mis-sold them (thanks ebay) when I bought them. Since they were not the correct classification for DSLR use they were useless to me during the shoot. Now I could have saved myself a helluva lot of problems if I bloody well checked them when I got them. It's silly little mistakes like this that I obsess over and quite frankly I should be beyond making them at this point. Lesson learned, it won't happen again. The other technical problem is general overheating associated with DSLR use. Only one camera was badly effected so I can't complain too much. It could have been worse and quite frankly the footage captured was fantastic. So major praise has to go to Robb, Michael, Craig and Keith for their efforts. You done me proud lads.

Now on to the other problem. When I started this blog, I did it to keep track of my "career" and also maybe give a little insight, and hopefully encouragement to people thinking of going down a similar path. I'm not claiming to be a success by any means. I am struggling to make a living but I hope that my experiences can be something that people can learn from in some way. However, lately I've been getting more personal which is not really what this blog was intended to be about. I'm a critic of people who air their personal feelings and dirty laundry on Facebook etc. yet lately I find myself doing the same. My only excuse is that I've had a rough year but I it doesn't change the fact I'm a hypocrite. That being said the individual I am talking about here does really deserve to be named and shamed. I won't refer to him by name but his actions at the Classic Grand gig were inexcusable.

Basically during the Attica Rage set this individual thought it would be a good idea to head in and out of the pit area as he pleased, getting in the way of my camera guys, causing them to stop filming. First of all when a crew is filming you leave them the hell alone to get on with it. You wouldn't ask the beeb to stop filming at T in the Park. Why should a club gig be any different? Also when a band is playing you leave them to get on with it. You don't plonk yourself down in front of the lead singer and kick his monitor. I had 5 cameras around the stage and not one of them got in the bands way. That's what professionals do, become invisible. The straw that broke the camels back for me was the individual throwing a drink on stage at one of the band members. My crew had a few thousand pounds worth of equipment in operation at the time and much like Mogwai they don't like getting wet. After the gig, I pulled the individual in question up and explained to him that he was being a hindrance to my crew. He instantly went on the defensive and called my crew "a bunch of wankers" and went on to say, "don't you know who I am?". Let me tell you something if someone ever asks this question we are instantly in douche territory. The conversation concluded with him making over the top and outrageous threats. I left the scene of the crime, offended and ready to explode. Now in hind sight I regret pulling him up while he was drunk. Simply put an arsehole + alcohol = a complete arsehole. I'm sure it's Einstein who came up with this formulae. Does his drunken state absolve him of responsibility? No! If you can't handle it then don't do it. The real disheartening thing here is that all I needed from him was to understand my issue and apologise for his behaviour. If the roles were reversed I would do the same. I've been an arse numerous times to some of the people I care about the most but I'm at least able to acknowledge when I'm wrong and make things right. An apology and a handshake goes a long long way.

So from one fanny to another. And this one I will name and shame since I don't know him on a personal level. The individual in question is Phil Lewis of LA Guns. Why has he pissed me off? Well, he decided it would be a good idea to bully my wee bro and mum. From the beginning of the gig in Ivory Blacks he started eye balling my brother who was standing at the railing with my mum. I was a bit worried at this point but dismissed it as a one off occurrence. Shortly after some groupie skanks decided to come down front and bump and grind next to me. Anyone who knows me well should know that I hate drunk women trying to rub up against my dick. Yeah, I have personal space issues. Anyway I decided to move up the back because that wasn't my idea of a good time. Unfortunately, I left my mum and brother to fend for themselves while this moose continued her drunken jiggling. My mum gave her a telling off as the girl was constantly battering in to her. Then Phil Lewis chimes in. He referred to my mum as "Mrs", when she is only 4 years older than him. Just because his mind and fashion sense is stuck in the 80's it doesn't make him still 25. He said, "quite clearly you're not having fun so why don't you do us a favour and leave," and pointed at the skank and said, "she's cool, she's with us." Well if you want your fans to be out their faces and unable to remember your performance (which was shit by the way) then you are welcome to them. You won't be getting any more of my family's money.

In general it was just a crappy gig. The only highlight was that I had a good chat about wrestling with the guitarist from Komatoze, which was awesome. Man I could talk shite about wrestling for days. Off the strength of that conversation Komatoze will probably be seeing some of my money and support in the near future. They certainly are more deserving of it than a middle aged rocker who never had a prime. Enjoy playing to 40 people per night Phil, I've got a feeling you've got plenty more of it ahead. Now of the couple of Fannies I have to say I have more hate for him. At least fanny number one is successful and has earned his right to be arrogant. Phil on the other hand is just another sad, washed up rocker who is stuck in the past. He seems to forget what his role is. As an entertainer it is his job to provide entertainment for the people paying to see the band. It is that simple. He is not better than the fans. In actual fact he is nothing without them. When you turn round and bully people who are paying customers whether they are enjoying the performance or not you are essentially costing yourself money. And quite frankly if they are not enjoying the gig then it's not them that is at fault, it is YOU. I think that sums everything up. Rant over with... until next time.

World War Z shoot thoughts

At the time of writing this I have completed my commitments as a location runner on, "World War Z". Now I'm not really allowed to talk about the filming process in any great detail here which is just as well because I saw the inside of bathrooms more than I saw happenings on set. For the uninitiated the locations unit is to ensure that the the cast and crew are happy little bunnies. So if you work in locations you have to start before everyone else and finish after everyone else. This means very little sleep and a grumpy Colin. So before I go on I'd like to apologise to anyone I may have offended while I was working on this. I pissed a few people off, some even unintentionally due to early morning/mentally exhausted texting. That's what happens when you are getting 3-4 hours of sleep a night though. I'm a creature of habit and I miss the consistency of 8 hour sleeps every night.

Back on topic, so what exciting things did I do? Well my daily responsibility involved going around the businesses and assisting with deliveries and taking out the trash to designated pick up points. This was sold to me as a big responsibility, by the locations heads. I can smell B.S. a mile away and quite frankly would have respected them more if they said, "we know it's pish but someone's got to do it.". I've worked minimum wage most of my life I know the deal by now so don't insult my intelligence. Other duties included litter picks, water runs, lifting tables, chairs, fencing, etc. and my personal favourite... toilet cleaning. The lifting stuff I am fine with. In fact I never expected to actually feel in better shape after this job than before it. I feel great and look the most ripped I've been in years. The toilet cleaning was a real eye opener though. It was everything you'd expect but the real shocker was how fucking disgusting the ladies loos were. Oh my god! Ladies I'm only saying this once, toilets flush for a reason. I suggest you take advantage of that because I don't like fishing out jobby lumps with a toilet brush. Boke!

Anyway I might as well tell everyone what they want to know. Yes I saw Brad Pitt. He looked like the guy in the movies. Was I impressed? Nope. Perhaps I'm just a jaded old man, which I am, but the whole celebrity thing just doesn't do it for me. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Brad personally. I don't even know him. I do however have a real problem how media spin puts so much importance on guys like him. He is no better than me or you and contributes far less to society than our scientists and doctors yet media manipulation convinces us that we should be fascinated by him. Our priorities are totally all wrong. The stories I kept reading on my 30 minutes a day down time were full of inaccuracies and some were downright false. Then there were the paps. These people are the vermin of the photographic world, with their lenses that looked like WMD's and their fucking attitude. The fact that they are paid many times what I made for taking shitty photos of a bloke who pretends for a living is downright offensive to me. That's the world we live in, I guess.

Okay so I think I have bitched enough. Now the good parts of the experience. First of all catering was fucking awesome. I ate so much good shit. Chicken, beef, pork, even shark all tasted amazing. If only I actually had the time to savour the food properly. 20 minute lunches just don't work for me. The craft area (or as I like to call it, the magic grotto) was also awesome. Smoothies, soft drinks, panini's, sweeties. I always made sure that I was in the vicinity of it on a regular basis. The amount of swag I came away with was insane. I even went to the lengths of making trips with a black bin bag to stock up home base for after the final day of filming. I was popular with the boys that day. Unfortunately night shift security got their grubby mitts in and ravaged it over night. Bastards.

A tonne of funny moments happened over the course of the 3 weeks but my favorite had to be my encounter with the italian stallion. I was checking passes at home base when this confused looking balding man tried to casually walk by. He claimed to be an "actor" and said, "I'm in movie". I told him that the building was for extras and that he is in the wrong place. He kept insisting so I went and got one of the AD's to deal with the dude. He kept rambling on about being an "actor" and that he was friends with an actor in the film. They ask him to write down who the actor is because his English was very broken. He wrote down Angelina Jolie. RUMBLED! The AD's told him that she wasn't in the film and asked him to leave. The AD's left and I continued to stand guard, trying not to laugh. The guy stared on, confused, before storming off angry. I then joined the extras who were already buckled over in laughter. It's crazy the lengths some dirty wee men will go to in order to have a perv on a "beautiful person"

The most important positive of the whole experience was the people. The team of runners we had were a great bunch of guys and by the end we were an awesome team. Some of the location assistants and catering folk were also bang on and I'd work with them any time. I'd like to give a shout out to the guys and wish them all the best in the future and I hope that they keep in touch. If you want to hang out in the next couple of weeks there is this gig on the 16th at the Classic Grand with a band I seldom mention, called Attica Rage. Unsurprisingly I'll be filming them. I hope to see as many of you as possible there and hopefully we can catch up at the after party.

As well as the runners and some of the location assistants I also got along with most of the day time security. I'd often grab them a coffee or share my swag that I plundered from the magic grotto. There was one in particular I feel like I hit it off with and took a fancy to. She was the cutest most unlikely looking security guard I've ever seen. A really friendly personality and an interesting person too. Since pretty much any female I am attracted to reduces me to the level of a silly wee boy I pulled out iota of charm I possess and amped up the niceness and brought her stuff from craft whenever I was passing by. I even bought her lunch when she was through on her day off. Unfortunately, I kind of fucked up with some of the fore-mentioned early morning texting and have probably ruined any chance of their being any more than just friendship between us. It's a shame but I never learn to keep my insecurities to myself. You know as cheesy as it sounds the 'italian stallion' and everyone else can have Angelina, I'd rather have my wee security guard. It's a shame I won't.

Life goes on, as they say. Time to move forward and get ready for the Attica gig in under 2 weeks.

Hammerfest 4 promo video

Since the Hammerfest 4 website has now gone live. I guess it's time to talk about the video that I created for the festival. I've included the link to it below but it is also available to view on the official website www.hammerfest.co.uk . This video came about off the back of the video I produced for Hard Rock Hell 5. I was given the theme of Thor to work with and was told to get a little creative with it. So I came up with the plan of having Thor kind of wash up on the beach and walk along the coast until he spots the Hammerfest flag and hoists his hammer and lets out a roar then bridge in to all the cool stuff you'd expect from a festival promo video. In comparison to last years video I think I have done a much better job.

So with my plan in place I went to the festival with the Attica Rage gang and I began work as well as filming for the final piece of the documentary. You see ladies, some of us men can multi-task too. I met with my Thor on the Friday morning, Aiden Vauls from the Area 51 performance group, and went down to the beach. The good news was it wasn't raining. The bad news was it was blindingly sunny. I was using a Canon 550D to film and could hardly see the LCD, and had forgot my viewfinder, so I was filming blind a large part of the time. I got what I needed but there were a lot of shots I felt were un-useable and I was kind of disappointed with the footage.

I was also unhappy with the vox pops. I'm not blaming my friends, Suz and Emy, who were interviewing as they did what I asked. They had to put up with some generally annoying drunks giving shit answers. Emy also had to put up with some drunk silly wee boys sleazily hitting on her and the like. This pissed me off big time. I am old school through and through, and this behavior annoys me. If I've said it once I've said it a million times, alcohol does not absolve you of responsibility for your own behavior. If you have a problem with that, tough, your a dick. I'm right. Returning from that tangent, on the whole all of the good vox pops were used in the video. Usually I'd like more than I need but sometimes you've got to make do. Thanks again to Suz and Emy for sparing their time to help me out and putting up with the odd twat.

The gig footage always takes care of itself at these things. I've filmed bands live long enough now to know what works and what doesn't. I have to say though I feel that the Hard Rock Hell band footage was more entertaining to watch by the sheer fact that the bands were visually more impressive. With the exceptions of Turisas and Sabaton the bands really didn't measure up. I'm amazed Sylosis got the crowd moving the way they did. They showed very little movement and the singer was typical screamo pish. Either I'm old and out of touch or silly drunk little boys are way too easily impressed. They are the metal equivalent of Michael Bay fans.

So I returned home and got editing. I had plenty of time to get this one done so I wanted to really polish it. I got the basic structure down and then got the Hammerfest peeps to send the photoshop file for the poster. I used some of this really great artwork as the basis for producing the opening title and the closing one. I took the bits I wanted and created water, sky, fire and lightning effects and composited them all together. For the opening I tried to make it look like a supernatural vortex kind of thing like Thor travelling from Asgard. For the end, I tried to mimic the poster but also make it animated. These two sections required the most work. Most of what I do in After Effects is from scratch. Luckily there are plenty of great tutorials online.

The final piece of the puzzle was the opening with Thor. I cut all of the beach footage and just concentrated on shots from a grassy hill located near the coast. Boy I'm glad I decided to shoot that. It pays to have a back up. I still had a problem though. The sunny daytime footage didn't go stylistically with the opening and ending compositions. To solve this I decided to break the rules. I did a day to night effect. Now day tonight effects work best in clear, overcast conditions. I wasn't that fortunate. With a bit of tinkering around I noticed a light outline effect happening around scenery and Thor in shots where the sky was visible. It actually looked pretty cool so I decided to make it a feature of the video. Hey, if you can't be good be lucky. All that was left was to add sound effects a lightning strike and some motion blurring to give it that other worldly feel. There was one more touch that was needed. I had to find a decent way to start the video because opening on Thor seemed a bit abrupt. The solution presented itself when John Davis (HRH management) made a request. I think he said something like, "It could use some runes. I love that shit.". Initially I wasn't sure where I could include them without it seeming forced in. With a bit of trial and error I found that if I faded some ruinic up at the beginning along with the date it would ease in the video and set the scene nicely. Incidentally the runic is just the date again. Totally lacking in creativity there. Overall I'm happy with the video, especially after the disappointing source material I had to work from. It seems HRH and Hammerfest crew like it too as I've already been offered to do the promo video for Hard Rock Hell 6. I'm unsure whether I want to do it at this time but being asked right off the bat if I wanted to do it is good for the old confidence. I might make a living out of this video work after all. So I'll leave it at that for this entry. I'll finish off with a little quiz to test the nerdiness of those reading this.

This video contains samples taken from 2 video games from the late 80's/ early 90's. Can you tell me which ones? Here are some clues. 1. They were both on the Commodore Amiga 2. One starts with an S and finishes with a V. The other starts with an M and finishes with an E. 3. One is four letters and one is nine letters. The winner gets the excelent prize of a romantic dinner with me at one of Glasgows finest restaurants. Good luck to all. Personally I'm pulling for Big C.

Healthy Valleys corporate video thoughts

At the time of writing this I have not long returned from handing over my latest project (and invoice). The project involved producing a 5 minute corporate video for a charity called Healthy Valleys. It is a partially government funded institution providing support for individuals dealing with stress and related other related issues. I spent a couple of days down there interviewing clients and staff, and also collecting footage of goings on to help promote their My Way stress management programme. The purpose of the video was to show their value in the community to potential funders. So if it goes down well they'll get their funding renewed/increased. No pressure then!

The deadline was tighter than I would have liked but when I'm being paid good money for a job I have absolutely no right to complain. I say good money because this is probably the first time I've been paid what I feel I'm worth. Hopefully it won't be the last. What I enjoyed about this job was that not only did I help create something that will be used for a good cause but I'm also making a decent profit. Who says you can't have your cake and eat it?... Actually, usually me, but in this instance I'm wrong. Unfortunately I'll be unable to show the video unless Healthy Valleys chooses to display it on their site. This is fair enough, given the nature of the content the call should be their's whether or not to put it online.

Like I said the experience was one of the more pleasant experiences while filming. The fact that the weather was awesome too certainly helped. It was good to see how the staff deal with the clients. They were supportive without being patronising which is something that some doctors and nurses struggle to do. Being around people who have been through a rough spell and came out the other end was also quite inspiring too. It was an interesting experience that certainly beats a "normal" 9 till 5 job.

I was worried about a few things while making this. First and foremost being the the interviews. I'm not famous for my sensitivity in fact I'm famous for being exactly the opposite. Despite this I think I did quite well during the interviews. Getting people to open up and come off as natural is really difficult and is something I am continuously working on. Again, I did good. Once I had enough interview material the pressure was off and all I had to do was collect cut away footage. I managed to get most of what I needed while I was at Healthy Valleys. During the edit I felt I needed some shots of physical activity. Healthy Valleys was off for a week so I was stuck. So what does every boy do when he is stuck? He runs to mummy. I convinced my mum to allow herself to be filmed walking around Millheugh. So I guess I have to thank her now. Errr... thanks mum, I guess. Her ego is going to be out of control after reading this. So from there I had a pretty straight forward edit to get what was required. I think there was around 3 cuts in total. Not bad.

So what's next? Well right now I'm not working on anything other than the Attica film so I think it is a good time to start work on another documentary. It is going to be on the subject of alternative modelling (basically anything that isn't catwalk or fashion). It is going to be another chance for me to be presenting on camera so it's something I'm approaching with excitment and dread in equal doses. I think that is me covered everything. Until next self indulgent blog, cheers.

MMA documentary and Happy Valleys

I thought it was about time to finally get my fourth year uni film online. It is a film on the world of mixed martial arts/ cage fighting in Scotland.I chose to make a documentary on this topic because it is sport I'm in to and I knew the owner of The Griphouse gym pretty well. Basically it was easy and convenient enough for me to have plenty of other stuff on the go and still pass my course. I met the Griphouse owner, Guy Ramsay, while filming a segment for the Attica documentary. While there I saw the potential for a possible film and asked Guy if he was interested. I also offered to film a Muay Thai show he was promoting. I liked Guy instantly, basically because he came across as intelligent and could explain the role of combat sports in society. I knew he'd have to be a large part in the film and in my opinion he's the best thing about it.

The film is the first time I've ever presented on camera. I think it shows especially early on. What do you expect from someone who is really camera shy? I've never liked being the center of attention hence why in the past I've gravitated towards being behind the camera. It's a hold over from being very shy as a child which is something that lessens with age but I think there'll always be a wee bit of it in there. For me making this films was the first step in over coming camera shyness. In that regard I think it worked. By the end of filming I was less self conscious and felt more relaxed. Hopefully I will be better in my next time around. Click below if you want to witness and have a laugh at my complete unfitness.



For the next couple of weeks I am working on a corporate video for Healthy Valleys http://www.healthyvalleys.org.uk. They are a charity in rural South Lanarkshire trying to improve the physical and metal health of people who need help. I've already filmed several interviews with some of their clients and have also shot a fair bit of activity footage. This is another great opportunity and is a different kind of video than what I'm used to. The biggest challenge is the tight deadline. It has to be done in 2 weeks. Difficult but do-able.

MEGA RANT TIME

I apologise for this post as it is in no way related to my film and video work. However, I really need to vent because I have just witnessed something that has really pissed me off. I make no bones about it I am an angry man a good 75% of the time and it is not because of any one thing in particular but a combination of things that get my blood boiling. One of these things is UK politics and this little video pretty much sums up what I mean. So please have a watch as Ed Miliband some how manages to say nothing in 2 and a half minutes.



Okay lets cut through the crap. Basically Ed Miliband does not support the strikes and he believes that the government has acted in a "provocative manner". His solution is to enter in to talks. Okay! I tell you what would be nice. How about the leader of the Labour movement actually doing some leading like the interviewer asks. Labour is still in part funded by trade unions and is supposed to represent the working class. Therefore surely Ed should be trying to come up with an alternative solution besides saying, "can't we all just get along?". I'm not saying he should be supporting day strikes but at least have the conviction to suggest how to progress. Instead, Ed rambles on bumbling and repeating himself like a Hugh Grant character. This is the best the Labour Party has to offer. Really? REALLY? Good luck next election.

My stance on the whole thing is that the public sector workers are well within their right to strike. In fact I don't think they are doing enough. If they want to take on the government they need to strike properly. None of this day strike nonsense. Hell a days strike at the end of the school term. Everyone knows the last couple of weeks of the school term are complete balls. My last week of every term usually involved me going on holiday a couple of days early. At Christmas as soon as the word church was mentioned I was out of there. I'm sorry guys if you're going to have me mime hymns and tell me fairy stories instead of educate me then I'm outta there. Sorry I got side tracked. My point is that their strike at this time means very little. Most kids are already playing truant anyway. If the teachers wanted the governments attention they need longer term strikes. I'm sure Cameron and Loki...er...I mean Clegg would take notice then. It's certainly better than Miliband's do nothing and hope everything works itself out approach.

The bigger issue here is the state of British politics. Labour the Conservatives and the Liberal Hypocrites are all virtually identical. To use a soft drinks metaphor (made famous by Jesse Ventura) what we have is a choice between Pepsi, and Cola, and ASDA's own brand. They are all virtually the same but which one you prefer depends on your tastes. It is a sad realization that in my life time our nation has become a democracy with no choice. What a complete contradiction. Having said that unlike the peeps south of the border I have a choice. With the SNP in Hollyrood there is a very real opportunity that an independence referendum will be held. This is an issue that I've flip flopped about over the years but now I'm 100% for it. At least the SNP have a leader with an ounce of leadership skills and charisma.

For my friends south of the border, I feel for ya. Having said that we had a chance to make UK politics more democratic and guess what we didn't take it. I'm talking about the voting reform that took place on the same day as the Scottish elections. I voted for it so I'm not taking any of the blame for that one. I'm kind of left scratching my head about who to vote for next election. I can't vote for any of the main parties or the three headed monster as I like to call them. Minority and extremist parties tend to be single minded in their policies. The other choice is an independent should one run in my constituency but that is not guaranteed. The only other viable option is for me to spoil my paper. Contrary to what candidates would have you believe, spoiling your paper is not a wasted vote. They are counted therefore it is a valid statement by the individual. You are basically saying there is no one who represents me on this list. I happen to agree with those who think it is a good idea to actually a box for none of above. This means that by ticking the box you are formally declaring that you are not represented by any of the candidates. If enough people vote this way then it identifies a deficiency in the electoral system that will have to be addressed. It's the Brewster's Millions approach to politics (video below). I know it is a comedy but in all great comedy you can find truth. If you don't believe me Youtube Bill Hicks or George Carlin.



This clip from Brewster's Millions is so on the money it is scary. It really highlights that when you vote for a politician you're not voting for policies, you are voting for a carefully created image. Wouldn't it be cool to see a guy running who dressed in casual clothes though. Someone who cut through all the bullshit and told you the truth? I wouldn't even care about their policies. They'd have my vote by virtue of them going out there and putting themselves on the line. It's certainly more exciting than the Ed Miliband 2000. Hmmm... Actually now that I think about it maybe that interviewer sent him in to an infinite loop. Whatever they do don't send them to Microsoft for repairs. They can't even make console that works beyond 6 months. Thats me for now. Hopefully next time I'll actually have some filming to discuss.

Nutmeg Shoot video

I'm feeling guilty about having a lazy night in playing Angry Birds so I figured I may as well post a quick update on things. Unexpectedly I've done a new video since my last post. How did this come about? Well like most things a combination of chance and who you know. Before I begin the whole story I'd like to thank Emy for her recommendation. I owe you a drink and a nervous hug (sorry, not big on hugging). Okay enough gratitude, on with the story.

Wednesday morning I was contacted via Facebook by Megan from evening wear specialists Nutmeg Couture looking for me to film a fashion photo shoot at short notice. My first thought was something like, "Me? What do I know about fashion? The only time I've ever been fashionable is by complete accident." Naturally I had to do it. So Friday morning, with my hearing still recovering from seeing Anvil the night, I head over to the Hummingbird bar/club thingy for the shoot. What followed was probably the best shoot I've had to date. Now I'm the kind of guy who obsesses about the little things ALL THE FUCKING TIME! To the point where I drive everyone around me nuts. This may not be the greatest thing to point out at a personal level but when it comes down to film and video work I think you need to if you're ever going to improve. I'm pointing this out because the Nutmeg shoot was the first time I can recall that I have not obsessed about some little mistake I've made. Now either I'm mellowing with age or I feel like I done a great job. I'm hoping it's the latter because as most friends and acquaintances already know mellow ain't my thing.

From my perspective the shoot went near perfectly. First of all I was surrounded by some very beautiful women so I would have to suck pretty badly to get bad looking footage. Secondly This is probably the best camera work I have ever done. Surprising since I hadn't operated in over 2 months. I've been in editing mode with Attica Rising and the Hammerfest 4 promo video. So coming in I thought I'd be a bit rusty. Obviously not. I'm really happy with the edit too. It's a lot slower than what I'm used to but it needed to be because the requirement of the video is to show the dresses off in all their glory. You can't do that with constant 2-3 second cuts. I think it does the job extremely well. At the time of writing this I haven't had that much feedback from peeps but Megan is happy with the end result. And if the client is happy then so am I.

The whole experience was something new to me and to be honest I was expecting a more student/amateurish set up. I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone was completely professional and really in to the work going on. I was genuinely impressed and I admire the fact that Megan has the balls (figuratively speaking) to start her own business so soon after graduating. Watching the models do their thing too actually made me appreciate that there is more to the job than just looking good for a camera. To a degree there is a bit of acting involved in order to convey the correct mood for a particular dress. It really was quite interesting and again not what I expected.

I also had a conversation with one of the models (sorry I'm terrible with names) about the whole modelling thing and discussing how she was too short to be a catwalk model. This kind of annoys me a bit. Putting height requirements on any occupation should not be allowed unless it undermines their ability to do the job. In modelling there is no reason for this other than to fit some kind of arbitrary ideal put forth by industry trend setters. It's actually a form of discrimination and I'm willing to bet that the reason for this is down to the fact that a lot of trend setters in the industry are male. Lets face it when it comes to setting unrealistic ideals no one is better at it than men. I know it's not exactly my place to let my opinion be known but I have my reasons.I'm ranting about because it kind of overlaps with a future project of mine. That is all I'm saying right now.

Enough of my thoughts/rants for now. Time for the video so here it is.

LA Guns, film progress, RIP Isolysis

Well it has been one of those days. A total mix of good and bad. I met Jonny to discuss the Attica Rage documentary and the next steps while having a good ogle at Rufus T's red headed bar maid. Objectification of the opposite sex, ah, the benefits of being single.....uh sorry, got side tracked. Okay back to the meeting. The loose plan at the moment is for the film to be in a viewing worthy state by the end of next month depending on my motivation or lack there of. We want it out before Christmas so the Attica fans can stuff their stockings full of some Rage. Hopefully I can live up to this promise.

Unfortunately before the meeting I received some bad news via email. I had applied to do a Broadcast Journalism post grad course in order to strengthen my camera presence and interviewing skills because I have a huge man crush on Louis Theroux and would have his babies if it was physically possible. Oops, off on a tangent again... Bringing it back! Anyway, I got told I didn't get in the course. No interview, no nothing. Cheers (he said sarcastically). Apparently someone who has actually attempted to go out and do a bit of film journalism is not good enough to get on a post grad course. So if anyone knows of any post grad broadcast or investigative journalism courses at one of the Glasgow uni's can they please give me a bell. Probably too late now, hopefully I can get lucky in clearing. Anyway this bummed me out and as a result I couldn't concentrate on the rest of the night.

This was a real shame as I couldn't fully enjoy LA Guns, who were fucking awesome. Had it been any other night I would have had a great time. The highlight of the night was my mum stalking the singer for an autograph, after the gig. It was like a rat up a drain pipe. In another life she would have made a fantastic bounty hunter. Dog's got nothing Dot. Shit! Off on a tangent for a third time. What else about the gig? Oh yeah, I ran in to Neil and Sheila who were up to their usual stuff. I nearly got clotheslined by Sheila pushing her way in to the barrier thinking she owns the place with her photo pass. Grrrrr! Just kidding...mostly.

I was riding a bit higher after the gig but unfortunately there was another blow waiting for me when I logged in to Facebook. Isolysis are no more. For those of you who don't know of them, they were an unsigned band from Derby that had a tonne of potential. Bane's voice is reminiscent of Creed's Scott Stapp, maybe even better since you can actually make out all of the lyrics. Sorry Creed fans but Stapp is a bit unintelligible at times. Creed were my access band back in the day so its okay for me to say it. The rest of the band were solid too, especially Dan (in quite a literal sense). Man his guns make mine look like pea shooters, bastard. Sorry, sorry, a little bit of small man syndrome kicking in. In terms of my personal experience of with the guys, well I discovered them about a year ago in Ibiza (of all places) while I was shooting part of the Attica Rage documentary. I can't really recall having much in the way of interaction with the guys. What can I say, I'm a misanthrope (and I'm not kidding). I did enjoy watching them perform and was definitely a fan from that point on. My favourite memory of Ibiza was watching the bromance between Bane and Big C develop culminating in them imitating the Bushwhackers. I've got the footage, shame it was too dark to see anything and looks a bit shitty (damn Panasonic cameras and their low light performance). About a month later I had the opportunity to see them once again at my pal, Emy's, 21st birthday bash which was another great night. Making the effort to attend the gig speaks volumes and shows the type of genuine, down to earth, guys that they are. They travelled a couple of hundred miles to play for free for a friend/fan of the band. Do you think Lady Gaga would do that? Nah! Me neither. For me that night sticks in my mind due to me discovering a new friend, which is a big deal for me since I hate everything. Misanthrope, remember. Unfortunately we've kinda parted ways for now for various stupid reasons. These things happen, and again misanthrope. That's the last tangent I'm going on, I promise. In closing, I'd like to wish the guys luck in the future and let them know I will be cranking out "Condemned" tomorrow while I'm hitting the weights. In my world that's the finest tribute you can get. Also, I'll embed their music video at the end of this blog so everyone can check out what they missed out on. Until next time, cheers.

Update

I'm just back from a day out in Glasgow meeting with the awesome Michael Sherrington, and having dinner with Simon Brown the not so awesome Calum MacPhail. I really should be editing but I'm too tired so I'll rant instead. Okay, first an update on the Attica Rage documentary. Right now I've still got some sit down interviews and some introductory reshoots to do but I've got enough there that I am progressing through editing at a decent pace. This is thanks to having a system that can deal with a project file which contains more that 150 hours worth of footage consisting of over 5000 clips. If anyone tells you that film making is easy then they are an idiot simple as. What I've got so far I'm kind of happy with, or as happy as I can be with it. As anyone who knows me will agree, I don't do happy. I'm hoping to get a rough cut done for the end of July. No promises though.

Still on the subject of Attica Rage. Anyone who reads Metal Hammer will know that the opening track, "36 Insane", from their new album, "Road Dog" is featured on this months cover disc. As a complete surprise to me, Jonny asked me to prepare a video to mark this event only 4 days before the issue release. Thanks for the notice Jonny, ko. Any way I chucked together a video in about a day that I think looks pretty good for what was a days work. I managed to give Magic Bullet Mojo a test on it and I have to admit it's a great wee plug in. It's especially effective of regaining detail in some over exposed footage. Very impressive tool but I expect nothing less from Magic Bullet. The video is below.



In other news I'm posting my honours year documentary, "Combat", exclusively on my website (www.colinwoodmedia.com) right now for everyone to watch and laugh at. If you want to see me completely humbled you should give it a watch. This film is a very significant step for me as I am extremely camera shy and am confronting this fear in this video. I plan on doing more of this style film in order to develop as a personality and also confront subjects that I care a lot about. Again, anyone who knows me and has had heard me rant can probably guess some of these. What can I say the world pisses me off. I blame all those pesky people.

Still on the subject of being pissed off, I'd like to take a minute to offer my condolences to my former colleagues at Haldanes in Larkhall. I hope you all find employment soon and become better off as a result of the company going in to administration. I've heard a lot of rumours going around about the management "shafting" the work force and taking their money and running. I'm sure this is just bitter ranting from individuals feeling cheated by the situation. I've been doing my reading on the whole situation and I highly doubt this is the case. There is not a business man on this earth who would set up a company with a substantial amount of his own money, in order to intentionally let it fail. That just seems plain dumb to me. Here is my take on the story. Basically Haldanes sued the Co-op based on them producing inaccurate data on the performance of certain stores when Haldanes purchased them and Co-op counter sued them for unpaid rent. Whether this is true or not we don't know but I would tend to believe it because I can see what the Co-op would have to gain as a result. By offering up fraudulent data on selected stores performance they would essentially be cutting Haldanes legs out from under them, setting them on a road to ruin before they even got going. With the failure of these stores the Co-op would potentially enjoy greater profits as they become the only game in town, creating a monopoly for a brief period until another company moves in. Unfortunately the victims are the poor Haldanes employees. But this is always the case in business. Faceless corporations have never and will never care about their employees because at the end of the day its all about turning a profit. Speaking as a former employee of the company I have to say that this is not really a surprising turn of events but it is a real shame and my heart goes out to you all.

I also heard through the grape vine that members of the public are coming in and giving abuse to the staff of Haldanes saying things like, "It's about time" and "I didn't think it would last this long". I am seriously enraged by this lack of empathy. How would these people like to lose their job... or their welfare. Seriously what kind of human being takes pleasure in someone losing their job. Quite frankly these people are a waste of fucking skin and I am ashamed to share a town with them.

There is a much broader subject at hand here which must be tackled and that is the power that companies like ASDA, Tescos and the Co-op wield. I put all this together during a discussion with a friend and mentor today. These corporations are destroying small businesses on our high streets. We can bitch and moan about the death of the high street all we want but the fact is this not their fault. It is OURS. These stores hook us in with their BOGOF deals and their convenience and we buy their goods like good little consumers. The price we pay is the death of the local butchers and local fruit and veg store. Unfortunately we live in a society of convenience. We want everything as cheaply and conveniently as possible because we are lazy and to an extend brain washed by these supermarket giants. I for one choose to shop at a butchers and from now on I will endeavour to shop at a fruit and veg shop whenever possible because at the end of the day as consumers it is OUR shopping habits that lead to these unethical companies destroying our high streets and employment opportunities. I urge everyone who reads this to do the same, even although you've probably branded me a nut by now. I don't want to see a country dominated by ASDA and Tesco's. It's like only having the choice of Coca Cola or Pepsi. One's slightly sweeter than the other but at the end of the day they are both still the same. When there is no high street left and all you have is ASDA and Tesco what is to stop them hiking prices and hurting your wallet? The answer, absolutely nothing. Where else are you going to shop? And we have no right to complain because at the end of the day we CHOOSE to shop with them and give them even more power. Call me a self righteous dick for getting up on my soapbox and saying this but it doesn't make me any less right.

That's enough ranting for one blog. Hopefully It'll be a little more light. hearted next time. Cheers.