The Single and the Radio

Good Evening/Afternoon/Morning Blogger!

So it's been an awful long time since I last wrote any form of blog but I feel like tonight is time to write about all of the new things that have happened to me. Ranging from my band releasing it's first single/demo to getting air time on Radio Northumberland, there has just been so much going on.

Firstly on May 1st my band relased its first single called "Time Out" and it got really good reviews from people which obviously helped boost my confidence in my singing (This was always an issue with me, not having any confidence about singing). It is on Soundcloud/Reverbnation and is available for free download; luckily loads of people shared the song around and it got up to 500 listens within a few weeks. That whole concept of 500 separate listens to a track I've sung on kind of freaked me out; but at least I knew it was good enough for people to be interested!

NSH before the gig @ The Globe!

Secondly, within days of releasing the track we secured a gig at The Globe in Newcastle and another around August time. This was a really exciting step towards being a regular gigging band... This was something I have been looking forward to for a very long time and now it has happened! From coming out of a low place at the start of the year this really helped push me out of my slump.

Lastly, the single also got a great slot on Radio Northumberland which is a local radio station and again we got a great response off that also!

ANYWAY!

I'll put the link to the single below and also a link to the band facebook so you can keep up to date with all of the brilliant things that are happening lately.

Catch the single "Time Out" - https://soundcloud.com/new-state-heroes

Keep up to date with my bands journey - https://www.facebook.com/newstateheroes

In a bit Blogger!

Band Organisational Chaos

So it's been a while since i last posted on this blog, nearly 2 months in fact. In that time I've quit my job at Vivo so i can concentrate on uni and other things, I've been to London with Jess and my bands first song is almost complete and ready to be released. So as you can see, my band is finally starting to get there; slowly but surely heading towards having a single that we can release and show the world what we're all about. It's a bit of a slower number than usual but I'm sure its catchy enough to be used as a single.

In other news we also finally managed to get a photo shoot up and we now have some top notch photos. I'm incredibly pleased with how they all turned out. I'll attach one of the photos below, if you like the look of it then send me a comment or share it on Facebook where there are more.

We all decided to owl it up; James decided to try and fly.

All in all my life has been nice and busy; although now i have to search for a full time job in order to continue to live at my house.

Now my fear is that I will not be able to find a job soon enough and I will have to ask my parents for help. I think that would be a big low for me as I've always prided myself on being self sufficient, or at least mostly. Fingers are crossed that i land a decent full time job to help me earn so cash and buy some equipment and maybe some insurance on a car.

Until then I guess I'll just have to see where the band takes me.

In a bit Blogger.

The Drunken Wish

So these are the days where I'm meant to be having the time of my life; out there, enjoying this and doing that. Going out every night and getting so drunk that when i wake up in the morning in my own bed, i have to just sit for a few hours trying to concentrate on a worn stamp sloppily placed on my wrist; all the time hoping that it will give me some form of recollection of the atrocious things i did the previous night. Even having a house party every other weekend with a ridiculous amount of alcohol and too few people there to consume it all; if only that was something i had done.

If only that was what i was actually doing.

It seems silly, wishing all those terrible awkward situations on myself; but because I'll never be able to relate to those friends of mine who have gone to live in halls and in other cities, i feel like i have missed out on a valuable life experience. No matter how drunk, dirty, vomit covered and cold those experiences may have left me, i will always miss out on the stories that most of my friends can tell.

If only I could act like this and not over think everything.

My story will almost always be one of sensibility, one where the protagonist starts uni in the wrong city for a girl, and ends up living in the city for a few years working to live in the hope that his dream job will become available one day. One where no matter how hard he tries, his band will never properly gain any momentum or recognition. Yet even though all these things never happen for him, he lives in a rented house with his friends and has never had too much to worry about money wise.

There is always two sides to a story... That's something that always needs to be pointed out to me. It was because of a girl i stayed here instead of moving away, but I'll be damned if its a girl that pins me down and stops me achieving just one of my dreams.

In a bit Blogger.

All Night Nerd-Fest

So Sunday crept up on me and so off to work i went, thankfully the crowds were being lovely and quiet i managed to be productive. After work i met up with James and we decided to pull an all nighter on any game we could get our hands on. This was a generally successful venture but i had to go for a 2 hour nap at around 8am in order to keep myself from collapsing; however we successfully played throughout the entire night. This is the sort of thing that cheers me right up when i've had a bad week; i can't help being a nerd at heart.

Games help me relax, that's my excuse.

My home slice James and the unreal amount of rubbish we consumed over night.

After this long night, we sat around and continued to play games well into Monday; James then stayed another night and on Tuesday we had band practice. During this practice we discussed our future as a band, one of the main goals was to finish an E.P. and music video by the end of June; its nice to finally have a goal. This band will finally have a direction, and all we need to get there is 5 tracks, 3 of which we basically have written... this is all very exciting for me.

In a bit Blogger.

Assassins Need This Hoody

This is the start of the rest of my life.

That's an interesting thought, i mean when you think about it everyday is a new chance to start again. I could wake up tomorrow and quit both my jobs and uni, and take a loan out and buy a car and insurance and just go anywhere; or on the other hand i could get on a plane and go to Australia, or America, or even New Zealand. All it takes is for me to have a change of heart. I wish that in a year i can look back at this year and see that all the stress, upset, and anger was all for no reason; or at least it was helping me get to a better life.

When i get out the other end of this confusion i will have sorted out my career path and my life goals; in addition to this i hope NSH has actually released an E.P. or something. We may have a new singer, but its simply a case of finding the right person for the job; i would love to think that by the end of next week we will have a singer. That's wishful thinking for you!

I want this hoody so badly. If only i had more money!

Anyways i was walking home from the cinema tonight and happened to get followed by what can only be called a "Hoody". This made me incredibly uneasy but instead of worrying i decided to think of all the insane ways in which i could defend myself; one of which was where i would be tapped on the shoulder and i would spin round and cock slap them. That's right... Cock slap the attacker, then wedgie them. I then realised that I'd begun to walk with attitude, and i mean so much so that i almost fell over.

Seriously what is wrong with my brain!?

In a bit Blogger.

Ranting, Raving and Confessing

So today all i could think about was how pointless Valentines Day is; don't get me wrong, i still make the effort to make it a nice day for Jess, but it's simply a day for card companies to make lots of money. This is a shame because the whole idea of valuing your loved ones is such a good thought and when done well can be magical for the couple involved; but when you look at what the companies involved do and the prices they charge suddenly the whole idea is sullied by profit margins and turnovers.

Damn you Capitalism!

Who cares about your love when you can pass go and collect $200?

In other news I've added another thing to my "To Do" list; I will start to do some cover videos of some of my favorite songs and ill put them on YouTube. The only reason behind doing this is so i can learn some new songs and learn to sing better while playing progressively harder stuff on my guitar; once i master this skill i will be so much happier with myself. If i ever achieve this goal it will make my band work a lot easier and enable me to present my many song ideas easier.

Lastly I'd like to just make clear that as of late I've realised that people may think i am or come across as confident and maybe sometimes arrogant... I'd like to clear that up. I put on a front when i go out of the house or when i am confronted with a new place or people; This is because i have never been able to be confident in myself or my abilities. The level of self confidence is nowhere near enough to be arrogant; my self confidence is lower than just about everyone i know, and i wish sometimes that i could get back some form of self worth. I would just love to have some idea of how people see me, because i never know what people think of me and it worries me greatly.

That'll be all for today, i hope you enjoyed this... Whatever this is classed as; Rant, Confession, Confusion.

In a bit Blogger.

Django Unchained, Jack Tattooed

The past two days have been a lot of fun, and that's mainly thanks to my dad taking me to see Django Unchained and finishing the majority of my business plan for uni. Now Django is a fantastic film, typical Tarantino with blood, guts and gore; it's an odd feeling knowing that going in to the cinema to watch mindless violence with humour and good storytelling can change my mood so rapidly. If only i had been able to sit and watch it on repeat a few times, then maybe i would have enjoyed it even more.

In other news, Jess sat and did some henna on my arm, and i love it although its a shame its not bigger, but there wasn't enough to do anymore. The design is weirdly tribal. Now i don't mean like tattoo tribal, but more like Māori tribal; it's hard to explain properly, however it looks quite good in my opinion, i wish it was there permanently. 

A future tattoo idea?

Anyways it's now late on a Monday night and me and Kyle have just finished half of the script for our video that we've decided to do; i just hope that its a good laugh and that people enjoy it. Until then i guess more script writing will rule my life, among finishing my deadline work!

In a bit Blogger.

Pre-emptive Pancake Preparation

The past three days have been so relaxing it's a bit strange; i mean it's not normal for me to actually be able to calm down and just do nothing for more than a day. Anyway on Friday i got James round to sit and play on Dungeon Defenders for a few hours and it was actually some of the best fun I've had in a while; the game itself is some hybrid of a tower defense game and FPS, which is insanely amusing. Once we had played so much our eyes were square, James went home and Jess came round for the night. Now i don't like scary films and i am indeed a pussy for not being able to watch them without my hand over my face, but we watched Paranormal Activity 2 and it wasn't even slightly bad for me; although Jess was confused about the whole premise of the film, and i don't blame her.

Pancakes all around!

Then the lovely day that is Saturday came around, and for the first time in a while i managed to get it off so i spent the morning sleeping til 11am, which is a godsend, then i went and helped my dad fit a washing machine. Now that sounds a bit out of the blue, but he does odd jobs repairing things in his free time and this particular job was one for a man of the ripe old age of ninety.

That right... Ninety years young.

Let me put that in context for you, he is seventy years older than me; he lived through the second world war and he's seen the world change an incredible amount in that time. Computers and modern technology that we take for granted were a distant dream when he was a teenager; this means that as he was born in 1922 he lived through the era of Jazz. He referred to it as "music from America" and he had thousands of records in his small flat; that's right THOUSANDS.

This man was extraordinary and i was so happy to be able to talk to him and gain an insight into how the world was first hand; this just made my Saturday. In addition i also sat and watched Spirited Away for the first time and made pancakes with Kyle, Emma H and Emma W in preparation for Tuesday and all the pancake-y shenanigans; I love living in this house with my friends.

In a bit Blogger.

Re-Motivation Attempt.

So the past few days have been a bit interesting, well i lie; they were just mediocre but when you do nothing for a long time, anything is more interesting.

I'm not sure if that sentence made sense.

Anyway, I've managed to finally trump the tax man and hopefully get all my beloved tax back! In addition to this i have finally got back into the routine of going to the gym 3/4 times a week; and it feels good. So basically i went to uni on Wednesday and hated it, but then something very odd happened... As i left the building to go to the bus home, i suddenly began to feel motivated! Now this doesn't seem like much to most others but considering I've been absolutely cabbaged for a while now, this was a god send. I've planned out several projects to keep me going up until summer and then i will have to see what happens from then; this may seem short sighted but as i have no definitive full time job after uni, I'm not one hundred percent sure what will happen.

I should print this out and use it as my motto.

The picture you see above is what i saw yesterday while roaming the internet and it just struck a chord with me straight away; I've never quit a job and I've never quit education, given i was extremely close to dropping out of uni... But i stuck at it.

Maybe this is what i needed. That sentence means an awful lot to me, I won't quit on something just because its too damn hard. I can't do it, maybe it's because of the way my mum never stuck at one job for very long; now don't get me wrong, my mum is an incredible person. Bubbly, Fun, Always looks at the best things; she just hasn't found the right job yet, and that scares me. I couldn't change jobs every year or so like her and i believe I've translated that into my personal life and education.

Maybe you could take that saying and use it to help keep you going; It does that for me, i would love to know if that does it for you.

In a bit Blogger.

Avengers Procrastinate!

I have decided that once i save up enough money, i am going to set up several gigs across the UK and get my band to tour. All this plan requires is a lot of money and a singer; the second requirement is a bit more difficult, as all my band have managed to do is write a lot of tunes and material but due to a lack of vocals they are not "Songs".

Anyways I've spent my Sunday sleeping til 2pm and then finishing watching The Avengers, which some would consider a good afternoon; but I'm sick of having to miss half my day because my body clock refuses to wake up early for anything bar work. I then spent the rest of that day lounging about the house, eating pancakes and generally worrying about the fact that i have lost any motivation to do anything.

One of my favorite movies to date, Hopefully the next installment will be just as amazing!

I haven't updated my blog in two days, this is the first time since starting them that I've just looked at it and done absolutely nothing about it. That upsets me, after all I've tried to do one every day and i managed to mess that one up. However on Monday i went to the gym with Kyle before seeing Jess briefly and this managed to cheer me up quite a bit. I then managed to persuade James to come online and play several hours of games which was always going to be a good laugh; before i knew it the clock had struck 2am and i decided to go to bed to save my sanity.

Today i think i might go to the cinema with Emma and get our free unopened gift from Pizza Hut; fingers crossed it will be an iPad or some crazy stuff like that. Unfortunately that is quite literally my life today, nothing of massive note; apart from i was quite looking forward to a little adventure but then got cancelled due to illness, I guess things happen for a reason!

In a bit Blogger.

The Musical Epiphany

Earlier this week i vowed to myself i would change my life around because, after new year, it never really got kick-started again. That was due to many things like: sleep pattern, shift work, uni deadlines and several other factors. This slowly began to pile on top of me after i went back to university; deadlines looming and friendships straining.

Meanwhile my whole musical life just stopped.

My Bedroom is slowly becoming some weird blogging sphere.

Now don't get me wrong when i say that, obviously it couldn't have stopped with all the band practices and uni work going on; but i hadn't just sat and played my guitar in years. That used to be such a big part of me when i was younger and i feel like i have lost that; i can't even explain how much that had hit me when i was sitting in my room earlier. I've since decided that i will try to practice my guitar everyday and also try to get to the gym 4 times a week and eat healthier; given this is a hard task, but I'm damn sick of doing nothing with my life.

Hopefully a month from now i will have kept with my program and with any luck i will be in better shape. This began with this weekend as i totally blitzed my room and managed to make it a much more live-able place. I'm now saving up for two things, the first is a decent video camera to begin my vlogs and the second is a 4x12 cab for my amp so i can deafen myself and the neighbours. Hey ho YOLO... My god that is infectious; Kyle has been saying it for months and its now rubbing off.

Damn it Kyle!

In a bit Blogger.

Tidying The Sty

Today has been rather uneventful if i were to be deadly honest. Having woken up around 12:45 and gone to the gym an hour later i hadn't even had the slightest whiff of morning; this however, didn't deter me from setting off to the gym with ye olde companion Kyle. Fridays are slowly becoming chest and slight shoulders day, this is thanks to Kyle slowly changing round his routine; and i tend to follow his routine as it works for me.

Me emerging from my room after a rough night.

I then wandered off to the pub with Mark from work, not to drink per say but to just have a catch up and see how he's doing. After this we wandered towards The Chillingham and sat there to have a drink, although again i refused alcohol and had a pint of coke; not as much of a health kick as i would have liked. So then i called time and went home, i decided that tidying my room was the order for the remainder of the day; except my eye caught YouTube and i began to watch a YouTuber called "crabstickz".

Now this guy is fantastic and i recommend you check his channel out, his impressions and facial expressions are priceless and to some degree he reminds me of Jim Carrey. Don't ask me why because i don't know and i can't quite pin it but he has had me in stitches all of today; so that's a mini review for anyone having a look through these!

My room quite literally has been turned around and now my desk is in such a position in which it has good lighting for my future vlogs (whenever they may arise), and also it feels a lot nicer and productive. I'm not entirely sure how a space can feel productive but it does; fingers crossed that this rings true for the rest of my uni course!

In a bit Blogger.

Thought Stealer

This was one of my more disappointing days in my gym history. I had a leg day and proceeded to injure my legs in ways that i hadn't done since high school rugby practice; this said i still managed to complete almost all of my sets for the day as well as chuck in 20 minutes cardio.

All of this gym work was possible thanks to work being cancelled again for the second time this week, which is alright as I'm getting holiday pay. However it wasn't until i had been sitting in Dixy Chicken devouring a Boneless box with Kyle for some time, that i went to stand up and the burning sensation hit my legs like nothing i was expecting. Luckily i made it home and to my chair in front of my computer where i have been sat for the past four hours.

My humble abode for the long gaming marathon.

Now I'm not as big a gamer as i used to be, but i must say when i get into the whole gaming thing i can end up not sleeping for several days; which to anyone who knows me, is a bad bad thing. I've been contemplating getting a video camera; I have no other motivation for this other than using it for more variety on band blogs and maybe starting to do my own. Kyle has his own vlog which he enjoys doing every now and then, and whenever i watch them i feel an urge that can only be sated by buying a camera and doing my own.

I seem to just copy others' ideas... Sorry Kyle!

In a bit Blogger.

Friends and Sleeping Patterns

I started off this morning (or rather yesterday morning) with an early alarm call. Well i say early, however thanks to the way my sleeping pattern has developed its now more an afternoon alarm call; i blame late nights with friends and new years parties that continue on til the 3rd of January. Now don't get me wrong, these late nights have been some of the more ridiculous and fun filled times I've had in my life so far; it's just that now I'm most productive at 2am and i struggle to function on less than 10 hours sleep.

As you see this is a deadly circle.

My reaction to every normal human... ever.

I have quite literally been in Uni for about 15 minutes today to pick up some paperwork. Now i understand it is my education I'm playing with here; however when i am paying for the knowledge, i would like to think i also have control over when i go in. Using this thought process means that i can go in for almost insane short amounts of time when needed and complete the majority of my work at home; which trust me is more comfortable and it means the travel time is significantly reduced (a.k.a. reaching for my laptop).

Myself and the band have decided to keep looking for a singer, this is thanks to the lack of dedication to practice shown by the recent possibility; not only this but he talked down to the majority of us and naturally it wasn't something we were going to accept. So I'll keep an eye out, but i could use suggestions if anyone reading this happens to "know a guy".


In a bit Blogger.

Deadline Dread

The dread of a deadline that is completely out of your reach and beyond your current capabilities is something i experienced today. It is most certainly the single most horrible feeling I've experienced in relation to education. Given there are the worse feelings in the world, but today i just wanted to give up college and just work full time; and even though i know i would regret saying that once i had done it, i can't help but think that i would have so much more time to write music and go work out.

Windows 8, Linux Ubuntu and Mac OS all in one blogging sphere.

On a positive note i went for a meal with my dad and step mum; this was a nice change of pace and it helped get rid of my horrible foreboding feeling. Then i preceded to come back home and join Kyle and Emma in a blogging session in which i am writing this; it's nice to feel included in something more than just a laugh, it's a sharing of ideas, hopes and aspirations. We all have our own separate laptops; myself with my new Windows 8 beauty, Emma with my old Lenovo running Ubuntu and Kyle with his Macbook Pro. This is possibly the pinnacle of student living, and i couldn't enjoy it more.

Well maybe if i didn't have this horrible deadline.

In a bit Blogger.

The Hangover Recovery

Just about sums up my day.

So my idea to produce a day to day blog has already stopped, this is simply due to the fact that i had my staff Christmas party on Sunday. So basically i ended up intoxicated or otherwise busy and i was completely unable to update it.

Enough of that. Today has been a day of laziness, one of those days where you say to yourself that you will end up doing something useful and it always ends up being unfulfilled. Instead of actually doing anything of use to my career search, i had Jess come round and keep me company; i haven't seen her for quite a while so it was a lovely opportunity to catch up and have a slow day with her. I have one problem with today, and that is my mood swings.

One minute i was perfectly content, then all of a sudden i would hit rock bottom. Now this probably wasn't helped by the fact that i was convinced both my flatmates were a bit off with me. But again i can't tell if this was just my mood talking or if it was a genuine thing that i picked up on; I'm beginning to feel pushed out of my own home. That's right, i believe this house is my home. No longer my parents house, but here, in this house in Heaton. I feel like it's home.

I've felt left out of housemates lives a bit for a while now. Just i always feel like I'm being a royal pain in their ass. In addition to this, i feel like this two jobs thing has gone on for too long now; my job at the restaurant is just getting in the way far too much. I may benefit from the money, but i also feel like my life is passing me by. But that's enough for now.


In a bit Blogger.

The Zombie Infection Plan

Improvised Z.P.C. (Zombie Protection Cage)

So today i had work. Now work is not a bad thing, it keeps me busy and moving about; it also forces me to socialize and enjoy situations i wouldn't normally put myself in. For all you readers who don't know where I'm on about; i work at Schuh in the stockroom. Now although it sounds like a boring, monotonous job its actually incredibly rewarding.

The main reason I'm explaining this is because my duties at the end of the night is to take the bins out through the access corridors. These corridors are usually very dark and have automatic lights that often fail to turn on; this leads to me getting out the lift to a dark corridor. Now due to the way i have conditioned myself to think, i almost immediately began to stand placing the cage that is used to transport the bins (to the left) between myself and the exit to the lift just in case there was a zombie on the other side. Simply using the logic along the lines of: If there was a zombie i would be able to ram it and react to it efficiently.

Sad? I know.

I feel like my mind is slowly becoming more and more obsessed with having a zombie outbreak plan. For example; i then began to formulate my entire plan around if i was caught short at work while taking the bins out to the access dock. Needless to say every time I'm now taking the bins out i always have the cage between myself and the lift doors; you can never be too careful!

But lets be honest, what self respecting individual in today's society doesn't have one?

In a bit Blogger.

The Recording Fluke

Good morning Blogger,

So today i successfully managed to miss all of my alarms and sleep in til just before 3pm. You can imagine how happy i was about that! Although i feel like maybe its what i needed, after all I've been feeling incredibly drained for the past four days.

On a happier note, Myself and Kyle recorded the new song idea that we came up with yesterday at band practice and it sounded surprisingly good. It was after all just recorded with two guitars on an iPhone; I'm hoping that James and Andy enjoy it and work some new stuff to put with it. The possible single i hope? It's not exactly jumpy, but it is very nice listening.

Kyle and Myself in the studio with Ben recording us, New song ideas anyone

Today will most probably be a chilled day, listening to random songs on SoundCloud and maybe trying to mix some more of my portfolio. That's right, I'm working towards a portfolio for my attempt at getting a job in a recording studio. After all if i didn't make it as a musician at least my ability to work in a studio could work out... right?

Hopefully work tomorrow won't be too stressful and i have my staff Christmas party on Sunday so i hope that is a good laugh, after all, free food and drink!

That willl do for now,

In a bit Blogger.

Reinventing the Heroes

Good evening Blogger,

Today I've been nicely busy, not the kind of busy where you cannot think straight or even begin to remember what you did five minutes before hand, but the busy where i felt happy and content that i had something to work to at all hours of the day.

My phone interview went well, although I'd love to know if they have to follow a script because the woman on the other end of the phone kept repeating questions, almost immediately after i had answered the gist of it in an earlier question. After all this I found myself feeling much happier about things, and decided to be a lot more pro-active with my time.

The band with Jack; The possible singer.

I had band practice today with the guys, it was absolutely brilliant as we had the new singer come in and sing for us. Playing some random covers ranging from All Time Low to Escape The Fate. We even ended up creating a metal cover of Get Low - T-Pain. All I'm saying is I love how my band mates and myself are coming together and forming one unit, there are still times where it can be rough, but I've never felt so happy about the way a band is forming. The singer, also named Jack, is very good and hopefully will decide to stick with us as i feel we can go somewhere with his singing style; I just can't wait to get out on stage and just blow away anyone who see's us.

Look out world, New State Heroes are here.

New State Heroes on Social Media:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/newstateheroes
Twitter: www.twitter.com/newstateheroes

YouTube: www.youtube.com/newstateheroes

In a bit Blogger.

The Beginning of Something New

Today is the day that I start to blog.

What an interesting concept, to write a blog. It could range from an online diary all the way to an entertainment platform. I've always wanted to do something like this, but I've never had the chance to just sit down and think about things, no matter typing them out in an organized fashion!

Truth is, I don't just stop and think about things; I'm almost constantly on the move or busy with one thing or another. I do hope this blog will force me to slow down and just reflect on certain things; whether that be experiences or just things i want to do but haven't got round to it yet. If i do just slow down then maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to cope with the massive pressures of working two jobs, working towards a foundation uni degree and hold together a band.

Now music is a fundamental part of my life.

A start to a long and expensive career.

This at first seems incredibly childish "Music is my life! 4eva!". However considering my dreams and aspirations in this life is to become something like a famous musician or producer, i believe it's a fair statement. My band is very much a path to that dream, as well as my degree is a path to the producing side of that same dream. Now i know I'm not single-handedly holding the band together but sometimes organising practices, trying to achieve certain things, and permanently thinking of new song ideas can all get overwhelming.

If you haven't guessed by now i love the whole idea of a band, and i love the idea of building it from the ground up. This is essentially what this blog will be about considering it is my main activity. Work and uni will also feature slightly as well as my other escapades!

In a bit Blogger.