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.