30 Day Song Challenge - Day 5

...with 10 minutes to spare...

A song that reminds you of someone.

The President of the Drama Society at UWE loves KISS. And I mean SERIOUSLY loves KISS. His KISS is my Iron Maiden, in effect. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of them, but I understand their legacy and stuff and I hope to see them next year, maybe even the end of this year with him. In his honour, here's 'Crazy Crazy Nights' by them. Every time I hear a song by the band, he pops into my head.



30 Day Song Challenge - Day 4

A song that makes you sad.

There was no contest with this one. 'Brothers in Arms' by Dire Straits.

This one makes me sad because my Dad wants it played at his funeral. My dad is probably the biggest influence in my life besides my Saviour. He's a real role model and we share a lot of stuff in common - very similar music tastes, the same football team and much, much more.

I have promised myself that I will have a band play this song at his funeral and I will sing it live, through the tears and the pain of having lost (in my opinion) the greatest man to ever walk this Earth. It's such a beautiful song and whenever I hear it I can't help but think of him and his funeral and I nearly always end up crying because I don't want him to go at all - even though it happens to everyone one day.

I also plan to have a lyric from this song tattooed on my arm as a tribute to him when he departs this world.



30 Day Song Challenge, Day 3

A song that makes you happy

I have chosen 'Rockin' All Over the World', originally by John Fogerty but most famously covered by Status Quo. Quo have a special place in my heart - between the 16th and the 18th December 1991, Mum and Dad went to see them in Birmingham at the NEC Arena (they played three straight nights there). At the time, Mum was pregnant with me, so technically Status Quo was the first gig I ever went to. It was this, along with a few other elements, that became the catalyst for my love of rock music and eventual love for metal too.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 2

Your least favourite song

Without a doubt, 'The Climb' by Joe McElderry. It's bad enough that it was a Miley Cyrus song anyway. What makes it worse is that it was covered by a guy who, whilst having a decent singing voice, was desperate enough to enter reality gameshow 'The X Factor' in a bid to gain stardom as opposed to working his way up through the stages and actually making it off his own back.

Thankfully, his bid to continue X Factor's run at gaining the coveted Christmas Number One position in the UK Singles Charts was thwarted by Jon and Tracy Mortar, over half a million Facebook users and the song 'Killing in the Name' by Rage Against the Machine.

The 30 Day Song Challenge! Day One.

So, I apologise for having not posted in a while, been very busy as Our House draws ever closer to show week and various other surprises have been sprung upon me over this past week. However, I've found a way to make sure I blog every day - for at least the next month that is - and taken up the 30 Day Song Challenge. So, here we go!

Day One - Your favourite song

This is an interesting one, because I do not have a favourite song of all time. Every song falls out of favour with me every so often. Instead, I usually have my favourite song at moments in time, so I guess that'll have to do for this one.

My favourite song at this moment in time is 'Burn it to the Ground' by Nickelback, off their album 'Dark Horse'. I think it's a great song and one I would love to perform live at some point in my life. It gives me a chance to let my hair down and go for it as if nothing else mattered in the world. Also, given Nickelback's tendency to churn out radio-friendly rock hits, it's nice to see a single that's heavier than usual:

 

Laters xx

Through the Fire and the Flames...

...we carry on.

Perhaps a strange way to start this blog, but one that suits my mood, and also ties in nicely with the fact that power metal band Dragonforce (who wrote the above lyric in the title and opening line of this post) are supporting Iron Maiden on two dates of their UK tour this summer. Aussie rockers Airbourne are supporting for the first eight, with Dragonforce supporting at the next two and US metallers Trivium the guests on the final date at London's O2 Arena. This means that by the 6th August I will have seen Iron maiden 5 times, Airbourne 3 and Dragonforce 2. Mental.

Anyway, the last week. A very hectic one. Rehearsals for the musical I am in with my university are extremely hard work and I'm close to passing out in every session owing to the high energy needed and lack of food consumed during the day. I am also running for the position of Treasurer for next years Committee with my Drama Society. Here's hoping at next week's AGM I can secure this. I have also been cast in a small film project to be shot next week, as a guy who falls in love with a mannequin. It will also include my first on-screen kiss with an actress.

I feel very sorry for the girl involved.

Laters xx

Back from London.

Spent a lovely weekend away in the capital with my wonderful friend Steph. Met some of her uni friends, had a great time on the Friday night at their big SU and was amazed that I could buy a JD and Coke, a Jagerbomb AND a shot of Sambuca and STILL get change from a fiver. Was marvellous. Also watched Mean Girls on the Saturday which was fun - very underrated film. Was sad to come home though, I really enjoyed myself.

I also picked up a new phone this weekend. After going on a rolling contract SIM and finding out the people who unlock phones wouldn't charge less than £20 to unlock mine (cause apparently Orange are bastards like that), I finally got a new phone, the first one in my name, on a great 24 month contract and a handset which I have wanted for ages (the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini, it's about 8cm long and 4.5cm wide), and my first 'smartphone'. It's a wonderful little thing, however I didn't quite understand all of the functions on it. This gave me a massive shock when I logged in to Facebook through my phone and found (a day later) that all of my Facebook contacts had been synched with my phone and appeared in my address book! Very amusing once I had calmed down about it.

What next? Ah yes! At 8pm on Friday evening the Iron Maiden setlist was put up on a website dedicated to setlists. And I'm gonna give my honest (if a little vague) opinion on it. For reasons why it's vague, see the blog post below:

Well, I was very happy with the set. A complete balance of old and new songs, with a couple of surprises and one song that I was thrilled made it into the set. There are two songs I would have changed, but overall I am very much looking forward to seeing the boys when they come back to England for the tour in July - it's gonna be an amazing occasion.

Right, time for me to fly and catch up with some work for Monday.

Laters xx

Busy Busy.

A week of trials and tribulations for me. After I spend the previous week ill with a cold-esque virus, I get better by the Saturday night and subsequently have my phone stolen as I partied in a pub. It was blocked by the following morning and after a week where my mother was screwed around by the provider I have a new one, which is already frustrating me because I'm not used to a touch screen. I'm sure things will get better though, gonna see if I can get a similar deal to what I SHOULD have tomorrow on a different service provider. Fingers crossed, eh?

In other news, I finished my performances in the one-act play I was in. 3 nights at the ALMA Tavern Theatre in Bristol, all received well and one at the Bristol One Act Drama Festival which WASN'T received well. I dunno what went wrong, all I know is that the audience were deader than flared trousers and courdroy. I was praised for having 'standing and prescence' however. And yes, there WERE photos taken, so when one of me in my King's outfit turns up on Facebook I'll make sure to post it.

Also, exciting times as my favourite band of all time, Iron Maiden, set off on their 2011 World Tour last night and will open in Russia tomorrow evening. New setlist, hopefully a new stage show and 170 days until I see them for the first time on the UK leg in Birmingham. 171 until the second date in Cardiff and 175 until the third date in London. Speaking of London, I am headed there tomorrow to see my crush for the weekend. Here's hoping it all works out well!

Laters xx

NB: If you expect me to post the setlist on here, you are to be disappointed. You will get my opinion on the songs IN the setlist, but in upholding a friend's wishes to be oblivious to the setlist until she sees them in Florida, and with her being a follower of me, I am not posting a single thing on here about the setlist. That one's for you, Veronica <3

Cough Cough Splutter.

It appears that I picked up something on Saturday night at some point, as my chest is quite bad and I cannot stop coughing. I believe it to be some form of cold/flu-ey thing, given that I'm having hot and cold sweats as well. I seem to be past the worst of it now, although I am shutting up for the rest of the week to preserve my voice for the plays that are going on.

This leads me nicely on to the plays in question. Currently, I am performing in a series of one-act plays entitled 'These Shadows', plays about the art of acting. I am only in one of the four, a play entitled 'God: A Play' by Woody Allen, in which he proves that the sacred art of acting is deader than God. The four plays are being performed on alternate nights over this coming week: Ried's 'Pots' and Beckett's 'Catastrophe' on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and Chekhov's 'Swansong' and Allen's 'God: A Play' on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

It was opening night for us last night and we played to a full house of 40 (the theatre is in the function room of a tavern). My voice held up and I didn't cough for the whole of my section so I was happy with that. Pity that I was dying afterwards haha.

I've also been having a wierd dream as of late, one thats probably connected with my illness. All I know is that I seem to be in an industrial estate at night with some friends of mine and we're trying to perform a play, but it's complex and I don't know what it's about or what my part is or what I should do. There are moment where it seems so simple, and others where I can't make heads or tails of it. It caused me to wake up at 4:30am today, which I'm ok with, given that the fire alarm woke me up at 4:49am YESTERDAY ¬_¬. Hopefully everything will be back to normal in a couple of days.

Right, I am going to do something productive with my day so that I can help fight this illness off even more.

Laters xx