R.O.F. Update Part 5. Born to Die Video shoot.

Thursday 16th August
(All pics by Geoff Baehr)

I'd like to apologise in advance.I can't be too detailed in describing what actually happened on this day as there are few surprises coming in this video (all being well) and I don't want to spoil it.Geoff took some wicked photos too but again,they'll give away too much if I put them all up.You'll just have to wait.

After getting a bit wasted the night before and Ed filming me dancing and trying to kick his camera,I rolled up to R.O.F. H.Q. about half an hour late.Ed was already there and had shown the video to everyone so the sly "you made a right tit out of yourself last night" laughs were in full swing as I got out of the car.At least I didn't have a hang over.

First things first,set the kit up.Then blast through Born to Die a few times with as much effort as poss.The room was baking too.I managed to smash Jon's Les Paul Custom on the light in the room too whilst having a go.He wasn't best pleased about that.No damage though,luckily.
Then it was time for some crazy acting which I can't tell you about just yet.Lets just say we've managed to get a lot of things we've ever wanted in a music video done for this one.
Here's some photos to compensate for my lack of information.

"Big arms" and I'm doing the "get away from my band" arms

Then it was off to G's for more filming and drinking

Well,that's all I can say for now about "Born to Die".Apart from it's now available on itunes with the rest of our album.So all you guys that don't like hard copies,get yourself onto the itunes store and check it out.
More photos from the shoot coming soon on our facebook  www.facebook.com/reignoffury   then I'll give you more of the story.

Magic Dave.

R.O.F. update part 4: World Detonation Video shoot

Wednesday 15th August

(All photos by Geoff Baehr except first 2 pics)

After a storming gig at Bloodstock,some dude in a van smashing Matt's mirror off on the way home and a couple of days off,we all met at the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham with director Andy Pilkington, A.K.A. Sargent Pilko,and Roger Naish at 9am for day 1 of our Video shoot. 

Sgt Pilko

Today was World Detonation day.

After loading in nice and early,I set my gear up.The others didn't need their amps so they just had their guitars.The Sarge and Roger and some help from Andi Badgeman went about the place setting lights up and setting a mood,whilst The Cleaver set up the sounds.Making a video is a weird thing.You have to mime but make it look convincing.No-one joins a band because they like acting (apart from Meat Loaf) and trying to hit your drums hard but being able to hear the play back of the song is a fucking nightmare.Just look at our "Psycho Intentions" video on youtube.I was trying so hard to concentrate and hear the song that I look bored out of my brain.So to combat this,I wore my in-ear monitors.Much better.I don't know whether the rest of the band could hear over my drums but fuck it.

Cocked,locked and ready to Rock

"World Detonation" the song, clocks in at 9:01 mins.Now for us to have any chance of our video getting on any channel we  had to get it down to about 5 mins.That was a task in it's self. W.D. has lots of changes that work well with each other so how do you cut it down but still keep the desired effect.That was a job for Bison.He fuckin' nailed it!Of course I was supposed to practice with it a few times in advance and seeing as though he did it at least a month and a half ago,no problem.Well,I didn't bother,I totally forgot.But we were only miming so no biggie. 

All drums and no amps.The way it should be.

Sgt Pilko "Come on Bison,put some effort into it!"

As the day wears on,we do take after take after take.I'm now starting to worry that the edited version will be etched in our brains instead of the full version!We're all starting to get worn down too,but to be honest,I reckon that is due to our sense of humour.All we do all day when we're together,is take the piss out of each other,tell each other how shit each of our playing skills are,take the piss out of my Drumming,Jon being left handed,Matt being like our Dad and shit like that.Within a few hours we're just shaking our heads at each other,giving each other the birdie, pissing about for Geoffs camera,and coming up with reasons why certain band members shouldn't be in the video at all.It takes it's toll.

Trying to show Ed how he should be playing

Bison giving it all,just before he shit himself.

Waiting for Bison to finish his close up shot

Jesus Christ!Ed's spotted Geoff's camera .

After a 10 min lunch break,yeah 10 mins,cheers Sarge,we did some more individual takes.I took a 3 min power nap while the others did theirs then got on with it.Time was ticking and we had to be loaded out by 6pm

Look at those faces.Over seeing perfection you might say!

We stormed through the rest of the schedule and finished filming by half 5 and loaded out by 6 on the dot.Special thanks to the Everyman Theatre for the use of the main room.I took my gear home and met everyone for some drinks.
We ended up at a bar called G's.It's the local rock bar with a free juke box,so we hi-jacked that with old school Sepultura,Bodycount,R.O.F. and a bit of Alice Cooper and got some drinking done.Then Ed made Geoff get his camera out again.

You gotta have a photo with Boob lady when you're at G's

Bison becomes Suicidal Tendencies 

Gradually getting pissed

Dad keeping a watchful eye over us

The Rev gets aggressive

Film crew and band shot

Thank fuck for that,Rev's in a good mood again

Vulgar Display of Magic

After getting wasted too damn early everybody went their separate ways for the night.Me,Ed and Geoff went to another pub and had another beer.Then I decided I would tell them both about the time I had a kebab from Cotswold kebab one night and ended up sat on the toilet shitting and puking at the same time.Ed couldn't give a fuck though,he just wanted to see me dance.Anyway,"fuck it" I thought and buggered off for a Kebab from...yep,Cotswold Kebab.
I made it home at about half 1 or 2 and fell asleep dreading the fact it was a 10am load in for a second day of filming.
More on that coming very soon!

Magic Dave.

R.O.F. update part 3:Bloodstock festival.

Sunday August 12th 2012

Today was Bloodstock but the evening before we had a major panic.I got a phone call at about 17:00 on the Saturday from the guy we were hiring a van from informing me that it had broken down and there was no way he could get it fixed.So I phoned Matt and gave him the good news and we both set about trying to sort the problem.But trying to find a van to hire at 17:00 on a Saturday evening ready for the next day is fucking impossible!Still we weren't giving up that easily.We contemplated trailer hire but instead found a company which was open on a Sunday.So I had to get up at the crack of dawn to see what we could get.
Unfortunately,there was no available vans so the only option left was Matt's Land Rover which has no breaks and nothing works properly in it.Typical Matt Earl.We met Jon and Bison on route.

Matt's sat-nav was taking us in completely the wrong direction so I grabbed his map.Which just so happened to have the section we needed ripped out of it.Again,Matt Earl strikes again.I think the only things he's got that works properly are his bass and amp!

His excuse was: He didn't like that town!

After meeting Jon on route we got to Bloodstock by 13:00.Check in was 14:00 so we had a look around.Scuzz TV was hanging about and got me to introduce Anti-Social and Nile were on so we grabbed a beer at the bar (which was surprisingly quiet) and watched a bit of their set.

By then we had to check in backstage at the New Blood stage.All was running smoothly and the crew were awesome.They gave us an area to set up in and we just got on with things (while Ed went off for a beer).

We went on at 15:00 on the dot!Evile were due to start at 15:15 so we were expecting half the tent to disappear half way through,but to my surprise,they didn't.It was about 3 quarters full and the response was awesome.Thanks to everyone who held out for the last 15 mins instead of legging it to Evile on the main stage.Another surprise was the crowd participation at the start of World Detonation.For 1 minute at least,we felt like Iron Maiden.
Here's some footage of us playing Born to Die that we found on youtube recorded by someone in the crowd:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orEP61Roxbc

We finished our set with 30 seconds to spare and sent Bison out with 25 albums to sell.He sold out in less than 5 mins!We didn't bring any more cuz the bands get charged to sell merch and we didn't expect to sell that many anyway.Once again,thanks for the support.

We packed our gear and head out to meet the backbone of Reign of Fury.Some people had actually made the effort to see us cuz they knew who we were and and for some this was the first time they'd heard of us.And some people I recognised from facebook.And when they introduce themselves to me,it's nice to put a face to the names I recognise from sending albums and shirts out to.

w/New Blood stage security

w/ Ashley O'Brien

Time to drink and watch some metal!

Planet Mosh and Alternative Vision were at the fest too so we headed to the V.I.P. area for some interviews  we had booked with them.The Alternative Vision interview is not available yet but you can listen to the Planet Mosh one here:

http://planetmosh.com/reign-of-fury-interview-bloodstock-2012/

Interview w/Planet Mosh

With the interviews done and dusted,me and Ed used the opportunity to get some pics with Evile.

Then there was nothing left to do except eat,drink and watch some bands.Alice Cooper was headlining and his show was fucking wicked!

Waiting for Alice Cooper w/ my mate James who came along to support R.O.F.

Feed my Frankenstein

I wanna be elected

So a pretty successful day on the Reign of Fury front.Met some cool people (fans and other bands) drank beer,ate some pretty good food as far as festivals go,got a few points across in the interviews,got to hang out with my mates and watch Alice Cooper for free.Bang on.Hopefully we'll be invited back next year and maybe we'll be promoted to the Sophie Lancaster stage.

Next in the calender was Video shoots with Andy Pilkington, or Sgt. Pilko within the next few days.And I'll tell you now,that was a right laugh.Full report without giving too much away coming very soon.

Magic Dave

R.O.F. update part 2: Album release party/Bloodstock warm up show

Friday 10th August 2012
The 2 Pigs,Cheltenham

The official gig poster

We were very excited about this show.This was our album release/Bloodstock warm up show and we'd managed to get Sight of Emptiness (from Costa Rica) to support us.They too were playing Bloodstock and wanted to make coming over here worthwhile so they agreed to playing our show with us and used it as their warm up too.They also had a new album to promote and it was the first time they had played these songs to an audience.We were privileged to have them on the same gig let alone support us.

Check them out here:  http://www.facebook.com/sightofemptiness

     Home town shows are always chaos and this time we tried to do something different.The thing with R.O.F. is we play a show,then after the show we all start thinking "that was awesome,but how can we make it better for everyone next time".We're constantly trying to push the boundaries to make our show an actual show rather than just a gig.So for this,Cleaver (our sound man) managed to borrow some extra gear,an extra P.A. desk,extra lights and a screen to do a big reveal after the intro.So we turned up early,filled half the venue with extra gear and set about seeing what we could do.We'd also enlisted the help of a good friend & lighting engineer Andy Badgeman.He's the lampy at Gloucester guildhall,he's worked with Cleaver and me and Jon work with him every year at "The Gathering" (The Alarm's yearly mini festival).He does an awesome job every time.

Geoff getting roped into helping set the lights up.

We loaded in early and ran though a few ideas.Some worked,some didn't.We dropped the ideas that didn't.After a while,we were satisfied and gave the stage to Sight of Emptiness for their sound check.Then I went home for some food.

Here's some photos of us sound checking by the awesome Geoff Baehr:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.405137362879780.91815.115448255182027&type=3

Me n Missy made our way back to the pigs around 8ish and instantly,the albums and T-shirts were selling.We are still overwhelmed by the support everybody is showing.People travelled miles to see us tonight,including the Finnie family from Scotland!!!That is dedication!
We had a few beers and watched the 1st band play,or rather the lead singer puke his guts out,then waited for Sight of Emptiness to come on.They were awesome!Even after me and Jon had a few words with them before hand to tell them not to be too good cuz we don't want to be blown of stage.

Check this youtube link out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYIhVDqqknI&feature=youtu.be&hd=1

We took what was left of the stage at about 21:45 knowing we've got some work to do to top that.We decided against the "Big reveal" and came on after the intro.The set was the whole of the new album "World Detonation" played in album order followed by "Disconnect" and "Psycho Intentions".It would be easy for me to sit here and tell you we were awesome,but if I'm honest about it,we could have done better.I think it was more of a case that we tried to do a much bigger show than was possible.All of our playing suffered a bit and we just weren't happy about it.It was our fault entirely but we know for next time what works and what doesn't.I've always said "It's OK to make mistakes,so long as you learn from them".When you refuse to admit you're making mistakes,you won't learn from them and that's when everything turns to shit.
Even so,after the show,we got some awesome feedback and our bad moods didn't last for long.

My view from behind the drums during tune up

Jon and Ed rip it up

After the show,S.O.E. had to make a move as they had an early start.They had to get to Bloodstock in time but we didn't let them go anywhere without a double line up shot!

Reign of Sight of Empty Fury

Jaspa Mtm Rock Show came to the gig tonight too and interviewed me and Bison,so we managed to get a few points across that we feel strongly about.It's usually quite hard cuz if there is more than 2 of us doing an interview,we end up ripping the piss out of each other,so we lost Jon and found a graveyard for the idea metal interview location.Even if it was for radio.
And that was it,job done.Learn from our mistakes and move on.We'll do better next time but for now we must concentrate on being good for Bloodstock!

Next update will be the Bloodstock report.

Magic Dave.

Reign of Fury catch up part 1: We want the Airwaves!

I've been slack on the blog recently so I thought I'd let things build up and then blog it afterwards.So here goes.Enjoy.

Thursday August 2nd 2012
Special guests at Stroud FM

Reign of Fury has been going very well since we started but since we initially released our debut album "World Detonation",things seem to be going from strength to strength.We've been doing what we can to promote it online and sending to websites for reviews and things but one of the most fun was when Stroud FM invited us into the studio as guests for the 2hr Rock show Live with Roger Fauske.

Me,Ed and Matt met up early to discuss a "plan" or basically try to brief each other on how not to sound like dicks.We had a few beers and that was it,the plan went out the window.We basically took the piss out of each other for 2 hrs live on air with our potty mouths.Roger assured us that we were ok to swear so long as we don't say C**T!The problem is,we swear a lot.So hopefully Roger still has a Job and we'll get invited back one day.

We managed to get 1 song from the EP and 6 songs from the album played,had a rant about "promoters" who do the "pay to play" thing and talked a bit of  R.O.F. history.So all was good for our first radio appearance.Hopefully we didn't make ourselves sound like a bunch of tits too much! Ha ha ha!

Here's a few shots:

Before they let us in!Maybe it's not such a good idea.Too Late!!!

Getting into Diamond Head

Roger all ready regretting letting us in

Ed finally works out which part he needs to speak into

never trust your fellow band members

Ah... the middle finger pose.One of Ed's favourate 

We have recorded it,so we'll see if we can do a cut down edit as some point and whack it up online for ya to listen to.But be warned,when I start ranting,I start to stumble over my words and it doesn't help when Ed is doing his "movie trailer voice" when you're trying to concentrate.
Thanks to Roger for getting us in,hope you still have a job and we'll have to come and visit again soon.

Magic Dave