Traversing the British countryside by train as rain falls into the blanket of fog that surrounds everything. I'm on my way to Leeds!
Jamie and Rosie meet me at the train station, new friends. We hop into a cab and head to their 300 year old apartment building. Once there we get right to it and start opening up music files. I get caught up on what's been happening with the Yusin tracks since we last spoke.
The bar where the performance was originally planned had detrimental electricity issues and was shut down for the weekend. What timing! No worries though, we just move the show to the lower studio level of Jamie's apartment. Setting up rearranging, completely transforming the place into a space fit to be its own venue. People start piling in and the vibe is hot - room filled with cig smoke and conversation.
House shows have an intimacy that you can't find in a venue. Everyone is so approachable. As I move into my performance I see heads bobbing and moving along with me. They're getting it, I feel it, and I thrive off the energy bringing it with me as I move along into the waves. Afterwards everyone came up to me and was so ecstatic about my music. What a great start to my tour!
We wrap it up around 5am. Cigarette butts line the floor in a weird mosaic of empty beers and bottle caps. We'll clean it up in the morning.
Wake up. 1:15 pm. Wait, 1:15! We were supposed to be on location for the music video at 1! Guhhhh! In a panic we run up and down stairs collecting our things, trying desperately to get our shit together in a jiffy. It's closer to 2:30 in the afternoon by the time we actually arrive to Wire, an underground club in the heart of Leeds. Christy the director and the 1st AD Mikey are already running through camera movements and takes.
We join in.
The room fills with smoke and a spotlight falls on my mark. I'm in a dream. We're set up for a one-take shot, taking care to hit each spotlight in the room at just the right moment. Sean and Jamie dart in and out in holographic animal masks with a powerful glow.
Everyone is on their jobs and moving quickly; we work at a fast pace making up for the time we lost in the morning. There is such a clear imagery here. The vision translated to film is nothing like anything I've ever created. 5 hours and we know that we have something special. Applause after the final take.
Back home, Chinese take-out ordered in, and another job well done.
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