04-01-10 – Recap and Roll Out! / So *that’s* what a real party is like…
Hey! I’m finally back from whatever it is I’ve been doing over the last month!
Let’s do a recap. It entailed…
- New Years!
- Christmas!
- Many gigs!
- A tonne of boyinaband stuff!
- Considerable Rachie time!
- Hanging out with many friends!
- Some things that don’t warrant exclamation marks!
- Resolutions
I couldn’t possibly remember everything, but I’ll see if I can recall some of the more interesting bits…
New Years P. A. R. T. Y.
Rachie’s friend invited both her and me to a party on new years. Now, in my experience, new years involves sitting at home watching a Bill Bailey DVD (I actually got another one this year, watched it on Christmas though.) – this year was slightly different.
Rach and I walked in and found the host passed out on the floor, beer-can in hand. I assumed to myself that I’d finally, after 22 years, wandered into a real party. After the host regained consciousness it was a fun night… until the alcohol started to make some people a little bit crazy. It was an eventful night, that’s for sure. I won’t go into any more specifics, but suffice to say there was a lot of cleaning up to be done in the morning… and Onion Bhajis were EVERYWHERE.
Christmas!
Well, Christmas Eve was actually better than christmas for me this year, since that was the time I got to exchange gifts with Rachie. This was also the first time I enjoyed giving gifts more than receiving them! (And I got some awesome gifts this year!)
I’m not going to embarrass her by saying what I got her, but she loved it. I received some white hot chocolate (which is now half gone due to its deliciousness), marshmallow spread (yeah, apparently it’s a real thing – tastes kinda strange, but nice.), a transformers marshmallow box (clearly relevant merchandise), a robot-shaped candle (she likes giant robots too) and a T-shirt she made for me which has a full health bar on the front – very useful when battling enemies, since they think all their attacks are ineffective!
Christmas itself was great too, mind. I didn’t get my main present because the company forgot to send it (!), but I got some great books, the previously mentioned Bill Bailey DVD and an IT crowd mug. I also got a 3D Puzzle from my grandmother which Rach and I completed later.
I was pretty pleased with the gifts I got for my parents – I got old tape recordings of their respective bands when they were younger, digitally remastered them and put them on CDs. They were appreciative indeed, so that was cool!
Gigs
I’ve played in Kettering, Barrow, Mexborough and I’m sure a bunch of other places that have slipped my mind. I think Kettering might have been my favourite this time, since when we went on stage the room filled up and before that people were just milling about all over the place – gave me a nice ego boost/reassurance that YAWA is doing something right.
Preparations for biab
Well apart from the competition I’ve put on with primeloops.com and the accompanying 7 day song, December has seen me putting together a new website design for boyinaband! I’ll be releasing it next week so I’ll save the pictures for then, but I’ve got a bunch of new content lined up.
I want to start working 9-5 for biab at least now – I feel like if I treat it like a business then I’ll definitely accomplish more. I’m also writing a business plan so I can apply for grants and maybe loans – I feel like this could definitely be my career in the future, as well as a way to propel YAWA to big-ness!
Rachie Time
I’ve had Rachie round for a whole consecutive week Over the new year – it’s been freakin’ amazing. Both of us had quite a lot of work to do – her on her exam revision and me on boyinaband, so we were both able to motivate each other and work together in the same room. It’s such a cool feeling and I’ve dreamed of being able to do that with someone for a long time.
We also played Heroes V, I taught her how Final Fantasy VIII works (part of her christmas present was that game, since it’s my favourite one of all time), we went shopping a lot (not exactly my forte, but I have no issues with tagging along while she picks things out) and the aforementioned New Years party all added up to awesome times.
My homeslices!
We all got together (by we all, I mean Kirstie, Shortty-E, Pete, Scratch, Sketch and Rachie) for a nice new years shindig which was great fun, all just chilling in weatherspoons, eating, drinking and being merry. I want to have more group hang-outs in 2010, since I miss them! We did a lot in the middle of 2009 while we were blogging together, I want to revive that meeting-y thing!
End of the old year + resolutions
Bye bye, 2009!
So! If you remember from the previous two years, I generally do some sort of a recap on these blogs. So let’s take a look…
In 2009, I…
- Got myself a shiny new girlfriend!
- Lived with Scratch and Kieran
- Finished uni and got my degree!
- Supported signed bands with YAWA (GLC + Hadouken)
- Recorded and Released the first YAWA EP + iTunes-ified it.
- Gigged all over the place
- Wrote a bunch of new songs
- Got Kerrang to play YAWA 
- Made the YAWA Street Team
- Put on my own gig! (With assistance from an awesome friend)
- Got boyinaband.com to start earning me money
- Made over 100 videos for biab
- Made a crapload of website for friends
- Learned a hell of a lot about music production
- Re-released Interabang
- Saw freakin’ Limp Bizkit live!
- Made a flash game
- Invented K.O.C., The Puppies are coming, hot girl discount, megabear and many other bands that aren’t really bands.
- Produced Shortty-E (Clearly the highlight)
At the start of 2009 I said I wanted to:
- Meet a ton of awesome new people.
- Go on tour again with YAWA and feel like we’re working as hard as we can be. (Play at least 50 gigs)
- Release Interabang’s new incarnation and get the community buzzing again.
- Finish Uni forever.
- Put on some shows with Celestial.
- Write my book.
- Blog every week for the whole year… again 
- Feel like I’m a better person than I am now.
I’ve met a crapload of people, but I think it’s been a case of getting to know my existing friends better. I feel like better friends with so many people, including (but not limited to) the YAWA guys, Sketch, Shortty-E, Kirstie, Ogre… oh, and Rachie.
YAWA has gigged extensively this year, well over 50 gigs I’m sure. We’ve spent more time in that van with a certain drummer than is healthy.
Interabang was re-released and for a while the community got buzzing again… but it didn’t last. I think for the moment it’ll have to take a backseat while other projects that are more successful get me the funds I need to do it properly.
Uni is well and truly over – I’ll never have to go back to that hell-hole again. Avoid Stafford University if you can.
Celestial didn’t get as far as I’d hoped, but I did put on a show!
I never finished the book, but I wrote a considerable amount of the plotline, including the entirety of the first book’s plot as a summary. I’d love to go back to this at some point, but I’m focusing my efforts a bit more now.
As the year ended I slipped for the first time with my blogging. December and September were missed entirely, but I still managed to blog for over half the year, which is not something to be sniffed at!
How do I judge what kind of a person I feel like? Well, I feel good. I feel like I’m accomplishing something with boyinaband, like it’s definitely becoming successful and it can give me a decent living. I feel like YAWA is better than it ever has been at writing and performing music – we just need a break from some wealthy proprietor. I feel like I’ve got much closer to all of my good friends and I’ve now got someone who’s constantly telling me I’m an awesome person (That’s Rachie, not some creepy personal assistant if you were wondering).
So I feel like I’ve become more successful, more talented, more sociable and luckier over this year. Those are not bad traits. In fact, they’re good ones. I do feel better than I did. Considerably so.
New Years Resolutions
And the resolution-y bit! Last year was to be more dependable. I guess I didn’t really live up to that considering I slacked on my blogs, but I did manage to post a horrendous amount of boyinaband videos!
I think this year I want to choose a different word to describe my potential self. How about… responsible. I think that works well – I want to start working closer to 9-5 rather than in obscure, unhealthily long bursts. I want to eat better, exercise more and look after both myself and others more effectively.
And as ever, it’s time for some more specific things to accomplish:
By 2011 I want to:
- Push YAWA harder, play more gigs and release another EP
- Bring my group of friends even closer together
- Blog weekly for the whole year
- Earn enough from boyinaband.com to live off
- Post over 300 boyinaband videos
- Treat boyinaband as more of a business
- Feel like I can produce music to a professional level
This won’t be easy – I’ve got a lot of work to do. I need people to help me to stay on track. Fortunately, I have such people – I guess we’ll wait and see if I have the motivation to accomplish what I hope to!
In the words of a wise, karting plumber…
Let’s-e go!
Next Week on Dave’s Blog
Alrighty, so slightly shorter term, I intend to…
- Finish off the content for the new boyinaband site
- That includes 3 videos
- Judge the Hip Hop Composition Competition
- Work 9-5 every day
- Release the new site!
- Organise my time after 5 to include YAWA recording stuffs with my snazzy new Axe-FX Ultra!