'Just Go Away' - Working with Amberslide

Amberslide are a five-piece, Kent based band and they’re describing themselves as “…just a band like any other, making noise and trying to be heard” but I wouldn’t describe their music as just noise. For fans of rock/metalcore as a genre, Amberslide should be the next band to on your list. Whichever variation of the rock-based genre you find yourself fitting into, I’m sure you can find a track or two off their EP ‘Uneven’ to suit you.

My personal favourites from the EP are Spit On My Grave and Autumn Brings The Change.

After taking inspiration from a close friend’s daughter’s plight with bullies at her school, guitarist Tim Scrivens and lead vocalist Phil Washington have co-written ‘Just Go Away’ - a brilliant track inspired by entries of Ambers diary, detailing her feelings and miseries of going to school every day and seeing her friends turn against her; online as well as in real life. 

Having performed ‘Just Go Away’ at Scrivfest 2015, it was decided a music video was the next step for the track, and that’s where I come in. Admittedly I did put Tim’s request, of me being in their video, down in the ‘pipeline-dreams’ pile and forgot about it for a while, assuming it was just an idea that he’d had that would never come to fruition.
How wrong was I? Sorry, man.

A few short messages back and forth, I booked a weekend off work and suddenly it was a solid plan, penned in the diary for the end of November 2015.

Now, if anyone knows me I definitely have a penchant for things on the alternative side so when Tim talked me through the concept for the video I was immediately on board.
If you know my mother, you’ll know where I get my gothic tendencies from.
Dressing up like a goth for a weekend and being generally moody seemed like fun and 100% something I was capable of; I spent a large amount of my teenage years doing exactly that. 

When I met with Phil & Tim, morning of the first shoot, I was super nervous but tried to hide it and quickly settled into their company; Tim rattled on excitedly about the video and it quickly became apparent that this video and the band are his new baby. He’s been in touch with the S.O.P.H.I.E Lancaster Foundation, which if you read this blog post from 2015, you’ll know is a charity close to my own heart. S.O.P.H.I.E stands out for Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere which the foundation implements by working towards eradicating prejudice and bullying toward the more alternative communities.

All money made from the single will be going back to the S.O.P.H.I.E Charity.  

Spending the day filming with the guys from the band, Duncan and the lovely Ash who plays the ‘frenemy’ was one of my favourite weekends of 2015. Multiple outfits, a hell of a lot of make up, and a lot of off-camera laughter made the nerves dissipate and I actually really enjoyed myself; I’ve missed the little adrenaline buzz that I used to get performing when I was younger.  

After reviewing the November footage, it was decided that the video needed more variety - some outdoors shots, which meant we had one more day of filming before the video was completely wrapped and ready to head into the editing process. 

We shot again in February, a cold beach shoot, which features a lot of trudging around in the rain and looking out to sea. The shoot in February was very different to the shoot from November, firstly it was bitterly cold and all the shots were outside. Tim & Phil had spent time scouting locations so we knew where we were shooting and we had a vague idea of what kind of shots they’d try to create. 

One more day of filming took place in April, just to really cement the storyline within the video; in this set up I got to be a bit more angry which I enjoyed and Ash was back as well, to see what all of her bullying and tormenting had turned me into.  

Through the process of making the video I’ve learned that  Phil, Tim & Duncan are perfectionists - but of course, why wouldn’t you be when creating something like this? Luckily, Phil & Tim seemed to be sharing the same creative brain when it came to the video; they’re so in sync that it’s scary but I’m sure it transfers well to film. Along with input (and final say so) from Duncan, they took on the role of co-directors and it’s been really interesting seeing their ideas develop, change and finally become real in front of the camera. 

Tim was the only member of Amberslide that I knew before any involvement in the music video, so I was consistently conscious of not letting him down; I didn’t want to screw it up and it come down on his head - this is the main reason I was nervous back in November I think. I was suddenly vastly aware that I had to prove to, not only the rest of the band, but also Duncan that I was the right recommendation for the video and that I could pull it off. 

Hopefully everyone is happy with the end product. 

It’s been a long wait for the video, but now that I've seen it I couldn’t be more excited. Tim’s been teasing us all releasing snippets of video here and there along with behind-the-scenes GoPro footage from the shoots, as well as pictures from the performance shoot that the band did last summer. The track is amazing and catchy as hell; it’s been stuck in my head for the last seven months, and I’m really glad to have been a part of something as awesome as this. 

S.O.P.H.I.E Charity has been a cause I’ve cared about for a long time and I’ve been wearing the silicone bracelet for longer than I can remember now. Buy the single, and the charity will receive the proceeds, or you can donate straight into the S.O.P.H.I.E bank account, or text a donation. I’ll leave all of the official websites for S.O.P.H.I.E below plus donation details. 

Lloyds Bank.
Account Name: The Sophie Lancaster Foundation
Sort Code: 30-11-48
Account No: 13881260

Text SOPH05 £(Your Amount) to 70070 

Click here to buy the single from iTunes.
Click here to (eventually) watch the Music Video.

S.O.P.H.I.E; Facebook, Website, Twitter. 
Amberslide; Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter. 

The Murder of Sophie Lancaster (The S.O.P.H.I.E Foundation)

With a story of such magnitude, it’s best to start with the facts, I think.
Sophie Lancaster was attacked and killed in the UK, 2007. You might have seen her story on the news or floating around the internet. She was with her boyfriend Robert Maltby, when the two were attacked by a number of young males whilst they were walking through Stubbeylee Park in Rossendale, Lancashire.

Sophie and Robert both suffered severe head injuries sustained by their attackers stamping on their heads. Sophie is said to have cradled Robert Maltby while the men beat her and ‘jumped up and down on her head’. Police said that both Sophie and Robert had been so brutally attacked that when they arrived on the scene, Police could not tell who was male and who was female. Robert Maltby fell into a lengthy coma and eventually woke up with lasting brain damage. Sophie, however, fell into a coma which unfortunately she never woke up from. On 24th August, 2007 Sophie Lancaster’s family agreed to turn off the life support after hospital staff and medical professionals agreed that she would never regain consciousness.

What was the reason behind the attack? Sophie & Robert were ‘moshers’; Sophie and her boyfriend dressed alternatively which caused five young men to take it upon themselves to attack the two.
The attackers celebrated their crime after, telling their friends they had done something to rid the world of an abomination by “doing something good.” They told their friends; “there’s two moshers up Bacup Park – you wanna see them – they’re a right mess.” Thankfully, there were two teenagers who were also in the park and they stayed with Sophie and Robert after calling an ambulance and attempted to tend to the wounds. Sadly, it wasn’t good enough to repair the damage that had been caused. Brendan Harris, The Hulme Brothers; Joseph and Danny, Daniel Mallett and Ryan Herbert were all charged with Sophie Lancaster’s murder and in 2008 they all appealed their sentences. Due to his honesty, being that Ryan Herbert’s was the sole ‘guilty’ plea, his was the only appeal granted. His minimum sentence was reduced from sixteen years and three months to fifteen years and six months.

Still, after the darkness there is light. Sophie Lancaster’s Mother Sylvia founded The S.O.P.H.I.E Lancaster Foundation which stands for; Stamping Out Prejudice Hate & Intolerance Everywhere.

“Since her death in August 2007, following the horrific attack on her and her partner Rob in Stubbeylee Park, Bacup, Lancashire, we have had lots of kind offers of support and donations. Sophie and Rob dressed in their own unique way, expressing their individuality as creative artistic people. After consulting friends and family, we felt a charity should be set up in Sophie’s name. The charity known as the Sophie Lancaster Foundation will focus on creating respect for and understanding subcultures in our communities.” – Sylvia Lancaster.

It saddens me to know that I didn’t learn of Sophie’s story until this year when I saw a S.O.P.H.I.E wristband on a co-worker and asked what it was in aid of. Illamasqua is a high-end make up brand specialising in ‘make up for your alter ego’ which makes the S.O.P.H.I.E cause a perfect beneficiary for their fundraising; Illamasqua have designed four items which bear the S.O.P.H.I.E logo – the Sophie Smoky Eye Set (£50), the Medium Pencil in S.O.P.H.I.E (£5.20), Powder Blush in S.O.P.H.I.E (£21.50) and the Eye Colour Pencil in S.O.P.H.I.E (£15.00). £3.00 of every Illamasqua with Sophie product bought goes to The Sophie Lancaster Foundation and online there’s the option to simply paypal a donation of a pound from the Illamasqua website to the Foundation. Illamasqua sell the S.O.P.H.I.E wristbands as does the original Sophie Lancaster Foundation store, which you can find here.
 It’s not just Illamasqua that has taken a role in raising awareness and funds for the cause; The ‘Sophie Award’ is given at the Bacup Film Festival for innovative and experimental film making. In January of 2009, Bloodstock Open Air Concert renamed the second stage ‘The Sophie Lancaster Stage’ and in June 2014 came the biggest honour of all – Sophie’s mother, Sylvia Lancaster was awarded an OBE (Order of the British Empire) for community cohesion, especially in the reduction of hate crime.

 I’m completely shocked that something of such aggressive nature happened to a couple who were being nothing but themselves. It makes me sad that there are people out there who can’t understand that differentiation between people is good, and individual and unique. Causes like this, don’t make me want to fall in line, they make me want to be more alternative if anything. However, I am glad that the alternative sub-culture, has risen to support one of their own. I’m not too sure how I feel about the term ‘sub-culture’ – I feel like it makes people who dress more alternatively than others sound like something in a petri dish? Anyway...

 After rambling a lot, the point of this post was to raise awareness and to express my shock that the attack even happened in the first place.
If you want to learn more about The S.O.P.H.I.E Foundation, you can follow them online here:
 Hopefully they wont mind that I've borrowed a picture from the Illamasqua website.
Sophie_Charity (Twitter)
Sophie Lancaster Foundation. (Official Website)