Black Syndicate

A friend I have is part of a band, they play at a local pub, and Norwich Waterfront, and also take part in competitions, all in aim to grow as a band. The band is called Black Syndicate.

Below is a link to the bands YouTube page;
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClGvCKZI8cPoKx2WCWepKCA

Their YouTube page includes live videos of their songs, a video reviewing the their EP release. In their about tab is a description as to the mix of music they play; 'Black Syndicate are a hard rock/metal band hailing from the delightful city of Norwich. Citing influences from all sorts of places (the guitarist being into blues and the drummer into heavy metal!) we like to make the most out of our experiences with music and come together to make some of our own!'

I started a chat with the band on Facebook to discuss the plans for the project with them all. Below is a screenshot of the start of the chat, explaining my plans.

I also asked the members of the band if they had an preferance on what song to use, or what style of video they would like to have.  At this point throughout the chat, only one person was replying consistently, so he has given the initial views on the plans, as you can see from the screenshots of the chat.

Below is the part of the chat, asking for opinions of the style of music video. The band did a metal cover of Ghostbusters, and it made me think it would maybe be quite fun to do a parody video. Many rock/metal bands to parody, or atleast silly music videos. Bands like Foo Fighters and Tenacious D.

The best know Tenacious D video is 'Tribute'.

As I said, Foo Fighters also do very non-serious music videos too; 

The two bands even work together to make videos, like this one; 

Although Tenacious D's part in the video is small, they do feature. 

This idea of parody, non serious music videos, some would say originated with Queen, who notoriously created most of their videos in this style. The most famous being 'I Want To Break Free';

 

There are clear challenges and benefits of working with a local band, and a band made up of some of my friends. I have the advantage that one of the band members is in my Media Studies band, so I can occasionally catch up with him briefly if needed. But I also trust the band to be helpful and turn up to shoots and meets etc. However on the other hand, as I know them, I'm aware that they aren't always the most sensible people all the time, which could be an issue if as I need them to focus so I can get my work done to the best of my ability, and not mess the other actors around that have offered their time to help. In addition I could be faced with the situation where they want something that I either cannot physically do or not allowed to do. So will ultimately might have to create something that they don't like or are interested in.