Leap Of Faith : Watsky at Warped Tour

Leap Of Faith : Watsky at Warped Tour

Three days ago, rapper George Watsky made the decision to jump off a lighting rig during his set at Warped Tour in Alexandra, making headlines in national newspapers everywhere and prompting response for the foolishness of his actions. Having been present at the event when it occurred however, I'd like to mention a couple of things and bring in my own light into what happened.

Firstly, the jump really did not come as a surprise once he started climbing the ladder. Within about 10 seconds of watching Watsky climb, it became increasingly clear that he was going to jump off the lighting rig and I really don’t think I am the only one who realised this. At no point did he slow down while climbing the ladder up to the rig to sing so why would he have done so after he reached the top? Would he then calmly come down the ladder after finishing his song after the crescendo of the response from the audience?

I will say that it may have been slightly misleading as he did take his microphone up the ladder but as soon as he got to the top, he left it on the side before proceeding to walk slightly along the rig and then dive right at the end of the song. Now, please don’t think I’m blaming the crowd for parting; it was only instinct that they did what they did and the crowd wasn’t dense enough anyway for the dive to have been successful at such a height. However, I do want to know what security was doing at the time. I hadn’t been close enough to see what the security had been doing but in my opinion, they most probably did have time to stop Watsky. (This is an observation, I am not pointing the finger at anyone.)

I do not condone his actions nor do I think it was particularly smart of him to take such a risk but we have to remember something quite important: the dive was not planned. Having been present at the set when this occurred, I saw the looks on the faces of the band members which most certainly confirmed this had been a spur of the moment decision for Watsky.

This was not a publicity stunt; to say otherwise would be to go against what Watsky himself and his music stand for. What he had done was to make an instinctive decision to end his performance on the climax it had been building towards, though this unfortunately did not end as he must have hoped. As much of an assumption this may be, this is still an assumption based on his music and music for many artists are insights to their identities. Watsky in particular made one song about his work ethic, which can be seen below. (Lyrics are in the description in case you can’t hear what he’s saying as he raps quite quickly.)


Why would a man who even raps about working hard ruin his career which he has worked so hard to achieve with a stunt that goes wrong?

Whatever happened was the result of one stupid decision which although he should be held responsible for, shouldn’t be something hanging over his head throughout his career, nor should it be the only thing he is remembered for. Because quite frankly, had it not happened, he would have been remembered as being the rapper who made the people expecting a rock band have a good time.

Interview with Morain

Imagine there's a heat wave, much like the one in the UK now, and today, like every other day for the past few weeks, it's really hot. You're walking outside and although you can see some clouds, you don't think it'll rain as it hasn't done so in several weeks. But then you feel something drop on your hand, something cold, something unexpected. Rain. It's just a couple of drops tumbling down at first and slowly but surely, it gets heavier and heavier. Before you know it, you're drenched- your hair, your clothes, your skin, everything. After all this time of relentless heat, you suddenly feel cool and my, oh my, it feels wonderful.

That is Morain. They are the breath of fresh air, the hidden gem amongst all the bands who promise individuality yet are predictably generic. I had the pleasure of interviewing the lead singer, Wil Frost, so if you want to know more about this wonderful band, read on. They do not disappoint so make sure you give them a listen and follow them on twitter here.

Interview with Cytota

How do you describe a band like Cytota? Brummie? Melodic post-hardcore? Young? Although they are all of the above, I'd like to highlight two missing words which, in my opinion, sum them up most accurately; unashamedly talented. Some may choose to focus on the fact that they have come particularly far for a band of their age and while this may be true, I'd like to point out that their music should be the main thing that matters and everything else, be it their age or their home town, is merely a triviality when listening to their music. Other than that, what I really want to say is that Cytota is a band that is most definitely going to make its mark on the music industry if it hasn't already begun doing so. You better keep your eye on them folks as I'm certain you'll be reading about them in a music magazine near you soon enough. Anyway, enjoy the interview and if you like, you can access their Twitter here and their Facebook here to drop them a like or a follow. The official interview is here.

Interview with Crowns

A couple of weeks ago I met the lovely lads of a pretty sick band called Crowns. Although I hadn't listened to much of their music prior to meeting them, I could instantly tell from the tracks I heard that they're incredibly passionate about it and I really do recommend listening to them if you want to listen to a particularly uplifting yet powerful band that plays music oozing with raw emotion. Anyway, have a read of the interview but if you'd prefer the shorter version, click here.

Interview with Mallory Knox

Mallory Knox are a darn talented band. Not only did they manage to storm up to the coveted  #1 position on the iTunes Rock Chart with their debut album Signals but they also managed to get #4 on the Albums Chart last time I checked. You have to admit, it's pretty impressive. So, as a way of bringing in more fans who may not have heard of them yet and to give their current fans what I hope will be an interesting read,
I did this interview with lead singer Mikey Chapman and bassist/ backing vocalist Sam Douglas. You can have a look at the official version of the interview here.

An Introduction

To say the least, mine is long overdue so I better begin rather than leave you wondering about who I am and what I'm doing with this blog.

So... Hello! I'm Shamini. Just your average teenager with a passion for music, though my preferred genre is rock. I currently contribute to a youth publication known as The Cut by doing the occasional interview with a few bands. However, I get a word limit of only a couple of hundred words, which is why I post the full interviews up here for actual fans of the band. Sooner or later I'll start posting album and gig reviews but I have a bit of restraint on time at the moment so we'll just have to wait and see where this goes.

And that would be pretty much it. I leave you a tad bit more informed about and hopefully interested in my little blog. Enjoy reading the interviews :)

Interview with Scholars

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of seeing a band called Scholars play live while I was in Sheffield. Although I had heard good things about them from a friend of mine, I wasn't really expecting much because if they were so good, surely I should have heard more about them, right? Wrong. To be quite brief, they are a force to be reckoned with;I was blown away by their performance and regretted not listening to their songs sooner. How they've remained underground so long is a mystery to me. Either way, I left with two thoughts that night. The first was that it is never a good idea to wear shorts in December, no matter how sweaty you think you're going to get at a concert. The second was that I needed to interview them. So, without further ado, I present to you my interview with Chris Aylett, the bassist in Scholars. You can view the official version here.