Crime In Stereo ‘Everything Changes/Nothing Is Every Truly Lost’ DVD

Ok so here it is, the final cover design for the DVD! I’ve had a lot of people asking ‘what’s going on’ and ‘when is it being released’ and my answer on this remains the same as it always has been “it will be released but we’ve been trying to do this when we get a free moment”.

This cover has come together as a collaboration between designers and artists who have given their time, expertise and dedication to the project as a labour of pure love. We’re all extremely proud of what we have here.

The Contents

To be clear on everything, the entire project featured many people of all professions who came together to make it possible for us to have what is on the disc. This was not all Crashburn Media, nor is it a direct reflection of it’s talents with live performance capture. The crew was a host of people, some of which I’d never worked with before. This came about due to a double booking of production companies on the evening of the performance. As I was already out with the band filming it felt to me to arrange around the problem, so I negotiated us all working together. So what is on the DVD project is so far limited to the following:

• A full live set of Crime In Stereo playing ‘The Troubled Stateside’ in full at the peel in Kingston, London, UK. 
• The I Am Everything I Am Not music video.

The DVD comes with a basic interactive menu (photo of the menu coming later this week) and we are considering adding possibly an extra feature or two. But the inclusion of these extra features will depend largely on YOU the fan. The project has taken long enough to be put together, and I really appreciate everyone’s patience and enthusiasm towards it all. I don’t want to keep people waiting for another 6 months, and to do so would be quite frankly a joke. So we are opening one last window for fans to contribute towards this ‘one off’. How? Please read on.

We’re looking for the ‘best of the rest’ fan shot footage. Do you know someone who recorded part of a set somewhere recently, or put something together which could be added to this revolutionary project? Perhaps you’re aware of an interview a zine did with the band, or a feature that has long since been forgotten? If so please contact me direct via my ask box. We’re looking for anything that is in the spirit of this entire endeavour (i.e. anything that’s had some time and love put into it in one form or another). There’s no guarantees to how much will be put on the DVD or what will make it, but it’s a chance to make this more of a multi-levelled release with fans putting the icing on the preverbal cake. Please include your direct email address’ in your ask box entries, and I will pick out whatever sounds good and reply to you via email. No-ones contact details will be published on this blog or anywhere else for that matter. I’ll only be opening up this chance for a couple of weeks, starting now. 

What versions will be available and how does this work?

Just to clear up any confusion on this, here is how the release will work:

THE FREE VERSION

We’re naturally giving away a version which will be free. For me this is the most exciting part of the project because I want to see how far we can push this out there. It’s a pure ‘down to fate’ situation, because you guys will largely be in control of who has a copy and where it goes. I think there is so much negativity based around internet sharing right now, so I came up with the notion that we should showcase and promote a project which is designed to work within this sharing system for wholly positive gains. There will be no reigns. 

We’ll be encouraging everyone to copy, upload and share copies of the DVD where possible. Everyone copying and sharing the DVD will be doing so under their own name, and we accept no responsibility for your actions in how you do so. Crime In Stereo have no direct affiliation with anyone acting as a ‘sharing individual’, nor do they accept any liability in anything concerned with the project or the distribution of it. But we all back fans all over the world sharing this as good will ambassadors to the music (and especially the ‘family like’ scene associated with it). Go about sharing it in the best possible spirit and do so without fearing that you are ripping anyone off.

• The INTERNET distribution will work as follows. Once the project is completed there will be an online torrent uploaded to a location on the internet and this will be shared direct from Crashburn Media. People are then encouraged to start burning this to DVD and giving it to friends or family where they can. Please leave the torrent sharing so we can get people seeding it. This means faster downloads for everyone.
• The PHYSICAL distribution will work as follows. Copies will be sent out to locations in the UK, Europe, USA and to any other country that makes itself known via a representative. From these people/places you can pick up a copy at no charge. It’s going to be a very basic affair. You’ll probably get your copy on a cheap DVD-R, but the idea is you get to see the DVD for free. Once you’ve watched it we ask that you make 5 copies and hand out those 5 copies to other people and ask them to do the same. No one should be charging you a single cent/penny for a copy, this rule is paramount to the project. The only profits being made are going to a musical charity, and they will be coming from the sales of the Deluxe version. However we understand that if you’re in the middle of nowhere, and you don’t have a great internet connection, you might want a copy posted to you. So in this case please be aware that distributors might charge you a very modest fee for postage. Our main distributors though will be selected carefully, and they will be trustworthy people who will represent the project well. A complete listing of people/locations where you can pick up a copy will be posted online so people can get involved.

In the case of both of these forms of distribution we ask that everyone tries to pass a copy to someone. People making physical copies should title the disc correctly (via a sticky label or sharpie pen) and then note somewhere the following:

• The country and county/state they live in.
• The date of the copy

Please make sure these notes are small though. Failing that, if you’re the type of person who just doesn’t have the patience to that kinda thing, just write the dvd name and put it in someones hand haha! It’s just good to know who has a copy and where it came from. It’s a dream that copies just go everywhere! It would be awesome if people could take photos on instagram or twitter and tag them (we’ll sort those details out nearer the time). But I really want us all to be involved together in this.

THE DELUXE VERSION

This is the version for all the die hard fans. We really have no idea how many people want a deluxe copy and we need to ensure that we keep the project as ‘self generating’ as possible. Therefore we’re doing a sort of pledge or ‘pre-order’ system which means we can open up shop for this DVD and get an idea to how many we need to make. There will be a period of time where people can order a copy in advance from a specific website. We’re going to make this as transparent as possible as well. What does this mean? In short we’re going to post online ALL of the costs involved with making this DVD possible, with the postage, plus the percentage for charity, and this will then be the total amount each copy will cost. We’re going to sell them at wholesale prices and no artistic contributor will take any money. This means that everyone shouldn’t have to dig too deep and can have something really unique and limited.

I have no idea how many people want a deluxe version either, it might be 20, it might be 200, but there’s an equal chance for everyone to grab a copy. If the number of people is high and the authoring company give us a discount, we’ll take the discounted amount and add it to the charity donation. It really is as simple as that. We’re in the process of organising the website for the pre-orders, and I’m looking to go with the most respected one on the web that offers everyone payment protection. I think it’s key that everyone can get involved in this without concern about their money being misused or lost. It should be noted though that because it’s going to be a pre-order system, the time it takes you to get your copy can be anything up to 4-6 weeks. Time scales will be confirmed in writing when the time comes for you to place your order. The complete design of the whole case and the DVD disc will be posted on this blog sometime later in the week, so you’ll all get an idea to what you’ll be buying. 

We ask everyone who buys a deluxe version to also please support the distribution of the free copies and to make 5 copies of the DVD to hand out, or to download and host a torrent. As previously stated i want the network to be vast and we need all the help we can get. 

That’s pretty much it for now. There’s a lot to take in above, and everyone probably needs to read this through a few times. If you could please reblog this it helps spread the word. Please leave your feedback and comments in a reply! Let us know what you think of this crazy project. I really hope with everyone’s help we can make this reach the furthest points of the globe. Thank you very much for your patience and continued support in this all, I know there has been a lot of delays but as i’ve said the whole way though, it really will be worth it. Further information on dates will be posted over the next couple of weeks.

Ryan

ps. sorry for any hasty spelling mistakes or bad grammar! I’m proof reading as I post haha.

Travelling in 2012

Cornwall in 2012

Home life in Cornwall 2012

Structures/Places in 2012.

TOURING IN 2012 - PART 1 & WORDS

I don’t think I’ll ever really stop touring. Some people I’ve heard say ‘you’ll grow out of that’, but during this year I sat down to interview and chat with Jay Bentley of Bad Religion. After our interview we went into an impromptu conversation about surfing and then touring. What Jay said stuck with me, as he is an older and well experienced musician who has spent the majority of his life on the road. He said

“I don’t understand why people stop? This is one of the best jobs in the world. If people get sick of touring, take a break. Both you and I know that after a while they soon want to get back on the road”

I agreed immediately with him. Once you start touring and learn how to live that life you always have that desire with you. People have said to me “you’ll grow out of it”, but honestly I never will. My job started off as a travelling vocation where I had to learn to adapt quickly to different situations. I think this gave me the best grounding for directing ever. I will never stop moving around, because the world is getting smaller and we’re all closer than ever. I’ve never seen myself as wanting to be a director based in the UK. I want to be a director who goes all over the world, and this year I did that. 

This year I’ve covered most of Europe and have seen a lot of Australia. Both were spent shooting documentaries which have yet to see the light of day. Most people have probably thought that these projects won’t come to light, but the point is, that these projects have been massive. I’ve had to relearn my editing and post-production structure to create documentaries which have a massive volume of footage and which will go out as features. When you start directing documentaries it’s easy to get buried in the aesthetics and go overboard on the shots, but what you also need to be mindful of is the content. A focus pull or a slider shot will not make your documentary amazing, and I’ve had to learn a lot of lessons this year in building structures and telling stories. All while in daily changing environments. Just to give you an idea, in Australia I started shooting a couple of days after I got there. 2 hours I had got off the plane I sat down in an interview with Corey Taylor and Clown of Slipknot to discuss a documentary based around The Soundwave festival. What was required was not your average film, and the pre-production had been non existant due to James the producer and co-director not getting any green lights until a week before the festival. I won’t go into details too much now because I’ll do a full write up in the new year, but on that festival I was running around trying to shoot up to 10 bands a day (out of a 90 band roster), finishing at maybe 9 or 10pm, getting back to hotel, and then having to back up anything up to 12 CF cards full of footage. 16gb cards can take up to 20 minutes and we had a range of 16gb and 32gb ones. Consider the time that will take, and consider that the next day I had to be up at possibly 5am to catch a flight to somewhere else in Australia. Sleep had to take second place while I backed everything up. Hard lessons learned. But the show had to go on. 

And that has been very much the theme of 2012. No matter what the show must go on and the features had to be made. Next to all the other projects. But there was nothing but absolute joy being around so many incredibly talented people. I hit the road also with defeater to finish adding more footage to our already part assembled feature which was delayed due to management. That was not an easy pill to swallow I will openly admit. In fact when the email came through I had to go for a walk. One of my finest pieces of work, delayed because of a few pieces of red tape which I hand on heart did not agree with. I’ve watched it through so many times on my computer. It’s been both amazing and heartbreaking because I feel like the world needs to see this documentary. The edit reconvenes in January as I add our tour footage from our European summer. Touring with those guys is a pleasure. They’ve become great friends of mine, and during our tour of Europe this year we all had our own hurdles and spent many occassions sat on venue floors, or tables outside of apartments etc, discussing the issues we had run into and sharing our own methods of how to get around them. There is a certain magic that comes from working with people who share the same mindset as you, and I feel that defeater is one of those bands. Jay’s methods mimic much of my own but in audio recording. Derek has this air about him which reminds me of all the positive things my grandad had about him, Mike P and me again are similar people who can just talk for England. Jake is this cheeky and slick dude with a Tom Cruise smile which can quickly turn to funny sarcasm. Then there’s Joe who has been a recent addition to the group who is an intense and funny guy that has a respect and honour about him I like. All in all they are great friends, but friends I don’t see all that much. People might say that as it doesn’t count for friends, but when you live so closely with people like that, you develop friendships that are out of the ordinary. You might see them for a month solid and then not again for another year. It works though. You see them again and after 30 minutes it feels like you were hanging out yesterday. I like to think we have that ability as people working together on the road. This second tour was better than the last for many reasons, as the ice was broken. I was more of a comedian which was very much welcomed at many points of the tour. What I was joking about I can’t really discuss on this blog because sometimes I can get a little crude haha. But I remember one day me saying “I’m gonna be sad when this tour ends, I’ve had a good one” and Joe turning around and saying “if there’s space on a European tour anytime, you’re coming, you don’t have a say in the matter”. For me that’s the best sort of thanks you can get.

At the end of the tour, on our last show in Belgium, I bumped into Pianos Become The Teeth who a couple weeks later I would join on the road. They all seemed like quite formal yet friendly guys. Sure enough it was just a case of a little time and this band was another one i felt like I’d known for years. I can honestly say they were the kindest band I have met in my life. All the bands I’ve toured with and worked closely with over time have been amazing, but pianos are just different. They have this energy about them which is wholly respectful and completely supportive. As a touring party they try to exist on the basics as often as they can. I don’t mean that rudely but they are people who are travelling and working in a band, trying to support their lives back home. Some people can easily get bitter about this but these guys were forever positive. i instantly felt a bond with them and had this feeling of ‘I must keep in touch with these guys and help wherever I can’……. (continued in next post)