04/06/99

Twenty years ago something life changing happened to me. It was unexpected entirely and changed my entire world view. For a 9 year old boy, that wasn’t great.

I started my evening rather plain and boring. I went to the park just 2 minutes or so from our house that was only 1 minute from the beach. I lived a very happy and sheltered childhood. Friends were never far and family was always around for special occasions. No massive fights, no drama. Nothing. We never had much in the way of money or crazy trips away for our holidays. Just caravans and the lake District for us. We stayed in a flat, on a quiet street, in which we knew and spoke to every single one of our neighbours. Being just a lad I was able to roam the streets safe in the knowledge that everyone knew everyone else and that no harm would come to anyone. We were all content and making do. Some better than others, but equally happy.

It was only 10 days until I turned the big one zero. Whilst at the park with my friends this evening I was telling them about what I was hoping to get for my birthday and how I had always wanted certain things by the time I was ten. I always had this clear vision in my mind that by the time I reached 10 I would know how to ride a skateboard, buy my first pack of bubble gum and head into town with my friends. Funny thing is, I had done all of that by the time I reached these mere days before it was all meant to change. Little did I know, things had been counting down to an even bigger event.

I had got into an argument, nothing major, just a falling out over something trivial and being known to have a temper I stormed off in a huff and made way for home. I was fizzing! I got in and explained quite furiously what had happened to my parents. They most likely comforted me and quickly got me round to shrugging it so we could sit and watch some TV. We did our usual and flicked through the index or Argos catalogue to see if there was anything that caught my eye for my birthday. Bearing in mind that this was 1999. Flicking through the Argos toy section was the height of entertainment at that time. I had pointed at some Simpsons videos that came with a Homer that was wearing a Hawaiian style shirt. My Dad laughed and said something along the lines of “if you continue to be good then you might just get that” my Dad would always get me his own little gift along with everything else. I am but an only child and trust me when I say. I was spoiled. Just in possessions. I never let that get to me though and neither did my parents. I was always extremely grateful. My parents worked super hard for what we got. My Mum in Clerical work, starting in shops and my Dad a ‘Scaffie’ or a Bin Man as most people know it. Working for the cleansing department, if you want to be posh about it. My Dad had taken this job as it afforded him the evening time that he always wanted with his family. My parents had gone through hell and back to have me. So even though he had to work hard, he wasn’t going to miss out on any quality time with his only begotten son. I am so glad this was the case. More time to spend with my best friend. My play mate. My Dad. His job got him home for around 4 or even earlier depending on how heavy or light the load was. That meant he could get home, pick up his son, drop off one of the grandmother’s, who had been on childcare duties throughout the day and pick up his wife, my Mum.

We were working class and we loved it, so long as we were all together. Doesn’t mean we would have turned down a lottery win though. We’re hard working. Not foolish.

The night was ticking on. I was growing tired. My Mum and Dad saw me off to my bunk bed (Bed on top, desk for artsy fartsy business underneath).

I awoke about an hour or two later in desperate need of the toilet. My Dad was running a bath, which he often did before bed. Especially on a Friday night Setting him up for a relaxed weekend. He liked a good soak after a particularly long day or week. One of the few luxuries afforded to him for knocking his pan in every day. I knocked on the door and my Dad let me in. We would often just sit and chat to each other whilst doing our business on the toilet. I was 9. It was boring otherwise. Just sitting in a bathroom hoping to poo anytime soon. We needed company. We just chatted idle nonsense. He told me a couple of stories about when he was growing up, as he often did. Such a unique and interesting storyteller. I finished up and went to bed. He said “Goodnight pal. Love you” I gave him a huge hug and a kiss and replied “Love you too”

I had a dream. This dream was oddly frightening but not terrifying. There was a creature under my bed hammering. He looked mischievous and had an evil presence. He started smacking at my door. He continued to bang. Harder and harder. The door caught fire. The banging got louder and louder.

I woke up.

The door wasn’t on fire. The hall light was on. It was really late. Why was the hall light on? I could hear my mum. What was she doing? Sounded like she was banging on the bathroom door. I tried to call out to her but I couldn’t. I then hear her voice, panicked. She’s speaking to someone. They aren’t replying. It’s almost like she’s receiving instructions. She keeps answering yes or no. She tries speaking to my Dad... No answer.

My mind isn’t exactly intact from this point on. I will give you what I remember in bullet points.

·       Mum rushes in and grabs me from my bed and whisks me to the living room.

·       I hear lots of voices

·       A bespectacled man tells us they lost him. I reply “no”

·       I don’t remember crying

·       Family start showing up even though it’s early hours of the morning

·       My Uncle (one of Dad’s brothers) tells me “You’re the man of the house now”

·       I go to the bathroom for a pee. I see his rings lying in a newly drained bath. I can’t imagine him not in it. I hurry my pee and leave.

·       I meet my friend the next day and tell him what happened. He’s shocked. He doesn’t tell anyone.

·       My Dad’s other brother arrives and can’t even walk in the house.

·       I’m off school. I go along at break and all my friends tell me “You’re bunking off.”

·       I come back at lunch break. The teacher has told them all what happened. Two of my closest friends are heartbroken. Everyone else comes over to say hi.

·       The funeral

·       Lots of crying. None after it from me, for some reason.

·       Back to life

There are lots of other factors in there. My Mum had some counseling. I didn’t. Lots of people we hadn’t seen for years just started showing up. I went to stay with my Grandparents, Aunt and Uncle and my Mum’s friend whilst my Mum took time away to process that she had also lost her best friend. But more importantly, her soul mate.

I can tell you every detail of what happened leading up to the events. Push me hard enough and I could probably even tell you what we had for dinner that night. The next year following though is just a haze of trying to make it day to day. My mum tried to make my birthday as normal as possible. I honestly can’t remember it. All I can remember is that nothing was the same. My Dad was gone. This street where nothing happened was engulfed in blue flashing lights. Sadness and tears filled the air. There was no escaping that nothing was ever the same.

People started to move out. We even moved 2 years later. I was twelve. My Mum couldn’t stand being in the home where happiness had once lived longingly and had been destroyed within a moment.

Here we are, twenty years later.

They say that 'Time heals all wounds' I’m here to tell you, it doesn’t. I’m 10 days away from being thirty and I think, that I miss my Dad more today than ever. It has been so incredibly difficult. The older I get, the more I start to understand some of the struggles my parents must have gone through in life and I find it extremely unfair that the one thing that my father wanted to relish in, his family, was taken from him. The time in which he could have had to grow old with his loving wife, see his boy grow up and find love, take trips, soak in more culture, all of it stripped away needlessly.  I don’t blame anyone. That would be stupid if I did. It’s no one’s fault. People have to die. It’s all part of life. I only wish it hadn’t been so soon.

My relationship with my Mum grew. So much so that she is probably more my best friend than my Dad ever was and yet, both of us would admit that, that seems crazy to think about.

I’m glad he didn’t have to see his heroes pass on, Bowie, Victoria Wood, Keith Flint and so many more. That would have saddened him immensely. He got to miss out on all the bad things that have happened in the past 20 years. He lives in a time where, looking back in only memory, seems idyllic.

I find myself saying almost the same things over and over again when I describe my Dad. Tam Stewart was a man of exceptional fashion sense, always at least 5 years ahead of the trends. Introduced me to every piece of music I know. Had such an eclectic taste that his CD/tape/record collection looked like the genres of your local record shop, which is where he loved to spend some time. He was a sweet, kind hearted, laid back man who loved all of his family and friends. He adored classic cars and had a fascination with Vespa Scooters (which he restored one) and Trikes (which he wished to build from scratch, but never got the chance) He had the aura of a larger than life character, when in all actuality he was quite quiet and smaller than average height. He had the best smile and the most beautiful, loving eyes. I miss him greatly and wish I could hear his voice one last time.

A picture of him and my Mum, at the opening of the Dundee Contemporary Arts, sits at the top of the stairs in our house. I look at it every day and smile.

New Beginnings...

I haven't typed anything on this page for so long, I doubt anyone is still out there. Here goes all the same. 
I recently got myself a new job. Best news ever. 
For the past 2 years I have been working alongside my partner in a place that can only be described as the lower recesses of hell. Yet, for some strange reason, as much as I am saying to everyone "Oh I cannot wait to get started in my new job and get out of here" there is a part of me that is going to be very sad in 2 days. 
I got this job because my last employment wasn't working out at all and I was left with nothing. I asked my better half if there were any jobs going at the place she was working. Having worked there before and known some of the folks there I was quite happy to go there for a wee while until I found something new. A couple of weeks later, I did just that. It's been 2 years now and here I am. Bit more than a stopgap ay? 
I started working (I am sorry I'm not saying the name by the way. I don't want to get anyone, or myself, into bother) and just slipped right into the routine. I had previously been there many a year ago when I was at college, so I sort of knew the job as well. It was just very "Keep your head down, have a small bit of banter and get on with it" for some time. But something strange happened. I started to enjoy it. I don't know if it was because I had been in something so radically different, than what I was used to, before and now the smell of familiarity was spurring me on or the fact that I was just keeping myself busy for a change? All I know is that regardless of it being slightly monotonous and severely boring, I was happy.
I can never think of actual specific moments, I just know that one big thing that helped in getting by in that place was the people. I think that a sense of all of us being equally lost, miserable and under paid, kind of brought us together. 
Despite all of my complaining about the place, I don't think I could imagine the past 2 years anywhere else. If things ever got bad in the real world, I found myself turning to the people that I worked with for support or cheering up and many of them were there to give it. Every time. Without a doubt. Regardless of how much some folks pissed me off or my other half and I had a good moan about things, somehow, it was made all the better by having this band of misfits around. All brought together by the same shitty place of work. 
You know what as well, it's genuinely been sad to say goodbye to some of the folks that left in the time I've been there as well. I have seen the ones I wanted to after they left of course. There is a certain hole where some of those other ones used to be though. 
I'm sitting here with only 2 more days to go and although I am mega excited to move on and make a hell of a go at my next venture in life, I'm sad. I'm not as sad about leaving, just more that I have to close a massively important chapter in my life and start a new. The blank page is a very scary prospect.
We have been so much over this past 2 years and came out the other side fighting and smiling. I have learned so much about myself and feel that I have honed my life skills so much more for having been there. My tastes have changed, my outlook to life has changed, my entire perspective on near enough everything has changed radically and all because I have been in this place.

There have been great nights out, arguments, unforgettable moments, plenty of extremely forgettable moments and a hell of a lot of laughs. 
It's been hard, it's been easy, it's been fun, it's been aggravating, beautiful, crazy, manic, depressing, hilarious, inspiring, tear jerking, but above all life changing.
I have met some of the best people I will come across in my lifetime in one of the worst places to ever work in our lifetime. 

I can't thank everyone enough for making the past 2 years worth it. They all know who they are, what they did and how much they mean to me. (If they ever read this)
From the bottom of my heart... Thank you. 


Also, get it up ye! 

The Turner Effect

 (Copyright© Frank Turner/XtraMile Records/YouTube)

This fine piece is an amazing little documentary on Frank Turner. A nice well paced 15 minute or so video that gives you a little insight into a man that myself and many others look up to.

To me, Frank Turner is up there with the greats: Springsteen, The Beatles, Dylan, Cash, Bowie, The Who. He may not be that for a lot of other people, but in my heart and, I know, in a hell of a lot of others he is.

Frank Turner is the ultimate game changer. He may not change the face of music itself or even tread ground that hasn’t already been stepped all over. But he writes songs that are incredible in the way they make you sit back and just listen. Nothing else. No focus on "what's for dinner tonight?" or "Oh that's a nice tree I just passed" Just you and his music. He has this grasp on people and music that just totally blows everything else out of the way and lets you just find yourself completely immersed in his music.

I have been following a nice little blog on Tumblr that is all about Frank called "Dear Frank Turner" Some of the things that you find on here are incredible. Not only is it a fan site, but it's also a gateway to finding out how much one person's music can alter the lives of many. Helping various people to find themselves, get out of tough situations or just show a genuine love for the music. This blog is there for the ultimate Frank fan.

Recently Mr. Turner released a New Album entitled "Tape Deck Heart" 

From this he has so far released two singles: "Recovery" and "The Way I Tend To Be"  

Thank You for the music Frank and here's to more in the future!

Ascension Back To Greatness

I may be a bit late to the parade here - namingly because the follow up album "Descension" is on it's way this year - but nonetheless, better late than never. 

Coheed and Cambria made a blasting comeback after their dismal last attempt "Year of the Black Rainbow" and what a stellar comeback it was. After complications and splits from previous members, new members and just a general rough go of it, the band sorted themselves out, put all their troubles aside, re-united themselves with the ever so (single kick drum) talented drummer Josh Eppard, got themselves a brand new bassist in the form of Zach Cooper and made the incredible and slightly reminiscent album "The Afterman: Ascension". 

This album is very nostalgic in the way that it brings forward the old Coheed that we know and love with tracks such as "Key Entity Extraction" being in four different parts to show that there is a strong story like previous projects, which is very much favoured by frontman Claudio Sanchez. 

Their debut release was "Key Entity Extraction I: Domino the Destitute", a song which just encaptures everything that we know and love about this band. If you are a massive fan of Coheed, you will know exactly what I'm on about. If not, it's the heart and soul of having a story told to you in the sheer epicness of prog-rock/metal. These guys take a genre that is very hard to find new talent in and just completely reinvent it. Whenever you hear Claudio's high octane vocals or both he and Travis Stever's guitars shredding away over a smooth bass line and a fucktastic/rocking drum beat, you know the real shit is going down! But with these guys, from the most hard rocking song, to the most mellow elegantly sang song, you get a real sense that something is really going on in these songs/albums and find yourself engrossed in the story and music.

This album is what we have come to expect from Coheed but gives them a whole new lease of life. These guys have just gone to show us that they are nowhere near being done for the day. The stories may be different but the music continues to enlighten us from a completely different spectrum. 

I for one cannot wait for the follow up to this. Until then, I am more than tied over with this incredible spectacle.

Mumbling Around *Interview With Directors Of Closure*

So if you remember, last week/last post, I did a little piece on a film called Closure. Well also last week, I got the opportunity to catch up the directors Joel Hewett and Andrew Golden and just ask them the standard uramyx interview questions. Little did I know was that for the next 2-3 hours we just sat and talked whilst I occasionally slipped in the questions I had prepared. There was some sort of formality, where I did say I was going to start asking the questions. But these guys are so eager to talk about films that the conversation just kept going.

I met the pair in a pub in Dundee, sat around a small table, all wearing different (yet quite similar) spectacles and from there had an amazing time just chatting.

Hey guys. How are you doing today?

Joel: Good! Tired.

Andrew: Good Actually, I just had some macaroni cheese.

Joel: Did you? I just had... actually, it's been so many hours since I ate, I can't actually remember what I last had. Does that matter?... I feel good.

Andrew: Joel's gone crazy from starvation I think.

Joel: I have a few things in a bag here for later. A nice innocent smoothie and a couple things of noodle. Living the high life right here.

Andrew: *Laughs* yes, this interview is sponsored by innocent smoothies.

Joel: So the short answer is... We're Good! 

Andrew: *Laughs* And so the mad tangents begin.

So, as people would have read, you are the creative minds behind Closure. For the good readers, can you tell us a bit about yourselves?

J: You can go first.

A: Em... Well, I'm Andrew Golden. I'm a design student at the moment. Em... and I like films and...stuff. *Laughs* I don't know, kind of hard to sum up I guess. 

I didn't think I would ever be a director of anything. But, it's weird. This is something that just happened almost spontaneously I guess. Joel pretty much triggered it all with writing the script and so on. 

J: Well I guess for me, I'm kind of finished university and I was trying to do something good and creative, with my life anyway.

A: I think we're both quite creative people anyway.

J: We're the kind of guys that are constantly bouncing ideas about to the point we know the kind of things we want to do about ten steps ahead of what we are doing already. 

I guess I would describe us as "Creative Individuals". I try to give a brief sum up at the end of every bit of rambling we do.

A: It think we need a summing up at the end of everything. *Jokes* That's every scene in the film, there is some form of summing up. So you've got bit's like "Basically what happened in this scene is..."

J: I pop up in the audio

A: Yeah! Do a sort of Morgan Freeman voice over thing. An analysis of the scene itself.

J: I should mention, Golden Co-Directed, Co-Edited, Cinematography, Sound edited and also did one of the song.

A: Whereas you did, Directing, Writing, Producing, Acting in, Co-Editing... Yeah. Only that. It's not much, it's not much at all.  You were like Orson Welles or Tommy Wiseau, take your pick.

J: Ego-maniac, I think it's how to describe it.

For people who don't know what Closure is, can you give us a brief overview of the film?

J: Well, first thing I should say is it's quite Mumblecore. So it's like super cheaply made, super realistic, quite a bit of improv. I mean it's still scripted and everything, but the actors were given room to improvise. 

The story is about a relationship told in reverse, so just something that doesn't work, as if you were looking back on it. Relationships with your friends, relationships with your girlfriend, just how your friends helped you, also how they didn't help you.

A: So for us the big twist on it was the fact it should have been quite an ordinary relationship, but shown in a really unusual way. So when we say in reverse we mean, from when they break up, to when they first encounter each other basically. Not to mention that gave the film a sort of happy ending, but not quite. A bittersweet ending I guess, because you know it doesn't work out in the end. But it ends on a warm vibe so to speak. 

J: It goes from black and white to colour as well.

A: People might not notice that though, because people watched the one and a half minute teaser trailer and didn't realise that it went from colour to black and white. If that happens over 76 minutes...

J: I think that's good if that happens though.

A: Yeah, I mean I would like it to be a thing where people come into the cinema to see the film, and a couple of individuals might come out and be like "Wait! Did that start out in black and white and end up into colour?" and everyone else turns round like "OOOOH YEEEH!" Totally like a moment of realisation. That would be good.

J: So to sum up. It's a black and white film that chronicles a relationship in reverse. 

*Laughs all round the table*

What made you guys want to make the film? Especially yourself Joel. What made you want to write the script for this? Was it based upon real life experiences you'd had or...?

J: I think to an extent it's like watching relationships and having been in relationships that haven't worked out, there's never been a set reason. No one has ever cheated or anything, you just kind of move on and that really interests me. Watching other people's relationships and they way they interact with each other and things they talk about. Just watching the way people interact. That's something I'm interested in writing about and whether other people are is another matter but, to that extent everyone else, Golden and everyone else had been attached for quite a few years, back when it was a purely improvised film and then I wrote a script and Golden stayed involved in different capacities and then we just went into a casting process. We had loads and loads of auditions and got it down to just a few people and just cast the film, got on with it that way. 

A: As well it was like... There's a lot of films about escapism and that's fine, that's great. There are films that are really far fetched that you want to lose yourself in, but at the same time, it's not often that you see something that is totally true, but that you can see that the makers of it have completely given themselves into it, poured themselves into the material so to speak. 

Hopefully that's sort of what we've aimed for (with the film anyway) and whether that comes across or not I'm not sure. It might just come across as total bullshit *Laughs* people just talking shit about nothing. That was actually a bit of a working title for a little while. 

J: Yeah, I wanted to call the film "Talking Shit About Nothing In Particular" 

A: It's not very marketable though. I don't think STV would have had us on talking about the film then. Them just setting up the section on the news like "And the film Talking shit about nothing in particular is out on Monday" *Laughs*  Or them asking us the name, us telling them and being like "Wait! where you going? SHIT!" 

I would summarise that whole thing, but I'm not as good at it as you are.

J: I don't think we could summarise all of that up really *Laughs* Too much. 

But at the end of the day, with the film, people can look at it and say "That's all bullshit" but I can honestly say 99 percent of it happened to me. 

A thing I was quite curious about was, what are your plans with the film? More screenings? Cover a wider area? Distribution?

J: I got few aims with it. I want to take it round the Scottish universities, if we can manage to do that. Just show people that you CAN do it, even if you have no money, people working for nothing, no real equipment and things like that. I just want to show people that it can be done.

A: Yeah, it's always thought that film making is the massive, big Hollywood thing that millions of pounds/dollars are poured into. It doesn't need to be about that. It's still an art form and it's still about personal expression. It's kind of nice on the smaller budget films like this because I think that's where you see the most personal expression and you get someones personal film/piece of work. You know, if there is only 10 people involved, then everyone has some sort of input into it and it's not like 200 people and you know 198 of those people didn't get any say in what came out of it. 

J: Other things like, we want to enter it into as many film festivals as we possibly can. We will look into it. But we will do, well we will actively look for distribution, but we're not expecting to get anything from that and if not we will do self distribution in some way shape or form. But we will be keeping the price down the lowest we possibly can. 

A: It's never been a film about making a profit. It's been more about expressing our passion for film making and that specific type of film making. 

J: You know, in terms of money, we have tried to keep the price down for everything. So it has been £2 (two pounds) for screenings and whatever the cheapest price is we can get DVDs for and sell them for, then great! The more people see it, that's what film making's about. If no one sees it, then what's the point in making the film. 

A: All the profits, so far, is going to go right back into the film I think. All the money we make from the screenings, goes into the DVDs etc. 

So like I said, the long term aim we're not really thinking about making money out of it basically. We'd just prefer people to see it. We have had people saying to us "you could charge (enter ridiculous amount here) for tickets" and we've been like "That's not the point of the film!" 

J: It's going to mean less people would see it that way. Plus, if we can sell two screenings out, in that space of time for two quid. I'm not sure, but doing my logic, we charge anymore than that I don't think we would have even sold out one. 

I don't know whether people would have or not, but in my opinion, I wouldn't pay that much to see a studenty type film. 

It would just be too clinical! The whole film's about being naturalistic and my natural instinct was to make in the way we did, using things the way we did, to try and promote it in that way and all through word of mouth. 

A: ... So to sum up! It's not about making money. It's about

J: Passion! 

That's exactly what it should be about! As we were discussing before (pre-interview) that is something that Hollywood is unfortunately lacking and where modern cinema in general is lacking.

A: Aw you mean you don't think James Cameron is SOOOO Expressive in his films? *Sarcasm* Aw he's so lovely.

I think he's really expressive at diving really deep or some shit like that.
 

A: I think James Cameron is very expressive in a way that he speak to me because it reminds me of that time, that I met this blue person and they had this tail that they connected to animals. What?! YEAH! Yeeeeaah!

That's a fond High School Memory right there.
 

A: Yeah. I was on a lot of shit then *Laughs*

On a side step from Closure (and James Cameron) What are some of your favourite films? Also, what film influenced you to get into making films?

J: I'd go back to Mumblecore I guess. A lot of my favourite films are those ones that are made for really cheaply. I mean My favourite film of all time is "Before Sunrise" / "Before Sunset" had to go to two there. I mean I like things like "Pulp Fiction" and stuff, but if I'm going into films that made me want to make this film, it would be stuff like "Mutual Appreciation" by Andrew Bujalski, "Quiet City" and "Dance Party USA" by Arron Katz. Em... "LOL" and "Hannah Takes The Stairs" by Joe Swanberg.


A: Anything by the Duplass Brothers (Mark and Jay)


J: Yeah "The Puffy Chair" specifically. "Humpday" by Lynn Shelton. "Baghead" by the Duplass Brothers. 


A: Just that whole genre really. Particularly for me, the two that stood out the most were "Quiet city" and "Mutual Appreciation". "Mutual Appreciaition" more so, because it was just such a beautifully shot film, it was so understated in ever way and this is the first film I watched and was like "Effectively nothing happens in this film". I mean if you describe the plot to someone, you couldn't really. It's just a few people talking and yet somehow it's so engrossing and captivating. In seeing that I was just in awe like "Holy shit! People can make a film like that. Why does it have to be, explosions and this guy like eating a... fucking truck or something ridiculous like that?" I don't know. Some of the stuff they come up with like... A Gazelle with an exploding head or something. You don't need to be ridiculous to make a really good film!

 Michael Bay effectively then!

A: Yeah Exactly! Looking at that crossed with Michael Bay. He spent how ever many millions of pounds making that and then "Quiet City" comes along made for...

J: Two Grand (£2000) 

A: Oh really?  Well there you go. He makes it on that and it's genuinely a lovely, lovely little film. Puts Michael Bay to shame slightly. 

J: I should have also mentioned Alex Holdridge's "In Search Of A Midnight Kiss". 

A: See, I'm kind of crossed with films like that, taking normal everyday situations and just making them into nice little pieces and yet, I still like really overblown films like "Moon" which was awesome! I love that. I re-watched it the other day and thought "Wow. What an amazing film". Plus things like "Chinatown" where it's quite dramatic as well. 

J: But these are still films that play on human emotion and have a really great amount of depth and characterisation. As long as you believe the characters, that's all that matters to me.

You tend to find with films like that though, is that the director comes from some form of an indie background, most of the time. 

A: Yeah, without a doubt, because then they will have a passion for that sort of film as well. I was reading an interview, I can't remember the guys name, it was a Finnish director and he was saying that when he was a kid he would dream of going to other countries to see films because he was saying in Finland it's like they have no films. I was thinking "Wow, to be just a kid and imagine that kind of thing, clearly this guy is meant to be a director" 

J: So summary, Mumblecore! *Laughs around the table*

So, I think something everyone is wondering, is Closure going to be a one off gig? Or will you be doing more projects? More importantly, will you work with each other again? Or splitting off to do your own things?

J: We actually have discussed this in quite some depth. Obviously we both want to do other things separately, but we also want to work on other things together. I mean, we do plan to do a couple of short documentaries at some point. Which is kind of planned out.

A: We are really excited about that actually. 

J: Yeah, I'm mega excited about it. 

A: The idea that we have for it is actually quite nice. We just thought, a feature length fiction film and a short documentary seemed like a good counter balance to one another. Also, we recon that making the short could go a lot quicker. I mean, I loved making "Closure" it was one of the best experiences of my life, but I just don't know if I have the time to spend on something that long again unfortunately. But I'm really glad I did it whilst I could. 

J: The thing we always said was "Oh that was really huge. We're going to have to have a long break before we go back to do a feature film again". But we know that a couple of years down the line, we'll go "Remember we made a film? We should fucking do that again man!" 

A: Just the nostalgia of how good it was, because we did have a great time, even as stressful as it might have been at some points... whenever I think about last summer and making the film, I think "That was really good times. I'm really proud of what we did there" 

J: And the documentaries, I don't  know how soon they will be, because there will be a lot of promoting "Closure", but I'm guessing probably within the next couple of years really. 

A: I definitely would like us to work together again, but I think if you went on to make another film, I would like to make a film about that. Weirdly enough. I think just because we have too similar an idea on what film we want to make, that we have to work together sometimes. 

J: I think it would be hard working with anyone else as well though, because we have worked up a bond within editing over the past 6 months and everything. So to move on to then get that same link with someone else, would be quite difficult. 

A: Without a doubt. We are totally on the same wave length. Even in editing, we would play around with scenes and when we got it right, it was like we just knew and just had like this mad telepathic thing going on you know *Laughs* 

J: So short answer... Yes! 

Can you expand upon the documentary projects in mind? Or is that something your keeping very close to your chest? 

J: I will divulge it's name. It's called "In My Day". 

A: Oh and the other one. 'Cause we're going for a two-parter, "In My Day" and "When I Grow Up" 

J:  It'll be things on the everyday, things that other people might think are a bit mundane that we found interesting I guess. 

A: I think that kind of sums up films for us though. I mean we're thinking that a lot of people when they see "Closure" might think it's a bit too mundane and realistic and we accept that to be honest. It's not a on hundred percent accessible film, but we accepted that because our film taste is like that as well really. 

J: I mean it's a film I would really want to go and see, and that's all you can make. I don't think you can make something that you can think everyone would want to go and see. I'd want to go see it and *Points To Andrew* you'd want to. 

A: I just want there to be more films like that, in that genre anyway. I mean there's not that much in the genre at the moment. Which means it's also really nice to be able to play round with it, the theme doesn't really have any conventions or anything with it at the moment. Things like putting the film backwards, feels like there isn't going to be any other films quite like that really. I hope so anyway. 

J: In that genre at least. 

A: We talked a lot about other films that maybe go in reverse. I mean there's "Irréversible" by Gaspar Noé... Don't worry, it's not going to be like a Gaspar Noé film. I saw "Enter The Void" and it fucked me up badly. 

J: We did it so it played chronologically in reverse though. So it doesn't jump about. It literally goes from December to January. 

A: We tried to make it blatantly obvious it's backwards as well. We were worried people weren't going to get it was going backwards, but we put so much in to make sure it was completely obvious. 

J: You have to accept that people aren't stupid. People are so aware of what's going on around them. If you make something too obvious, it becomes pandering to almost assuming people are stupid and that's not the case with most folks. 

A: Although, there's obviously still going to be a couple of people who don't get it. I mean we had a friend, no names, who saw "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind" and didn't get why Jim Carrey got on the train at the end again. 

J: "I really liked it man, but why did he get back on the train at the end?". I'm sitting just thinking "Well, you didn't really like it then if you didn't get the point of the film"

That's the same people who go see (big title to mention here but) Inception and sit like "I didn't get it!" It's so simple, it explains it and the settings change again and again. What more do they need?

A: I took my girlfriend to see "Lucky Number Slevin" and she fell asleep and she woke up towards the end like "I have NO idea what's going on right now" I'm like "Well, You're winning! Basically, Morgan Freeman's an ass hole somehow and Ben Kingsley is a Rabbi and he shoots people... Enjoy!" 

(Just for the record, Joel made a Groucho Marx face out of a ripped up beer mat. This ensued many jokes on whether it was Groucho Marx or Hitler. Then Golden claiming to be 1/16th part German and how it offended him *jokingly*)

A: You can tell we're creative people.

Now, kind of a double question here. I always like to ask folks this, where do you guys see yourselves in 5 years time? But specifically for the film, where do you see Closure in 5 months time?

J: In terms of the film... If I'm happy...

A: It takes a moment to contemplate. *Laughs* 

To be honest, I don't know where I see the films in 5 months, because I was in such a state of disbelief that it got finished in the first place that, I mean I'm glad that it did, I'm so glad that it did and I would have been furious if it hadn't been by this point. I mean we didn't even think it would get a sold out screening at all. Let alone two. To even have enough interest for a third is incredible. We just didn't see any of it coming at all. I guess we just never thought about where we wanted the film to be, I just wanted it done and show it to people and now that we can, it's like "well where do we go from now?".

I guess all I can hope for, is for other people to see it, hopefully it will be in for festivals in 5 months time and hopefully it will be on DVD by then also. Maybe set up a little website for it or something.

J: If by then 2 maybe 3 hundred people have seen it then I'll be delighted because we will be at a point that certainly over 100 people will have seen it just now let alone 5 months. That's all that kind of matters to me. If we can get more and more people to see it. If we can take it to a couple of universities by then and get more folks to see it and spread the word also. 

A: Would be kind of nice to show people that they can make films for nothing, like those Mumblecore films that we watched that almost opened our eyes to the thought of "Wow. We could do this. We love films, so why do we have to be just viewers? Why can't we be creators of them as well?" 

J: Anyone can make a film. Just put your mind to it. 

A: And in 5 years for us? Em... In 5 years time, to be honest, I would kind of like to be living in another country. Would be nice. It's fine here, but people always say "Oh, would you like to move to Glasgow or something" I sitting like "NO! Nowhere near far enough away". I just want to see a bit more of the world basically. Hopefully in some form of graphic design situation with doing film making also. That's the dream. Always got to have your dreams and goal, set them nice and high. 

J: I would like to be alive and happy... Alive Ideally  *Laughs* 

A: Happy Dead's ok as well I guess. Just not for the long term. 

J: I think in 5 years, I will have definitely want to have made another film. 

Oh! On a side not, before I forget I want to just mention "Mild Eyes" who did the soundtrack to the film. 

A: Oh yeah. He's definitely to be metioned. He was the bassist in "Oceansize" who I am totally obsessed with, they are my favourite band ever. So once they split up he did his own solo project, so I e-mailed him asking if I could use a song of his for a uni project, to which he agreed. So we got talking from there. We were meant to have a friend doing the soundtrack for the film but as a placeholder we had "Mild Eyes" just in there and we were sitting like "But it fits so well. Would be a shame to take it out" So we e-mailed not expecting anything and he got back like "Yeah sure thing". We were just like "... Holy shit!" So worked out so well. So he did most of the soundtrack except for a couple of other tracks. But overall it's him. I'm still speaking to him as well because I did a music video for him which was fun. But yeah, having that music as the "Closure" soundtrack was just perfect.

In a way it was like having one of your heroes on board the project with you.

A: Definitely, that's exactly what it felt like. It was really flattering to have that as well. Something else I didn't think that would happen but there you go.

Well! That's basically it guys. Final question being, did you have fun?

Joel and Andrew: Yeah totally. That was great.

Andrew: Definitely one of the more informal interviews we've had, been really fun just having a laugh as well as discussing the film. 

J: I think we have given you enough to play with right? That'll be fun to edit down *Laughs* 

From here I gave the guys the usual blank uramyx logo and some pencils and pens to do as they please with it. The guys decided to go with the films arrow logo and to do the letters going from black and white to colour.

  

This was an amazing interview and we just hung about a chatted for a bit after. Joel and Andrew were great and you can all nip across to the "Closure" Facebook page for more details on the film.

Thanks again guys for a great interview.

Just Need Some Closure

Here at uramyx we love a good independent film and especially if it is made on a budget of next to nothing and looking highly promising. 

Allow me to introduce Closure...

This film, very much inspired by various Mumblecore films, is actually set in my hometown of Dundee/Broughty Ferry and done by an old friend of mine Joel Hewett and his buddy Andrew Golden. Made on a shoestring budget, Closure (to quote their description) "follows characters Daniel (Hewett) and Eve (Sarah Calmus) over the course of a year long relationship told in reverse. We begin with an ending and end with a beginning."

With the premier selling out in a staggering 45 minutes and the Second screening in just a little over an hour, this film is very highly anticipated. 

The teaser trailer has a certain air of quirkiness about it that reigns supreme in these types of films. It's also accompanied with a soundtrack by artist "Mild Eyes" that gives almost ambient perfection. I for one am extremely excited for this picture, not just because it features places where I grew up and was written and directed by someone I know, but because you can't beat a story set so much like real life, told about a genuine situation people will feel at least one time in their life. 

Closure Premieres Tuesday April 17th at the HMC Abertay University

Lee You Chainsaw Genius!

Well, he's done it again! Lee Hardcastle has made another amazing piece of clay animation, only this time, it's a sequel and in 3D! 

Yes, Lee has presented to us Chainsaw Babe 3D, a follow on from his ever so gore and guts filled Chainsaw Maid 2. If you have some of those old Red and Blue 3D specks kicking about, I suggest you get them on, because this should not be missed. But Mr Hardcastle understands that not everyone will have them so has put the film up in 2D also (bless his cotton socks).

I won't spoil anything for anyone by yabbering on about the details. All you need to know is the little girl from Chainsaw Maid 2 is all grown up and now she's the one dishing out the main source of pain to those zombie types. Lee's style of animation fits this gore fest perfectly and it's always a real pleasure to see him post something new. Go check it out. I promise you will not be disappointed.

With These Shoes I Could Dance On Your Face

I am not familiar with the band that made this song, but the fact that it is absolutely cracking and the video is about a complete psychopath picking off people whilst going about his day-to-day life, I've got to say, I'm in!

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as the psycho and brought to you by Daniel Wolfe (The man behind the newest Cobra advertisement and Various Plan B videos such as "She Said") The video shows Gyllenhaal going on a mad killing spree whilst the insanely addictive sound of "The Shoes" plays ever so perfectly over it.

The video is for their song "Time To Dance" and it most certainly got me doing that, but only after I had marvelled at the beautiful video first. If you haven't already, I strongly suggest you check it out.