Dusty's Blogs: Volume 2
2.5 Days, 14 Hours of Driving, 8 Hours of Filming, No Sleep, and Lots of Laughs and Memories...
Welcome to shooting a music video as an independent artist.
Filming is complete on the first full-band music video!!!
Going into this past weekend, we knew it would be a long one. We were headed to St. Louis, MO from Wichita, KS (450 miles) to film with acclaimed video producer Juan Ibanez, and only had a small window to get the job done. We rolled out around noon last Friday and checked-in to our LUXURIOUS La Quinta rooms around 7pm. We stashed all our luggage and gear in our rooms, and headed out to eat. There was a place nearby called Syberg's so we chose that. Let me tell you, Syberg's in STL has a DELICIOUS bacon cheeseburger.
Attention To Detail
After dinner the night before our shoot, we gathered in our HUGE hotel room to polish up our instruments and change strings, drumheads, etc. (and maaaaaybe have a couple beers). We just wanted to make sure everything was ready and pristine for the shoot. You have to pay keen attention to these details, because you only get one chance to shoot. And, once it's on film, it's either going to make you proud of how things look, or you're going to be endlessly irritated by it when you see the video FOREVER.
The Shoot
There is a misconception that musicians sleep in all day... I don't think any of us slept in past 7am on the day of the shoot. We all got up and got cleaned up and dressed, grabbed a quick snack, and headed to Juan's studio to shoot the video which wasn't far from where we were staying.
We immediately hit it off with Juan and from there, we began filming. When you record music and film music videos, you play the song A LOT. I am not sure how many times we went through this song during filming, but what I can tell you is that we left nothing on the table. The guys and I threw down HARD all day and put everything we had in to it. It's important to portray the passion on video. It's important to feel like you gave it everything you had. I think we can safely say that we did that and then some. In fact, it seemed we were all sore on the ride back the next day from it.
Camaraderie
"Mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together."
This definition could not describe this trip more accurately. From the time we all got in the car, the conversations, jokes, and stories were flowing all weekend long. When you're doing things like this, there is a certain vulnerability to it. To share it with these guys who were not only great fun to be around, but also trustworthy and professional made me feel very fortunate to be there and definitely took some of the nerves away. We didn't have to talk about going "balls out". We just did it. And, I think it will shine through in the video. I am grateful for my teammates and feel privileged and honored to play with them.
The Video
It's done, it's edited, we've seen it, and it is BADASS. I can't say a whole lot more about it at the moment as we are still in the planning stages and putting pieces together for launch. But, I can assure you, this one is gonna hit different. For now, you'll just have to take my word for it.
Wanna Get More Involved???
1. Become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/DustyGrant
There are various tiers, and for as little as $3/month, you will be more "in the know" than anyone else. For instance, people that signed up in the "Best Friends" tier have been shipped a personalized, special "thank-you" gift to show my appreciation THIS WEEK. There is all kinds of cool stuff I'm planning to do on this platform. And, I promise you, every dollar I receive will go back into "DG" to make it bigger and better. I want you to feel like you're getting your money's worth. As much as I hate that this is a business, it is indeed that. It would be killer to have a few bucks coming in to soften the blow from time to time. Everything I do is out-of-pocket at this point.
2. Subscribe to my email list at https://www.dustygrant.com/sign-up
It's completely FREE and I plan to keep this up very regularly and give updates about the project, shows, new music, news, new merch offers, and everything else. I will also send you emails every time there is a new blog post (like the one you're reading now).
**Please consider doing one or both of the above. If you don't have the funds, I get it. At least sign up for the emails. They are gonna be solid, I promise. And, if you think they are weak sauce, you can always just unsubscribe. But, you won't, because they will be awesome.**
Until Next Time,
Dusty
PS- Merch sales always help, take a look around...