My Rock Star Moment

On Friday the 13^th of January, 2012, I had my first ever “rock star experience”. It was at Newstead College and I was on stage with a 5 piece band playing “Wreckage” by Parkway Drive (I was playing the bass guitar). Before going on stage we had coordinated our own stage moves; for example, we decided to do the “running man” during the verse, and in the chorus we decided to synchronised head banging. During the breakdown of the song I put my left foot onto the foldback and the people in the moshpit started yelling my name and reached out to touch me. At that moment I felt a massive rush of blood through my body and I felt like a rockstar at that moment. It was one of the most surreal and amazing moments of my life. At the end of the song my friend ran onto the stage and gave me a hug, which was incredibly unexpected and random. I just wish that somebody had film that performance (if anybody did film it then please let me know).

From Monday the 9^th, through to Friday the 13^th, I attended a summer program called Rock School, which was held at Newstead College. This was my eighth year at Rock School (I have been going since I was 10 years old), and even though I knew what to expect, I had a few surprises during the week. As well as learning about your specific musical instrument and have special masterclasses from very experienced musicians. Every person is also placed into a band, and at the end of the week (on the Friday), they perform a song in front of a large audience. In addition to the Friday concert, an acoustic performance was also held on the Thursday afternoon, in which people would go up onto the stage with their acoustic guitars and random assortment of percussion instruments, and perform to the Rock School students and supportive parents who came to support their child.

During the week I made new friends, caught up with old friends who I had met at previous rock schools, played a heavy metal song at the Friday concert, played another song where we had synchronised dance moves & towards the end of the song play the bass guitar behind my head (to a massive cheer from the energetic crowd), played the song “Sexyback” by Justin Timberlake at the acoustic concert (it really impressed the ladies), asked every music tudor if they could play dubstep on their chosen instrument (none of them could), introduced the word “cray” into everybody’s vocabulary (thank you Kanye West), made inappropriate comments about a certain someone’s hot MILF mother (you know who you are), got told that I should become a stand up comedian (not the first time I have been told that), showed everybody a dance move I created (I called it “The Simmo”), taught Bollywood dance moves to people (“screw the light bulb, and pat the dog”), attempted to explain the plotline to the Bollywood film “Fanna”(they didn’t fully understand it), explained how I cried during the film “My Sisters Keeper” (the beach scene and when the main character dies), did the whole “skinny, fat, skinny, fat” thing (you have to see it to understand it), told everyone what the capital of Thailand was (Bangkok), and did a very weird dance around the Cafeteria to Sexyback (it was strange to say the least).

My mother pretty much summed up the week in a speech that she gave after Rock School finished: “When you go to rock school, you seem to come out of your shell. When you’re at school you act really shy and seem to feel uncomfortable at times. When you go to rock school you are around people who you feel more comfortable with and as a result, you do and say things that you would normally do at school. After your performance today a woman came up to me and asked whether my son was on drugs, and I replied by saying that I don’t know if he is on something or not. One of the mothers, who spent time around the school during the week said that you walked around the school as though you owned the place, and whenever people saw you they crowded around you and hanged off every word you said. She said that you were the centre of attention, and everybody loved you. Now hurry up and finish you Beef Vindaloo curry before it goes cold,” (she didn’t really say that last sentence).