Vanity Project
I was reminded again on Thursday why carrying a tripod or monopod is always a good idea. Chris and I had the opportunity to interview BNL singer, Steven Page, following his in store performance at Easy Street Records here in Seattle. He is currently on a press tour of the U.S. promoting his solo release, The Vanity Project, on Flagship Recordings. I brought a DV cam along just in case, because I thought having a video of the performance and interview might be more meaningful than audio if we could get permission to do it. I intentionally left my tripod at home because I didn't have a convenient way to carry it if we couldn't record and the record store can get a little crowded.
As the performance started, it became clear that photography and recording was okay. Easy enough for the first few songs. Slowly, my hand started cramping and it became increasingly difficult to hold my hand still. Instead of recording the entire performance as one continuous effort, I ended up taking brief pauses between songs so that the feeling would come back to my hand. There are a few spots in the raw footage where this becomes annoyingly apparent. I'm still cleaning it up. At least the audio from the DV cam sounds good. I'm still cleaning up the footage from the musical performance, but the interview video is already live.
The Vanity Project album is quite good, btw. If you like BNL, you will most definitely like The Vanity Project. The entire album is co-written with Stephen Duffy, who is probably best known for his group The Lilac Time, although he also happens to be a founding member of Duran Duran. The Vanity Project is probably described by critics as an album demonstrating how much Steven Page has matured as an artist, but that kind of thing always seems kind of silly. It's a great pop record with catchy hooks and introspective lyrics. You can find The Vanity Project online at places like Napster and iTunes or at your local record store.