Hey there. Me again.
2 things…..Did It Wrong things….
The Movie
We've been submitting our Did It Wrong proof of concept short to festivals, and we just got word that it's an Official Selection at the Fuquay Film Festival (that link takes you to tickets, if you're near Fuquay and want to hang out!). We don't have our screening date or time slot yet, but I'll update this post as soon as we do.
A little backstory will show you just how unexpected this was. Although…honestly? I should have expected more. Everyone who worked on this film is ridiculously talented. Like, amazingly so. But this isn't my first time on this submissions ride.
Back in the day, I used to submit Transmission Fields (my old band) to festivals through a service called Sonicbids. You'd pay 20 or 30 bucks, send in your music, and hope for a slot. It was pay to play, and I get why. Big festivals get a TON of submissions, so they charge a fee and try to dig through thousands of them.
I've never tallied it up, and I'm not sure I want to. My best guess is I submitted somewhere between 50 and 100 times over five or six years. I think we landed one show through all of that. And it was in a strip mall parking lot at 11am on a Sunday in (I think) Rock Hill, SC. We played to maybe seven people, four of whom were our girlfriends.
So I got very used to silence. That's usually how festivals said no.
When I opened my email last Sunday and saw we'd been selected….I just stared at it like I'd read it wrong. I turned to Meg and said "Did It Wrong got into the Fuquay Film Festival." She lit up…."Really?! That's amazing!"
I probably looked pretty stoic. Inside, I was thinking "Is this a mistake? Did they mean NOT selected? But they mentioned two free tickets and a swag bag. Would they send that to everyone who didn't get in?"
After a few minutes of stunned disbelief, I smiled. Then I laughed. Then just sat there and giggled a little bit. I didn't know how to contain or show the joy. So, I just real life emoted.
The Song
I decided the Did It Wrong song needed a refresh, so I hired some musicians and went back into the studio to rerecord it.
I started with drums, which led me to Dan Konopka, the drummer for OK Go. Dan came on as drummer and co-producer. We spent a while on the phone talking about being musicians in the '90s, learning songs out of guitar magazines, and beating Zelda with Nintendo Power. Working with Dan has been amazing.
Then I headed to Sioux Sioux Studio in Charlotte to record vocals and guitars with Jason Scavone. It was my first time there, and damn, it was rad fun. Really rad fun. Jason has a way of putting you at ease and getting the best out of you. He and Walldorf are kind of Charlotte legends to me, so getting to work with them was awesome.
We're putting the final touches on the mix now, and the plan is to have it hit the streets on December 4.
It's been a really rad month. Until next time, friends.