Big day. Our Time Down Here have finally surpassed Midtown in my top 8 on Last.fm.
2011.
The beginning of the year kind of sucked, my goal for 2011 was to move down to London. I did this within two months when I somehow scored a digital marketing internship at Warner Bros. Records.
My first gig ever was Taking Back Sunday with My Chemical Romance supporting, so getting to work for these two bands at Warner was incredible. I even got to go to an MCR video shoot. Right up my alley! Of course, I had to do a load of mundane work, mainly involving Excel spreadsheets, but it was all experience. I only had to make tea once and my boss even apologised. I was allowed into their Monday morning label meetings, and while I didn’t agree with some of their ideals, it was still massively insightful into how a major is run. Definitely, a valuable foot in the door!
During those three months, I stayed at my good friend Nellie’s in Vauxhall. We even shared a bed! I honestly can’t thank her and her family enough. I also realised during that time, that London is my home. I missed my brothers, but I’m so much happier down there. I get to see all of my friends on the regular and go to ALL of the shows.
After Warner, I spent a month back at home and learned that my dad needed a triple heart bypass, which came out of the blue for everyone, because he’s so actively fit, but he made a full recovery. :)
I then managed to get an internship with Last.fm. I couldn’t believe my luck and it was actually paid - pretty decently for an internship! I’ve been the biggest fan of that website for nearly six years, so getting to spend my summer there was unreal. I even got a red square. I was the ‘Artist and Label Support Intern’, where I, essentially, helped artists and labels with their Last.fm woes. There were times where I did even more mundane work than at Warner, but I’m still grateful for everything. The life of an intern isn’t supposed to be glamorous! Getting a behind-the-scenes look everyday and working with people who were all genuine music lovers was wonderful.
While I was happy at Last.fm, ‘home life’ wasn’t exactly great during the last month and a bit down there. I stayed at Nellie’s for the first month, then decided it was time to move on – probably not the best decision. I went on to stay in Sutton and I’ve never felt so emotionally drained in my life. Luckily, a load of friends pulled through and made my final weeks absolutely amazing, and I’m still SO thankful.
Aside from interning, 2011 will be remembered for meeting so many great people with some becoming my closest friends (‘sup, Chris Marshman?), all the sick shows I went to (my TOP 5), my self-destruction by mosh (broken finger, rib, nose, infected leg, countless bruises, ha) and my first FEST!
My goal for 2012 is to move down to London permanently and secure a proper job. I’ve had a bunch of interviews lately and I have one in a couple of weeks, so hopefully something will come along soon. :)
All in all, the best year of my life!
Last night was incredible. Everything I expected and more. So many friends, singalongs and stage dives!
After the show, we went to a pub and Ricky got pretty much everyone, bar me, to try this hot sauce. It had a warning sign on saying to only have one drop at a time, because it was that ridiculous. It was hilarious, Leigh, Chris, Laura and Luke ended up using mayonnaise as mouthwash.
Seriously, going to miss everyone down here. These past 7-months and this summer, in particular, has been the best time of my life, ignoring a few mishaps. I don’t even care if this is lame or sappy, but down here, I feel like I fit in and I’ve never really felt like that before. So, I’m pretty bummed about going back to Newcastle, there’s nothing really there for me.
Hopefully, it won’t be too long before I’m back down again, after my Warner internship it took me a month. I’ve been offered two other internships (unpaid) with labels down here, and don’t get me wrong, I’m amazed they’ve even approached me, but I’ve been interning and bed surfing for the past six months, I kind of just want some stability and real money now, so I’ve turned them down.
I enjoyed my time at Last.fm, I’ve been the biggest fan and a user since 2006, so to get to say I’ve worked for them is pretty incredible. I lived my dream and got a red square. Turns out I get a purple square for being an ex-employee, so I’m stoked. I stocked up and looted the merch cupboard yesterday. How awesome is my mug?
Last.day
It’s my last day at Last.fm and I’m pretty bummed, but I really can’t think of a more perfect show than The Wonder Years and Valencia tonight!
Seven months ago, on the first day I moved down to London to begin my internship at Warner, I went to The Wonder Years at The Peel and now I’m seeing them on the last day of my time at Last.fm. Rounding off the best few months of my life pretty well, I think!
Seriously going to be the most posi show ever, so many friends and singalongs! :)
I spent this year as a ghost and I’m not sure what I’m looking for
I’m a voice on a phone that you rarely answer anymore
I came in here alone
Came in here alone
But that doesn’t scare me like it did seven months ago
I spent this year as a ghost and I’m not sure where home is anymore.
Martin from Last.fm did this for me, a heatmap of all my scrobbles! Yay. Basically, you can tell which months I’ve had no life/job (my entire time being a student + January and June this year) by all the late night scrobbles, haha.
To help make sense of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dekstop/sets/72157627536754640/
/geek
