Holding Out

Two nights ago  I went to my best friend's gig at the 02 Academy, he is the guitarist of a band called Holding Out. The show was the best night of my life. The opening bands were joyous, I danced with my best friends and got drunk.
First, I met with Olivia. We went for food and then went for drinks in the Dog and Parrot. Naturally, as pint was in order before the gig.
I had been hyped for the gig for months, last week I met with the guitarist Jason to pick them up. He is in incredible, such a talented guy who I am proud to call my best friend.
The show was so personal and it was amazing watching my best friend do his thing.













It was last year when I went to one of his first gigs in Jumpin Jacks, a little space above a bar. And this week I got to see him and his band perform at the O2 Academy - this is surreal and insane.

The vibes were incredible, good guests and the crowd was so alive. It was such a positive energy bouncing between bodies, it was a night I definitely needed. Naturally, a lot of my college friends attended. The band is quite known in my sixth form, so it was good to see some friendly faces I hadn't seen since exams.

Holding Out have their EP on Spotify, please check it out. My personal favourite songs from the EP are Swing for the Fences and Plain Sailing, it was surreal singing along in the crowd. Jason, he has worked so hard on the EP. He himself produced the entire thing, and he did an amazing job. I am so proud of him. His bandmates were incredible too, on their top form. Ellis' vocals impressive as always, Charlie and his energetic vibes on bass, the concentration from Ryan the drummer and Jason smashed it with his incredible guitar solos!

Holding Out

Sunday, 2 July 2017

Summer Begins

Hello loyal readers!

Firstly, I will begin to say that I apologize for being awol this month. It is exam season, and well life threw me a curveball this month in my personal life. But, I am back in the frame of mind of writing again. This month has perhaps been one of the most difficult in my life so far, but I plowed through focusing on my exams and nothing else. My last exam was yesterday, and it was such a relief to have finally finished A Levels after 3 long years. The pressure to not fuck up has been real, I am not sure how results day will go, some of my exams were tough, but I know not to dwell on them right now. I did my best and it's all out of my hands right now.

To celebrate finishing A Levels with my friends, after my exam we decided to get drunk. Pitchers at the ready of course. It was a nice end to three years.

I want to talk about how it took me three years to finish A-Levels, I am aware it took my longer than a lot of my peers but it was important it took me three years. This time last year I was finishing AS for the second time round, and I've been thinking about my state of mind then compared to now. If I hadn't of messed up my first year and had gone to Uni last September, I honestly do not think I would have been ready. I was still worried on where I wanted to go in life, whereas now? I feel more steady, and I know I want to do English and going into the publishing industry. It took me the last year or so to discover myself, I know what I want and where I want to go. I have learned a lot about myself due to taking that extra year to complete A Levels. I am glad I messed up my first year, I would not be the person I am today without it.

I  want to say that. it is okay to fuck up. We all do it, you just have to learn from your mistakes and try again. It might take you longer to get to the place you want to be, you friends may even be ahead of you, but that is okay. You are doing this for yourself, and no one else.  Do it at your own pace, and just keep going, you will get exactly where you are meant to be, even if like myself it takes an extra year. You have got this.

I started my first day of summer with a good eleven and a half hours sleep, it was perfect not having to wake up for an alarm. I am quite optimistic about this Summer. The Summer before university. So far I have a gig planned, a cinema screening of a friend's film, a party to go to, pride, holiday to Spain and my best friend from Manchester is visiting so no doubt we will be up to many adventures. Those are the set in stone plans, no doubt there will be many more spontaneous plans on the cards. I also plan on writing a book, or begin to, this Summer. I am continuing a piece I did for my English Coursework, it is historic fiction, I will do a post on it with more detail another time!

Expect more summer posts. for example, I am shopping for holiday clothes this week so I may do a little holiday haul for you!

Summer Begins

Wednesday, 21 June 2017