Video: “Going Down” By Western Sand

Of all of the bands gigging around Bournemouth at the moment, one of the best and one that has bags of potential is the Hard/Southern Rock outfit called Western Sand. Not only are they an extremely likeable bunch but they produce some kick ass classic rock riffage and put on a killer live show!

This being the case I approached them with the idea of making a music video. I had already done one years ago (High ‘n’ Dry for Voodoo Vegas) and really enjoyed the experience. Part of my job of being the Graphic designer at The Tank Museum is filming and editing videos for the museumís You Tube channel and also having edited a couple of interviews for Rock Regeneraton. Since I was getting pretty handy at using Premiere Pro and having upgraded my camera to a new Canon 7D (that has the capability shoot Hi-Definition video), I wanted to make a video for a band that ticked all my boxes. The guys liked my pitch of shooting at Battistini’s Custom Cycles in Pokesdown and of it being a “Bike Show” with the twist that Western Sand was performing for the bikes. I.e. What band do deluxe custom motorcycles rock out to? Western Sand!

Having got the band on board I rode down to Battistini’s and met with the owner Mark Battistini (he is featured in the intro and outro of the video). A really sound bloke and he was totally up for it, even willing to keep the shop open after hours for the shoot. We all agreed on a date and turned up on a Tuesday to set up and start filming. My good friend Paul Brough-Slack helped immensely with lugging gear and lights around and was in charge of the playback tape for the band to mime to.

After shooting it was time to edit and this was the most time consuming part of the process, syncing up the footage to the sound and getting the video to flow smoothly. I rendered several different treatments, the band choose the one they liked best and after a few minor tweaks it is good to go.

I hope everyone enjoys it and if any other bands want a video done or even a photoshoot please get in touch with Dan O’Gara.

Video