91热爆

Sunday 3 August

When I arrive at the 91热爆 on Sunday, me and Suzanne are greeted by Pete who takes all the photos, videos and other content for the Raw Talent site. He's armed with two massive video cameras which we'll be using to film tonight's session band, Silent Film Project, as part of a project which may be finding itself on the Big Screen in Hull sometime soon.

Bye bye bingo wings!

Again I find myself putting up mic stands and playing with wires before Pete gives us a dummies guide to using the video equipment. Soon we're running around the Open Centre filming anything and everything. After a while my arms begin to hurt and I wonder why I've never considered becoming a camerawoman as a way of banishing the old bingo wings.

We do a quick impromptu interview with the band, with Suzanne in front of the camera and me firmly fixed behind it. They begin their live set and we move around like ninjas, invading their personal space to try and get some good angles. It's all fun and games.

Monday 4 August

In what has become a bit of a Monday morning routine, I spend some time doing research for next week's gig guide. Mine and Suzanne's interviews with the bands chosen for Leeds and Reading Festivals are given the final green light and go online. It's a bit of a fanfare moment for me and I resist the urge to contact everyone I know. I might have sent a couple of emails and maybe the odd text message. Maybe.

Fanfare moment: my first pieces online

We've spent the last couple of weeks asking all the bands we've encountered about their ultimate survival tips and essential items so that we can update a feature Raw Talent did last year about festival tips. Once I've composed myself, we sit down and look at everything we have accumulated before trying to put it into some kind of order.

Strangely enough, we find that a lot of stuff can be bundled together in sections. This will make things a lot easier! Writing together turns out to be a lot of fun, and we end up with some ridiculous puns (check the article to see my point).

Later, we try and find photos to use for the article. This proves to be a massive headache as the computers and CMS seem to be on a go-slow. After a while, we just give up and decide to come back to it in the morning.

Deciding to take some photos to put with our diaries instead, we head off with a camera. Our first couple of attempts have us looking so horrific that we give up on that too. It will all be better in the morning (we hope).

Tuesday 5 August

This day will go down in history as one of the longest days ever.

First thing, me and Suzanne ask if we can go into the Look North studio and have some photos taken. Thankfully, we're not dismissed as nuisances and we get all the lights and cameras turned on. Seeing my face up on a giant screen at the side of the studio is certainly an experience!

Then we head off into Hull to get some more photos, before being summoned back because we've accidentally gone off with the fancy camera that's needed urgently for something important. Oops.

Me in Paxman mode with Pat from The Talks

When we get back, we decide to give the photos for the survival tips feature another try. All the problems of yesterday have been magically resolved and we tick that one off as another job done.

Just over a week ago, we decided that we'd cover the singles launch for two local bands, The Talks and The Paddingtons, which is tonight. We have a chat about what we want to get out of it, what photos we're going to need, who we're going to talk to and about what.

We leave a bit early to get to The Sesh on Princes Ave so that we can get photos of the bands' sound checks and grab them both for a bit of a chat. We get really good photos and interviews but the wait until the live sets is unbearable, during which time the place becomes completely packed out. By the time we've asked people their opinions after the gig, it's nearly midnight and definitely time for sleep.

Tomorrow morning we're real ale tasting live on Radio Humberside. Great stuff.