A few weeks ago I was chatting with Matt Watson and suggested the possibility of contacting Mustard TV‘s “Music Mash” and this he evidently did as they invited him in for a chat, and he in turn invited me to accompany him to take a few photographs to document the event for his Pledge campaign.
Presented brilliantly by Si Holden (of Vegas Fame Index) and with a very efficient and professional team behind the scenes it is proving a very worthy show promoting gigs and artists with a listings and news feature too. I feel I attend a reasonable number of gigs but still when I watch this 30 minute show I often find I am introduced to acts and artists I had no prior knowledge of, so this is a good medium for reaching out to a wider audience. There are also regular contributions from the likes of Rick Lennox and Craig Fraser-Hill.
We arrived in good time at the Archant building and were let in by Si who led us up to the recording studios and had a chat, making us feel very welcome indeed and introduced us to the rest of the crew and guests, who on this occasion were Invisible Cities. Chatting with coffees we all talked music (naturally) and all got on famously.
Whilst Invisible Cities were being interviewed by Si, Matt and myself watched from behind the scenes in the editing suite, which was a fascinating experience with banks of monitors and controls. The show is pretty much pre-recorded live with just any of the very few errors re-recorded. The studio is almost entirely green, and although I was sort of expecting this it takes a moment to get used to such a vivid green as of course that is not at all how it appears on the television screen … so don’t wear green! The interview was split into two with a showing of the band’s excellent video inbetween.
Matt and Si run through the layout of the show before recording
Matt getting mic’d up before recording
Si chats with Matt during The Music Mash
In the second half of the show it was Matt’s turn to talk about his music, his influences and experiences, including playing at The Brickmakers which was also featured in the show, and the show is available to watch again online for a few more days at: http://www.mustardtv.co.uk/episode/the-music-mash-10/
It really was an interesting experience and I cannot stress enough just how friendly, relaxed and natural everyone at Mustard is, so hospitable and welcoming, my thanks to them all. It was a pleasure to meet Si and the crew as well as Invisible Cities, whose company and music I very much enjoyed. For any artists thinking of contacting them I would urge you to do so, they will look after you and make you very relaxed and comfortable.
Many thanks to Si Holden and the Mustard TV crew, Invisible Cities, and of course Matt Watson. Mustard TV can be found on FREEVIEW, Channel 8.
words and photos, richard shashamane 2014
@RShashamane
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Norwich: Music City, UK 