The Basics- My Brain's Off (And I Like It) DVD Launch

Back in September I was privileged to experience three nights in a row with The Basics.  The first show on 27 September at the Northcote Social Club was filmed and recorded and has now been turned into the concert DVD My Brain's Off (And I Like It), which was launched tonight at a screening at ACMI.  As we entered the theater we were treated to a mini Drumstick ice cream cone and a glass of wine.  Kris, Wally and Tim came out and welcomed us to the screening before the film started.  They joked they were going to launch this at Northcote Social Club (as they had done for the previous live album) but we would have all been gathered around an iPad so they decided to use the big screen and sound system of the ACMI cinema.

Mary and I were a bit nervous about how many crowd shots we would feature in considering we were standing in the front row for this show.  Thankfully Mr. Tim Heath blocked us from the camera's view for a lot of shots, which was a relief although you can see us throughout (and Mary has a close up shot of her singing along to one song).  The concert film itself is fantastic and captures the humor, musical talent and fun of a Basics gig.  You also would never know from the way it is edited that Wally was struggling with his drum kit throughout the night.  The hour and a half concert was edited down to 15 songs, and unfortunately none of the new ones made the cut.  However, there are still heaps of musical highlights in there and we were fully engrossed throughout and even clapping after each song by the end.

After the screening the boys and filmmaker Ryan Gaskett took questions from the audience.  They ended up using this show for the DVD because Wally's vocals from the recording on the second night didn't work, and the video from the third night at the Corner Hotel didn't turn out.  There is also interview footage that wasn't used solely due to the time it would have taken to get the film through the Australian Classification Board (they hinted that maybe one day there could be a director's cut).  There were a few people brought along by friends who were blown away by the film having not known anything about The Basics beforehand.  The best question asked though was probably "Why aren't you the biggest band in the world?"  The boys were very coy when asked a few times about the future of the band and any possible recording, which I thought was slightly odd.  They do have some festival shows coming up into the new year, so they are still playing together at least for the short term.  We will have to wait and see what 2014 holds for the band.

Here's the trailer for the DVD (see if you can spot me) and be sure to order your own copy: