Photograph by Nicole Peplow Birmingham’s best dressed band and resident psychedelic shoegazers, Wide Eyed, invited friends and fans over to their practice room in the middle of an industrial business park just outside of Cannock (aka the middle of nowhere) to film the video for their debut single, Bleak. Against all the odds an actual sun radiating actual heat (occasionally) shone down on the bunch of attendees as they swigged cheap beer whilst slumped on old knackered leather sofas with the likes of Nirvana and The Horrors blasting from the stereo; definition of rock ‘n’ roll or more like a scene from an indie version of shameless? After a couple of hours of being totally chilled, the filming commenced in their incredibly cool practice room complete with all kinds of posters and music memorabilia; a haven for any music lover. The crowd assembled and downright chaos ensued as speakers fell to the ground, people fell onto the band and flowers were ripped up and thrown around. There was the case of the missing pineapple and the attack of the bumble bee which claimed the camera man as its victim. Despite the small space and low ceilings, crowd surfing was still a major event; it wasn’t just members of the small crowd either, as almost all of Wide Eyed gave it a go. When they weren’t swinging from the beams of the ceiling, they somehow managed to play a brilliant live set despite the fact they were being fallen on top of and their instruments were being bashed around. Along with ‘Bleak’ which was played a number of times, the band played another favourite ‘Still’ and treated the crowd to two new tracks which were equally well received. The hazy vocals and echoing guitar riffs make Wide Eyed one of the most interesting bands to emerge from the Birmingham music scene. The special gig came to an end at just the right time as the cigarette smoke to oxygen ratio started to get ridiculously unbalanced in the room. Someone shouted “let’s get the fuck out of here,” and like something out a zombie movie everyone staggered out 10 times less attractive than they were when they went in; dripping in sweat, squinting at the sun they’d forgotten all about and desperately trying to cure their deafness; all conclusive evidence that the live set was tonnes of fun. Wide Eyed proved themselves to not only be a group of lads with impeccable taste in fashion and heaps of musical talent, but also down to earth personalities. They were genuinely appreciative and humbled by the support of the people who starred in their first ever music video. Keep your eyes peeled for the finished result! Published in Counteract Magazine here
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