Turin Brakes frontman Olly Knights went through a difficult period as an artist following a long bout of writers block, something that is likely to send any artist into a major panic. He decided that the only way he could fight this was to go right back to basics…on his own. So he set about recording a new solo album at home using old analogue equipment purchased from Ebay. The results of this artistic struggle of a journey form a new documentary titled If Not Now When.
The documentary was filmed and edited by Philip Bloom who has known Olly for three years after they both got chatting on Twitter. After eventually meeting up for the first time Philip offered to make their next video ‘Ascension Day’, the quality of what he produced was incredible and transformed their ideas on what could be achieved in a small budget thanks to great director and some keen volunteers:
Philip is no ordinary film maker, he uses low budget techniques which don’t leave artists in ridiculous financial dire straits where the big budget videos are funded against artist royalties as they were with Turin Brakes when they were signed to Virgin. Of course it’s not just about technique, it’s about how you see the world through a lens…
“When was the last time you looked into a homeless persons eyes. I mean REALLY looked into them?”
The documentary If Not Now When is due to be released soon, but before it is, feast your eyes on the talent of Olly Knight performing the song by the same name…and what an incredible video: Filmed, edited and directed by Philip Bloom on the Canon C300. Genius!
In a recent interview on Philips blog, Olly admitted that Turin Brakes had sold around 1 Million albums internationally, had made some companies a healthy pile of cash but left their label half a million in debt! Those £115,000 videos didn’t help. This is no new predicament yet there are many talented film makers out there like Philip such as Myles O’Reilly who we regularly feature who can help artists without breaking the bank. A good starting place for meeting great film makers like this is on Vimeo.
Chim Chim Cheree is now available on iTunes with proceeds going to Shelter UK and the 2 Shelters in USA that feature in the Phillip Bloom film.
