Throughtout this year we've been on an incredible journey through the decades and together we've experienced so many positive things. Aside from music we've looked at cultural, political and environmental events from the 1970s and 1980s and we're only just getting started on our crazy adventures through the decades. As well as recapping our achievements so far we want to provide a kind of roadmap for the next year and we really hope you'll continue to journey with us as we explore the ever-evolving landscape of musical genres and styles as well as fashion, culture, lifestyles and politics while charting a course through our technological evolution.
Eighties!
For our first stop off in time we spent two weeks at Easter in the 1980s where we discovered a colourful optimism in music fuelled by new musical technology in the form of sequencers and synths. We saw a shift in ideas and a move towards more gregarious, flamboyant fashion. The New Romantics, Post Punk, Punk, Soul, Dance, Heavy Metal, Pop and Rock came into focus and we covered a wide variety of artists, from Prince, Duran Duran, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The B52s to Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica and Killing Joke. We learned about environmental disasters like the Exxon Valdes and through the music of Frankie Goes to Hollywood (Two Tribes) we observed political shenanigans between the east and the west. We touched upon miners strikes in the UK, union-busting policies from Margaret Thatcher and the rising influence of Wall St. We also created artwork using AI to capture the essence of the decade.
We Got the Funk!
Next up we went back a decade and spent four weeks of summer exploring the 1970s where we definitely found the funk. Through artists like Stevie Wonder, The Average White Band, Heatwave and Donna Summer we saw how jazz had heavily influenced the creation of pop music throughout that era. "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer was a particularly interesting track and one that our time travellers thoroughly enjoyed. We recreated Georgio Moroder's iconic arpeggio line and built the song around that. This song was a turning point in musical history and is firmly at the heart of so much of the dance music that has followed since. It was a pleasure to share it with a new audience over 40 years after its original release.
Stevie Wonder's "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" was also another interesting choice. Not an obvious single and from one of his earlier albums, it captured the essence of jazz through its beautiful chord structures and its vocal melodies made for a totally undemanding listen which added a different dimension to our concert that week and offered perfect contrast for rocking tracks like AD/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top" and Black Sabbath's "Symptom of the Universe".
Another landmark for us occurred this summer too as we introduced "PHOTOSHOOT", our first foray into photography. Photoshoot focused (pun intended) heavily on portraits and band shots and was designed to inspire a new generation of young photographers to discover art found through a lens. Over the four weeks they took some fantastic shots, learned about composition, colour balance, photo editing and wandered around the online galleries of famous music and fashion photographers such as Anton Corbijn, Jack Garofalo, Dennis Feldman and Donna Gottschalk.
The two workshops combined perfectly and created a togetherness which brought harmony and happiness to proceeedings. Throwing a camera or two into the mix really helped to break down barriers created by a lack of self-confidence or insecurity and everyone quickly felt at home under the gaze of the lens. We felt this was a really important step for anyone aspiring to pursue a career in the performing arts because you can be sure that as success grows, so does the scrutiny. It's good to get used to it early.
Into an Ironic Future
So where do we go next? The future for The Rockstar Experience is going to be really interesting. We're parking the time machine until next Easter where we'll zoom forwards a couple of decades to the 1990s. There we'll meet newer genres of music such as grunge, club, indie and the seedlings of Nu-Metal as well as the important musical and cultural influence of Hip-Hop.
Following that we'll jump back 30 years to the 1960s where we'll enjoy "Summer of Love" and all the societal, musical and ideological changes that came with it. Before those we have a Halloween event planned for 23rd-26th October. Times will be 10:30 - 13:30 and venue is TBC. At Christmas we'll be back with another musical retelling of a couple of classic Xmas movies. Last year we had a blast covering the excellent SCROOGED and this year we'll be running two separate events for children and teens in Herne Bay and Canterbury. In terms of after-school events we're looking to bring in funding to make that happen. We've undergone a number of key changes behind the scenes to ensure the future of The Rockstar Experience remains stable so that we can all enjoy longevity and success together. Thanks to your involvement and belief we've managed to build something really special. We've got so many miles to go and so many songs to sing so let's keep doing this together. Thank you for being part of our journey.
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