When Ellie met All Time Low

I figured out about three weeks ago about a meet and greet competition to meet All Time Low, who have spent the past few days touring around Australia. I put in my submission for the competition, not getting my hopes up because I'm notoriously unlucky when it comes to winning meet and greet competitions. I was due to figure out who won the competition by Wednesday 28th August, and after spending a good 24 hours constantly refreshing my e-mails, I accepted the fact that I hadn't won, but nonetheless I knew I was going to have a good time on the night of the concert.

 

However, good things do come in threes. As this was my third time I was seeing them, I had a somewhat of a hunch that something good was going to happen. On the 29th, I decided to check my e-mails one last time on the bus home from university and what did I come across?:

"You have won an All Time Low Meet and Greet"

I put my hand to my mouth to stifle the sobbing and screams that I was making. I couldn't believe my luck, so of course I did sob and scream and subsequently skipped the two kilometres back to my house.

Thursday night and Friday went by extremely slowly-so I spent any given moment listening to their music, watching Straight to DVD and also posing in the mirror deciding how I'll smile when I take photos with Jack, Alex, Rian and Zack (and I'm not ashamed of that okay).

Saturday morning I flung myself out of bed after a sleepless Friday night. The day was finally here! I was a roller coaster of emotions (thank you Katie for that saying)-happy, excited, nervous, anxious. I made my way into the city and met up with my friends and we made our way to Billboard. I got to the stage when I was so excited and so nervous I became fidgety. The first hour we waited went by really quickly, and the second one went on forever. Finally, we got the go-all meet and greet people gather. My friend Annie and I left our spot in the queue and assembled with the members of the Hustlers (it was awkward because we were the only non-Hustlers there) and waited to see what was happening.

We lined up and processed past Flyzik who was ticking off the names of everyone on the list and processed into the Billboard. After Flyzik debriefed us on what we can and can't do, Jack, Alex, Rian and Zack made their way into the venue to the sound of 60 or so fans.

The first member I met was Alex Gaskarth. He gave me a hug and subsequently signed my copy of Don't Panic and a poster I have of the band. He was ridiculously nice and he accepted my compliment when I thanked him for existing. 

I then made my way to Rian Dawson. He is probably the most down to earth dude ever- I had no idea how to react when I met him for some reason so as he said "how are you?", instead of responding with "I'm good thanks" or whatever, I asked him for a hug instead which he gave to me. All derps aside, after spending a good 30 seconds telling myself maybe telling him he has nice teeth, my friend Annie and I got an opportunity to talk to him for a bit after we met the rest of the band, where we talked to him about being a musician and whether Annie should learn the drums.

Thirdly, Annie and I met Zack Merrick. He was pretty funny, especially in reaction to our excitement of meeting him, calling us "turkeys" as we surrounded him. Just between you and me, he is completely flawless in reality and he gives good hugs.

Finally, we got to Jack Barakat. Meeting him was probably the highlight of my night. As he signed my poster ("right on the weiner") and my copy of the CD, I came to the conclusion that I would love him to write something for me. Hesitantly, I asked him if I could write some lyrics from the song "Paint You Wings and in response, he asked back "Are you sure? I have pretty messy handwriting." and I retorted "I pretty much write in hieroglyphics" and showed him in my messy notebook how bad my handwriting is. He examined my writing and said "your writing's really nice and really neat what are you talking about" and finished writing the lyrics (which he actually wrote wrong but I really don't mind). I gave him a hug and before we knew it, Flyzik told us that the meet and greet was over, and it was time to let in the rest of the ticketholders so we can start the show.

So there we go, I decided to write this out instead of messaging people a million times over with the same thing. But safe to say, it was one of the greatest moments of my life and I will hold that day so close to my heart. Thank you so much Soundwave Touring for hosting the competition and giving me the opportunity to meet one of my favourite bands, as well as All Time Low and their team for putting on such an amazing show

Thought Of The Week

This has been something that has been on my mind for actually, more than a week. So this is going to be a massive ramble about something extremely close to my heart.

As you have probably gathered, music has played and continues to play a massive part in my life. It has everything to do from the lyrics, the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, the work done by my favourite musicians (who I classify as my biggest inspirations in life) and all the pre and post production of my favourite records. All these things have helped give me the music that has shaped my life and it has made my life so much more bearable.

Growing up, I have copped a lot of flack for the types of music I listen to. And while I wish I could've said these comebacks years ago, even days ago, these are some of the best insults I have gotten in terms of my taste in music.

1. Your taste in music sucks.
   Let me just say. this is the most piss weak of an insult you can give anyone ever. I mean, full stop you shouldn't bully anyone about anything and I am completely anti-bullying, but I digress. No one's taste in music is inferior/superior to another. Music is something that is made for everyone to enjoy. Don't belittle something that can mean so much to someone. We all have unique tastes in music, none are identical. That's what makes music so beautiful. You can go through someone's music collection and see the most diverse collection. Even looking through mine-I have everything varying from Bring Me The Horizon to Beyonce and even Adam Lambert. But we all love this music- When words fail, music speaks.
    And I'm sure when we say we "hate" a certain band or artist-I am guilty of saying this about so many bands, particularly Paramore and Ronnie Radke. I'm sure we don't mean it, especially because "hate" is such a strong word. I have the upmost respect for every musician who puts time, effort and dedication in writing their music. When I say I "hate" a certain band, I honestly mean that their music just doesn't appeal to me.  I have tried to get into them, but I just honestly cannot. So
2.  Your favourite band can't even play their instruments. 
   Let me explain to you a thing-Music is not always necessarily about the instrument, nor necessarily the lyrics. They can complement each other, but are separate entities. They work together and separately to make you feel all these different emotions. That's the beauty of music, you can listen to something completely instrumental or a capella and they will have varying effects on how you feel. And seriously, this insult I got was in reference to one of the biggest rock bands in the world-a band that have smashed world records, have experimented with music in many different ways. And many bands just have varying ways in which they play their instruments-so they can play their instruments, but just in a different way in which you may think instruments should be played. 
3. "I have a diverse taste in music"
   And I don't? This was in reference to me disapproving to a festival line up, and saying it simply wasn't my thing and all of a sudden hell broke loose with someone really badly attempting to make fun of my taste in music. We can't all agree on everything, and while I love supporting the Australian music scene, you just have to pick the places and shows you really want to go to. And my taste in music is very diverse thank you very much, it's just diverse across selectively one or two genres, but I will gladly listen to other genres, just some more than others.
4. Why do like Kurt Cobain so much? He killed himself, he's not a good role modeI was honestly really confused about this. I don't know if it was an insult or just a blunt statement in disapproval of one of my favourite bands. For me, the people I look up to are those who push boundaries while doing minimal harm to others. Music has introduced me to the most amazing musicians who I have looked up to form a young age, one being Mr. Cobain over here. Why do I look up to certain musicians?
   From about the age of nine, I have looked up to Billie Joe Armstrong. Green Day were probably the first bands I got into which introduced me to pretty much all my favourite bands. For a nine year old girl who had been picked on for a good portion of their school years, Billie Joe kind of gave me some courage to stand up for myself and to not feel scared to express myself by whatever means necessary.
   Gerard Way gave me the ability to express myself and be proud of it
   Austin Carlile made me realise that whatever goes on, it does get better.
   Mark Hoppus gave me this talent to be able to dream big.
   Jared Leto let me see outside the box and to not feel afraid to push boundaries in achieving what I want.
   Freddie Mercury's ambition has helped me make some powerful decisions that have changed my life for the better.
   Courtney Love has helped me not give a stuff about anyone's negativity towards me.
   And of course, Kurt Cobain made me realise that it's okay being me. We all know his quote "I'd rather be hated for who I am than loved for who I am not". It's been made so generic over the years but it kind of made me realise that being me is not so bad after all.
   They've all done some pretty goofy things in their lives, but I don't look at them any differently. Regardless of all their mistakes, they have changed my life and I am eternally grateful for that.

So yes, please think twice before you insult someone on their taste of music.
Have a nice weekend!