News: Northern Skies

People love drones, landscapes and music and so it was only a matter of time before someone put it all together into a single project. Which is what two North East musicians and a local videographer have done in an emotive piece of work that promotes the beauty and splendour of the region in music and images.

Born out of the feeling of confinement during lockdown, Dave Whiffin from Tynemouth and Les Watts from Blaydon went on to write a piece of music to invoke space and freedom, entitled Northern Skies, which features the musical talents of ex Prefab Sprout drummer, Steve Dolder, bass player John Pope and saxophonist Jordan Alfonso.

The video features drone footage of the area by Graeme Hare and shows the region in all of its glory, with picturesque footage of Bamburgh Castle in the north to Tynemouth and Seaton Sluice in the south and across to the Roman Wall and Kielder in the west.

“The idea of using the countryside and coastline in the accompanying video came about as an alternative to bands and musicians using Zoom type scenes in little boxes showing them at home playing their instruments,” said Dave.” “It was like watching people in prison and we wanted to have the opposite effect by showing off the beautiful area where we live with its wide-open spaces and fresh, clean air.”