Pride of Lions

So outside of home making, online shopping and driving around.  I have the pleasure of managing an amazing Indie Pop band.  They are called Maniac.  From all my years of working with bands and artists, the one thing that always drew me to them was, first, the music and songs, but an amazing work ethic always made them that better.  I've worked with lazy people who go nowhere and blow their shot and bands that do it all and really go for it from the passion and love for what they do.  Whatever it takes to keep the engine running.

Maniac is one of those bands.  This video for a song called Pride of Lions, was recorded in their home studio and they made the video on their own.

The story behind this is, when the band was not recording or touring last year, rather than sit around, they decided to take a trip across America.  It was an experiment influenced by Jack Kerouac, On The Road.  They wanted to see if they could make it from Los Angeles to New York with no money and no technology (no phones) and basically play for their food and transportation.  Some was via hitchhiking and some of the travels were from money earned to buy a ticket on a bus to the next destination.
Shawn and Jake took off from Barstow, with their friend and videographer Emily along to document the experience.

They made it in about a month.  This was not without moments of feeling they would never get there, stories of murders, hitting and killing a deer in a car (the car was totalled) and losing lots of weight...

The hopes are that they will one day actually make a longer version of this.  Maybe a documentary or a web series.  The footage is amazing and knowing what they were doing. the video takes you along for the journey and makes you feel like you are there.

I wish I had the balls to do this.  But I don't, so I watch the videos and read the books.