Indie band Bloxx - which features two former Uxbridge College music students - have filmed their latest video in their old stomping ground of the Hayes campus.

Seven current performing arts students also took up roles as extras in the video for the Chess Club Records release ‘Everything I Ever Learned’, which went out on March 24.

Fee Booth and Taz Sidhu, who met whilst studying at college from 2014-16 on the Level 3 Extended Diploma in Music, spent the day filming with fellow band members Paul Raubišķis and Joe Kinton.

Vocalist and songwriter Fee, who still lives locally in Cowley, said: “The band wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for this college. So much happened here to make our careers. It’s brilliant to be back, and coming back here is to be feeling that gratitude. I loved it at college. Being here adds a bit of sentiment to the song, which is about tough lessons in life.”

The former pupil of Cardinal Wiseman school in Ealing added: “I failed my AS-Levels at school and then I begged my mum to let me come here. If I hadn’t come here I would never have done music. I learned everything about music and Logic at college. And I learned that I can sit in my bedroom and write songs.”

Video filming by Head & Wrecker production mainly took place in the traditional-style classrooms of the Townfield wing of the Hayes site, with hair and make-up in the Praxis studios - Praxis being the name given to Uxbridge College’s School of Performing Arts.

Northolt-based Taz, who studied at Dormers Wells, said that as well as technical skills he also: “...learned to play with a band here. As a musician you learn to play by yourself, but then you have to learn how to play with other people.”

He also talked about the importance of following your dream: “People give you all sorts of advice and you can listen to it. But if we had taken that advice we wouldn’t be here today - we are living the dream.  None of us would be sitting here today if we didn’t have that feeling of wanting to do it.”

The pair from Bloxx, whose debut album Lie Out Loud was released in August 2020, 

also took a trip down memory lane recalling hangouts including the seats outside Uxbridge Tesco’s, Fassnidge Park skate park, the Crown & Treaty pub where they played their first show, and getting interviewed by Hayes FM radio. Fee and Paul also both worked in Uxbridge’s Wetherspoons pub The Good Yarn - which was where they met - and Fee was a retail assistant in Next in Hayes on the Lombardy Retail Park.

Speaking of her time at Uxbridge College Fee also said: “It scares me for a minute sometimes - if I hadn’t have come here, I might still be working in Wetherspoons.” 

Ray Griffin, Section Manager in Performing Arts, who taught the band members, said:  “Fee and Taz have done us proud! They were both such hard workers at College and have shown how successful you can be with drive and commitment! The music industry is a difficult business to negotiate, but as well as their natural talent, they’ve worked with great people and made the best of their breaks. It is heartwarming and inspiring to know that they sprung from our little studios in Hayes and are moving on to greater things. and we wish them all the best.”

 

Everything I Ever Learned is on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RO0lkyy0h8