Telford filmmaker teams up with Shrewsbury rock band to make ‘lockumentary’ - with video

Last month, Black Bear Kiss told fans that it had postponed its gigs due to the coronavirus outbreak.

But instead of sitting back, the group have been busy working together, all be it from the comfort of their own homes.

At the beginning of this month, the band released a lockdown music video for 'Fighting Our Corner', a song featured on their debut EP of the same name.

It shows the band members having fun at home with their families.

Jack Walker, from Telford-based film production company Welcome To Jack’s, has now teamed up with the Shrewsbury-based band to produce a 30-minute ‘lockumentary’ about their lives - called Hook, Line & Sinker.

The band’s members, Chris Leech, Chris Bagnall, Rich Sach, Rob Jones, all aged 35, and Colin Haden, 40, talk about nightmare gigs, who they would love to tour with and what they have planned post-lockdown in the one-off episode.

Mr Leech, the band's lead singer, said: "It's tough being apart.

"When you're in a collective of people, whether that's a band or a family, it's hard because you can only communicate digitally.

"We've had to cancel quite a few gigs and we can't practice, it's a challenge.

"One positive to come from the lockdown is there's going to be a ton of creativity and new music following this."

The band, which formed in 2016, has played gigs across the Midlands.

Mr Walker, 36, who is a former musician, said he had recently set up his company after contemplating filmmaking for a number of years.

"Last year, I began filming short documentaries for fun, but this year I want to take it up a notch," he said.

"A few weeks back, Black Bear Kiss approached me with an idea and asked me to edit their music video for Fighting Our Corner.

"I didn’t have to think about it – I’m a big fan of their music and they’re just great people.

"The footage was easy to edit as they did such a good job filming it themselves in their homes and watching the video now I’m really proud to say I was part of it.

“After the music video, I asked them how they felt about making a lockdown documentary and they were up for it right away.

"Coming from a music background I knew the type of topics we could discuss.”

Hook, Line & Sinker will be available to view for free on YouTube at the end of May, although a release date is yet to be confirmed.

Find out more by following @WelcomeToJacks and @blackbearkiss on Twitter.