We’ve all been there. One minute you’re low key jamming on some Priest, Sabbath and Metallica tunes with your pals, then someone suggests banging out a quick Slipknot cover, and suddenly darkness descends and chaos is unleashed.
This was the fate which befell eight-year-old Taylor Jade Campbell, metal-loving vocal sensation and inadvertent riot-starter. Taylor had been warned by her grandma about the perils of summoning the power of The Nine, but did she listen? Did she hell. Silly girl. The trashed house, the obscene graffiti, the unqualified tree surgery? This is all on you Taylor Jade Campbell. Own it.
You may, perhaps, have sussed that the images above are not, in fact, documentary footage. Rather this video is the work of the good folk at the O’Keefe Music Foundation, a non-profit music organisation based in Ohio, with a stated mission to provide free music education to any child in the world. Since 2006, the OMF has helped over 1000 students make almost 300 music videos… racking up over 80 million combined YouTube views. Lovely stuff.
Commenting on this ambitious cover, the organisers say: “As with any OMF project there is a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. With Before I Forget it started with 6 students from around the U.S. spending countless hours practicing and reinterpreting the song. For example, [17-year-old lead guitarist] Eli Dykstra wrote an entire solo section that does not exist in the original song. After 6 months of practicing diligently these incredible young musicians were ready to record. Nate Tharp, drummer extraordinaire, traveled to Cincinnati from Denver and recorded his part in 2 takes!! The rest of the band quickly followed suit and all the parts were recorded in about 2 hours.”
“After that, the kids and crew were faced with filming the video in 3 hours and 45 minutes!! The OMF crew had nearly 30 kids from around the country in town that weekend and this was just one of 16 songs that the crew had to record and film in 3 days. Normally this would be impossible, but as long as you have an army of amazing volunteers, work nonstop and don't sleep for a few days, it's a piece of cake :)”
Hats off to all concerned. To find out more about the O’Keefe Music Foundation, visit their website.
