The 48th hour finale. - tying up loose ends

I'm afraid that this post is a bit more of a retrospective narrative of the events that unfolded this morning. 

When we began jamming at roughly 1/2 am I had already began to feel that same ominous sense of tiredness, it began by severely limiting my capabilities as a drummer; the response of the kick drum felt extremely weighted and the sticks felt heavier than normal. In comparison to a normal day of practicing in which the sticks often feel like an extension of the body, on this occasion, there was a clear divide between sticks and hands. The ability to play doubles, a rudiment in which two notes are consecutively played with the same hand, began to become a seriously limiting process.

Whereas on a regular day I am often capable of jamming for fairly long periods of time, usually continuously for 3-4 hours, on the occasion I was limited to literally 30/40 minutes; more consciously focusing on literally trying to stay awake as opposed to playing drums. 

After a walk in a desperate attempt to wake up and refresh, we returned to the studio. This resulted in an extended 30 minutes of playing, ending due to the lack of physical capability.

During this time truly revealed the extent that deprivation can play on the mind. For what is often a fairly generic jamming session, became a gruelling battle of mental and physical stamina. The mind severely took its toll due to deprivation, although processes such as setting up the drums and recording equipment almost became an act of sub-consciousness, other activities began to become more obscured. One thing that has been documented on numerous occasions is the experience of hallucinations, although I'm not entirely sure if people see complete meta-physical creations of their mind, or perhaps something a little more obscured, I am relatively positive that I began to experience this in some elements. Throughout the jam, which was arguably the most physically straining process of the entire project, I began to become aware of shadows / shapes that although I knew were there in general, began to almost become questionable elements. For example in the studio live-room, I was aware of the reflections of both myself and Luke; however on numerous occasions I was expecting there to be someone in the studio. 

After leaving the studio we spent most of the final hours between the common room and some (very short) time outside trying to wake ourselves up a bit; although it was fucking freezing!

This period of time was easily the hardest. After attempting to break through the second wall by taking a tour of the university at about 4:30am, the walk around the Armstrong building exploring, became a bit too much. The hardest part was the feeling of what felt like impending doom, my eyes literally wanting to just shut; having a continuous feeling of slowly drifting between consciousness and sub-consciousness before feeling the head drop and regaining some form of minor stability. 

At around 6am we began to question how long this could be carried on for; we decided to throw the towel in, finishing finally at 7am. A full 48 hours deprived of sleep.

Reflections:

First of all, it sounds a lot easier than it is. We originally planned 4 days and 4 nights, when then became 72 hours, which resulted in 48 finally. 

Although warned that it was a hard exercise to apply ourselves too, we were both too engaged to take no as an answer.

Although I would never do it again, if I were to give some advice, it would be to start off relatively slow and always have something to do, particularly on night times. The hardest part was keeping active during night times in particular. Throughout day time, it almost felt as if we had slept. We were occupied and were able to simply carry on with normal life; however night times were totally different. We spent most of the night within the studio, predominantly with just ourselves as company. The hardest time was spent staying awake between jamming and what I would consider morning, around 8-9am when life begins to reveal a new day.

I'm sure that if we had planned more in-depth and organised activities slightly differently than I'm positive that we would have been able to have lasted a little bit longer. However, although we aimed to stay awake for a set period of time, our intentions were to look into the effects of deprivation on musicians. 

I can happily conclude it can drastically effect the way in which in we all perform, especially musicians who require more physical activity to produce music such as drummers. Although the stylistic qualities varied due to tiredness, it was more the physical strain that varied the music.

As far as listening to music, when we were tired we listened to more up-beat tracks in order to try and stimulate some for of energy; when we felt relatively normal, it did not truly effect the styles of music that we listened to.

Recovery:

At 7am I literally went straight to bed, waking up at 1pm so I did not exceed too much rest before night time. I then had a short nap from about 3-4pm. I feel relatively ok as I am writing this blog, so will hopefully be able to sleep properly tonight! Apart from this, I find getting back to normal relatively easy.

Hopefully within the next few weeks we will be able to upload both the video footage and recordings from the sessions.

If anyone has any questions or wants to try the experiment for themselves, please do not hesitate to contact us: a.elsender@newcastle.ac.uk; l.gaul@newcastle.ac.uk

An Unavoidable Ending - Wednesday 1st April, 6:20

As you may have read, night 2's jam was less successful than hoped, due to physical effects from lack of sleep. We played for approx. 40 minutes before Andy asked if we could break for a little while, as he couldn't find the energy to play drums whatsoever. We broke for around an hour, and then attempted to resume. We managed to play for roughly 10 minutes before coming to the conclusion that Andy was not in a strong enough state to play; hopefully we'll be able to show you some video footage at some point, which shows just how weak Andy became by this point.

Because of this, we discussed at length, and came to the conclusion that if 48 hours of sleep deprivation caused the physical ailments that it clearly had, 72 hours would be an absolute impossibility for Andy playing drums. We felt that we would be able to survive sleep deprivation for at least 60 hours, with the potential for 72, but without the ability to play drums, the entire intentions of our experiment go up in smoke.

We have therefore decided to end the experiment at 48 hours, as we would not have been able to add any more relevant data because Andy could not play at all.

We are going to record a jam in the studios in the coming weeks which will be under as perfect conditions as possible (i.e. as soon as possible after a healthy nights sleep) so that we can use this as our control variable, as it is an example of what the creative process would be under perfectly rested conditions. We can then compare this to our two nights of creative processes here, in which we were deprived of sleep for 18 hours and 42 hours respectively.

We will also update you all with general comments and thoughts from myself and Andy later on today, after we have had a chance to somewhat rest and gather our thoughts from what was a gruelling but strangely rewarding 48 hours.

Thank you to everyone who showed an interest in our experiment; it really shocked us that many of you took such an interest in what didn't seem like something an audience would take to.

The 43rd hour - The second jam - Revised during hour 44 (01/04/15)

As we approach the 43rd hour without sleep, we have begun our second jam; it is absolute hell! Unlike yesterday, which was still a 16 hour day and a relatively sloppy jam, this mornings session has become nearly unbearable. Although starting with a light groove, the weight of the sticks feel like they have increased, the bass beater lacks response, the general feel is extremely lackadaisical.
It had gotten to the extent where we had to call a break in order for me recover.

I feel extremely heavy, tired, drained. I am clearly at the second wall. Although originally claiming to attempt 72 hours of no sleep, I believe that 48 would be a far more feasible prospect; even whilst typing this, I can feel myself attempting to drift out into a deep subconscious territory.

I will last as long as I can, which for now, will be counted within the minutes...



(Hour 44)

That was hell. Throughout the entirety of both jams and the break, I was unable to function to any sort of reasonable caliber as a university drummer. By having no energy and literally almost falling asleep whilst playing, I was unable to play even the most simplistic beats, predominantly struggling to co-ordinate by right foot playing the bass.

Pre Jam 2 - General Thoughts (Wednesday 1st April, 00:02)

So we're just about to head in for the second night jam. I'm startled that we've made it this far when remembering how incredibly winded we were earlier on today. Now it seems as if its just night 1 again, although I'm sure thats just delusion on my part. We haven't mentioned it to each other, but I think we're both petrified of the next 'wall', which I would assume has to happen in the near future.

We really want to make the 72 hours; it was our intentions, even if it was originally naive, but we also are now more wary than ever of our personal safety. Whether it's dramatisation aided by the way people seem to react to this experiment or whether it's actually warranted, we are very aware of our own mortality now more than ever. Hell, it's not like we think we're gonna die or anything that extreme, but there is a definite chance of damage, even if it is just short-term.

We both admit that we've rarely ever, if ever at all, felt this vulnerable, both physically and mentally.

See you all on the other side...

The 39th hour and How we are attempting to stay awake (22:08 - 31/03/15)

As I am writing this blog, I will have stayed awake for currently 39 continuous hours. So far we have received numerous question off people asking how we have been able to stay awake for this duration of the time. Well, we don't exactly know really...

Prior to beginning the experiment we discussed the best possible ways of maintaining energy through dietary requirements; essentially we have ate four meals a day. Breakfast: croissant, Lunch: sandwich and fruit, Dinner: Pasta (or sandwich), fruit, Dinner 2: Sandwich (or pasta). In all honesty though, we haven't planned anything special and this 'diet' has varied, we are simply eating with caution.
I would like to highlight that we have used no stimulants, i.e no coffee, tea, Redbull etc..., we have predominantly drank a SHIT-LOAD of water (roughly 6 litres each so far) and the odd fruit drink.

As mentioned in the footage that we are recording, we have had no special practice or preparation, Luke had made a 36 hour trial run and that was it. We have had a standard night's sleep prior to the beginning and have simply cracked out on throughout.

I have personally found it a lot easier as today has progressed. In the morning I hit a severe wall, however, by the afternoon I had felt refreshed and was able to enjoy listening to music, such as Jeff Buckley and prepare essays.
Although starting to feel the lack sleep catching up, we are currently in the studios tracking Clockwork (Luke's band) and will then carry on by recording our jamming session later, which is expected to take place similarly around 1am.

Andy.

34 hours in...

We are just over 34 hours without sleep. Today we have chilled, done some work and walked.
Tonight is going to be the true test to discover if we will fall under the strain of recording another musician (21:00) and then going on to document our nightly jam session, which shall begin around 01:00 (roughly).

It is a very odd sensation, something we almost predicted; after hitting the inevitable first wall, for the majority of the day, we have both felt totally fine. Hopefully this on-going endurance will get us through the night without feeling any heavy physical or mental strains.

If anyone is close to the university, feel free to come and see us; the company is always deeply appreciated.

ONLY 32 HOURS?! (Tuesday 31st March, 15:18)

I spend half of my life wishing that days were longer. I always seem to end up in the house after midnight, and never get done what I wish I could get done. But today, sitting in the Uni commonroom from 5am, this day has been longer than any day I ever wished for. It's probably mainly because time stands still when you hit the wall. That painful period from 8am-12pm lasted a full day on its own.

I worry that me and Andy's constant blogging makes a hyperbole out of this little 3-day shenanigan. I promise we aren't trying to build this up as some crazy unheard-of expedition into the unknown - I think you know that it certainly isn't that incredible of a feat. But there's undoubtedly a loss of rationale when in this current state I find myself in, and without rationale, thoughts can cause panic unbelievably easily. I think about how sometimes at my weekend job a 4-hour shift feels like a full day shift, and then comparing that to my current situation, I die a little inside at the thought at 3 straight days in the same place without rest.

I'll stop moaning now. I feel pretty good; it's more the lingering realisation of just how long is left that's harming me psychologically. Let's see if I can still battle off the next 'wall' for a little while. They are really the only thing that will be our downfall.