I got excited when I found the abandoned Magic Mountain site in New Orleans while searching online. It had been abandoned after Hurricane Katrina. I knew it was the perfect place to film for our lyric video for “Sola.” But as I read on I discovered that it was closed off to the public and those caught trespassing would be fined, jailed or both. Every person that wrote on that blog had experienced either being fined or taken in. Since my band was on tour in the area, I decided we’d film there. It was just to cool to pass up. I came up with a plan on how to get into the park and decided not to mention to Will the part about no trespassing. I needed him relaxed for filming purposes. I also knew that we had to be super dressed down, almost like ninjas, so we wouldn’t catch attention and that is the reason why I broke my own “no jeans in videos” rule.
I showed him the site and he was equally excited. The day arrived and everything was going according to plan. We were inside the park and had already spent a few hours filming when we heard a patrol car inside the park. Will was shocked as I yelled at him to drop. He crawled under a bush which was full of bees. He must of seen the fear in my eyes because at that time he asked me to spill it. I did. We decided to stay under the radar for a bit longer and capture a few more shots.
The park was eerie. Because of the water, there were swarms of bees everywhere and some of the rides were being taken over by vines and nature. The part that stood out to me the most was finding a wet stuffed animal toy. The kind they give you when you play and win a game.
The time had come for us to go home and face the music. As we were approaching the front gate we heard someone tell us through a loud speaker. “Make your way out. Police Officers are waiting for you outside.” When we walked out, sure enough, they were waiting. I told Will not to say anything and let me do the talking. We walked over and I flashed the biggest smile I could. To my surprise their angry faces turned into smiles as well. While talking to them I could tell the main officer was not happy. After talking to the main officer for a while he turned out to be quite nice and he let us go with a warning. After we left, Will was not happy and I had some explaining to do.