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January is normally a quiet month gig-wise, and while this one has been no exception in many ways it's been nice to have a bit of time at home. That said there are always a few musical goings-on going on...
On Friday night I returned to Tropic At Ruislip to catch a splendid performance from Like The Beatles. Being a big fan of The Fab Four (the less-charitable might use the term 'Beatle Bore') it was great to see them playing less-than-obvious material like 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?' amid the expected hits; I was also very impressed with the accuracy of the vocal harmonies that are such a vital part of those amazing records. The all-but-sold-out crowd seemed to enjoy ever minute of it, and I don't mind saying that I did too. I was far too young to have been able to see the original band, and whilst it would be churlish to suggest that a show like this gets anywhere near the excitement of an actual Beatles show if nothing else it does reinforce just how good the songs are. As if we needed reminding?
Saturday saw your humble narrator journey to Holloway for a London Sewage Company gig supporting King Kurt at The 12 Bar Club. Yes, The 12 Bar Club. With Occupy London er, occupying the old club in Denmark Street many of the fixtures and fittings have been moved from the original premises to Phibbers on the Holloway Road - I must say that it was a rather surreal experience to see pictures, staff and indeed club regulars all transplanted from the old place in the new place. Not bad, but definitely surreal... anyway I arrived to find the rest of our band all present and correct and King Kurt setting up so I took the opportunity to visit the wonderfully-named Piebury Corner a couple of doors down for, you've guessed it, a pie. And very nice it was too.
Back at the club our soundcheck was somewhat tense affair, with feedback, monitor problems and everyone having trouble hearing each other. Still we got it all together in the end, and by the time we took to the stage at half past eight the place was filling up nicely. Our set saw a few of the aforementioned soundcheck problems rearing their ugly heads again, but despite it all we played well and got a great reaction from the audience. In the interval I caught up with John King, Sarah Pink, Lee from Infa Riot, Tara from The Duel and more - see what I mean about people being transplanted from the old to the new! - before King Kurt played a storming set. A great evening all round, right up to the moment that I got back to Holloway Road tube station to find the service in disarray and no chance of getting home by train. Bah! Oh well - I made it to Piccadilly Circus, Marble Arch and the night bus home - that used to happen at the old venue too!
And last night I joined Segs and Dave at Jamm in Brixton to work on Ruts D.C. material that should hopefully come out as a 7'' single in time for Record Store Day on April 18th. I'll keep the exact details to myself for the moment, but I did record some backwards guitar on one of the tracks. Great fun - I knew all that time spent listening to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' would come in handy one day...
So - there is still little or no time to do anything but play the guitar (not all bad news then!) or help attempt to stem the Christmas tide in Balcony Shirts, and now I've managed to develop that most hideous of conditions - yes, I've got (gulp!) ManFlu. Oh gawd! I felt a bit rough last week but vast application of paracetamol coupled with what passes for a couple of early nights in my warped world seemed to have kept it at bay - but this morning I woke up feeling as though I'd done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson in his prime. Bugger! Oh well - time for more paracetamol and another early night then... maybe yesterday afternoon's Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gig at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back? It was certainly a good show and it was great to see the lads again, but I was out on my feet by the end of it. And I feel worse now. Bah! And if that wasn't bad enough, I didn't get to see The Who - mind you, no one did!
In the meantime it was a great gig with T.V. Smith at The 12 Bar Club last Friday - with Goldblade, Eastfield, The Anabollic Steroids and Viva Las Vegas also on the bill it was definitely a good value evening, which began with a four song set from Sarah Pink (covers of 'John, I'm Only Dancing' and 'Teenage Kicks' alongside two of her own songs) before I walked down Oxford Street to catch a bit of the Human Punk night at The 100 Club. As I got there I bumped in to co-promoter John King just as The Pukes began their set - they're always good fun and this show was no exception, after which Andy the D.J. played 'The Price You Pay' by The Price. Weird! As Infa Riot began their second number it was time for me to return to my own gig - walking across the club I couldn't help but notice that someone had collapsed in front of the merchandise stall, I told the security men on my way out but the didn't seem to be overly concerned so let's hope the chap was ok.
Back at The 12 Bar Club Eastfield were roaring through their splendid set, followed by a typically upfront Goldblade gig with John Robb giving it everything as usual and the packed audience loving every minute of it. Meanwhile T.V. and myself met at the bar to discuss tactics - I was using an electric guitar for the first time and don't mind admitting that I was feeling a bit nervous, but as always the sheer quality of T.V.'s songs meant that the gig went well, to such an extent that we're seriously considering repeating the T.V.-on-acoustic / Leigh-on-electric again at the earliest opportunity. Great stuff! There was time to catch a few songs from Viva Las Vegas before clubbing together for a cab home - after all, there was a long Saturday in prospect...
As the Ruts D.C. bus pulled up outside The Fleece in Bristol I realised that I'd managed to doze off for a while at least. It's a great venue and Ziggy and Jon of Death Or Glory Promotions work tirelessly to put on gigs all the year round. We had a few monitor problems in our soundcheck but as always Bob got us a great sound, and while support band Criminal Mind warmed up the rapidly arriving crowd the scene was set for a memorable performance. As we began with 'Whatever We Do' it was clear that the crowd were on our side, and by the time we got to the rarely-played 'Dope For Guns' things were really taking off. Despite a couple of plastic glasses being thrown the atmosphere remained good throughout, with plenty of banter and each song getting more and more of a reaction. We ended to deafening applause, and our encore of 'Something That I Said', 'H-Eyes' and 'Society' finished a truly brilliant gig. As I walk of stage a chap stops me to say that he'd cried during 'Babylon's Burning', another said that it was the best gig that he'd ever seen - all the money in the World can't buy you moments like that.
Afterwards there's time for a few drinks before heading off to our hotel - we hope to visit the bar for one last end-of-tour drink but sadly it's closed. Oh well, you can't have everything can you? - after all, as John Cooper Clarke once brilliantly asked, where would you put it?
