Last night was the O2 Academy 2 in Newcastle, which is the wee diddy room upstairs at the O2 Academy. The sign above the door curiously read "BROKEN RECORDS THEN REVOLUTION AND MAYHEM", which actually referred to the club night which was on afterwards. Got everything up to the third floor via four trips in the wee lift, then sandwiches and coffee.
Sound check all right, very loud.Round to some shoddy pub for a
super-discount tea ("mini" fish and chips, whatever that means.) Back
to venue for more coffee as first one didn't seem to have any
restorative effects. Mars bar. See Revolution and Mayhem arriving, bass
drum pedals connected to strobe boxes, tattoos. Third coffee. Discover
that the coffee is decaff. Booo.
Doors open. Crowd non existent, so retire downstairs to dressing room. Confused by Times crossword. Try independent. Even more confused. Back upstairs for a bit of Sparrow and the Workshop, crowd picking up a touch. On stage at nine, forget to switch snares on but it's so fecking loud that it's not noticeable. Carlsberg Export. T's guitar so loud in Lover's Pacts my ears explode. Cut thumb on cymbal. Bottle of water, second beer. Sore arms and Slow Parade. Curfew pretty strict so rapid-fire load out, then off to pub with Sparrows for a few jars. Hour and a half drive to hotel in Leeds. Realise I have left my entire toiletries on bed in Edinburgh, sucks. Get spare toothbrush off T. 3am - sleep.
So that was a condensed version of yesterday, today I awoke at about ten to twelve leaving just enough time for a quick shower before we got booted out the hotel. The drive to the venue was only fifteen minutes and we didn't have to load in until three so we opted for hanging out in the hotel car park eating baguettes and drinking coffee from Gill's camping stove. Great bit of kit and it only takes about three hours to boil one cup of water.
We played Leeds to a reasonable crowd on Saturday night, before heading off to nearby Wakefield for a good nights kip. On Sunday morning we drove down to London for an instore gig at Rough Trade (east), where we played for half an hour on a stage not that much bigger than your average drum riser. It was all a bit weird playing in a shop, particularly soundchecking as people were browsing round the records. Kas was conveniently hidden behind a pillar half way up the shop (which was really quite large with a warehouse-y vibe - this is also the same store I got locked in the toilet last time I was there...)
Despite the initial awkwardness it seemed to go across fairly well. The stage was in danger of collapse during Good Reason but it held up alright. Afterwards we went round for a Brick Lane curry which was the best thing ever, then off to Bristol where we were staying in the centre of town.
We got up around mid morning today and wandered around Bristol for a little while which was nice with the sun out. Load in at Thekla was around 2pm, and it transpires that the venue is indeed a boat. We re actually playing underwater. Which must be good for the soundproofing at least. Soundcheck was fine and dandy, and I'm currently trying to digest the whale-sized fish that I've just consumed, sitting upstairs on the diddy computer again.
I really struggled to remember anything of note over the past few days which is why this is pretty brief - there's nothing to give away the fact that today is Monday, yesterday was Sunday, Saturday was Leeds etc. Over the next few days I will try to update on a more regular basis while it's fresh in the mind.
BR xxx
Doors open. Crowd non existent, so retire downstairs to dressing room. Confused by Times crossword. Try independent. Even more confused. Back upstairs for a bit of Sparrow and the Workshop, crowd picking up a touch. On stage at nine, forget to switch snares on but it's so fecking loud that it's not noticeable. Carlsberg Export. T's guitar so loud in Lover's Pacts my ears explode. Cut thumb on cymbal. Bottle of water, second beer. Sore arms and Slow Parade. Curfew pretty strict so rapid-fire load out, then off to pub with Sparrows for a few jars. Hour and a half drive to hotel in Leeds. Realise I have left my entire toiletries on bed in Edinburgh, sucks. Get spare toothbrush off T. 3am - sleep.
So that was a condensed version of yesterday, today I awoke at about ten to twelve leaving just enough time for a quick shower before we got booted out the hotel. The drive to the venue was only fifteen minutes and we didn't have to load in until three so we opted for hanging out in the hotel car park eating baguettes and drinking coffee from Gill's camping stove. Great bit of kit and it only takes about three hours to boil one cup of water.
We played Leeds to a reasonable crowd on Saturday night, before heading off to nearby Wakefield for a good nights kip. On Sunday morning we drove down to London for an instore gig at Rough Trade (east), where we played for half an hour on a stage not that much bigger than your average drum riser. It was all a bit weird playing in a shop, particularly soundchecking as people were browsing round the records. Kas was conveniently hidden behind a pillar half way up the shop (which was really quite large with a warehouse-y vibe - this is also the same store I got locked in the toilet last time I was there...)
Despite the initial awkwardness it seemed to go across fairly well. The stage was in danger of collapse during Good Reason but it held up alright. Afterwards we went round for a Brick Lane curry which was the best thing ever, then off to Bristol where we were staying in the centre of town.
We got up around mid morning today and wandered around Bristol for a little while which was nice with the sun out. Load in at Thekla was around 2pm, and it transpires that the venue is indeed a boat. We re actually playing underwater. Which must be good for the soundproofing at least. Soundcheck was fine and dandy, and I'm currently trying to digest the whale-sized fish that I've just consumed, sitting upstairs on the diddy computer again.
I really struggled to remember anything of note over the past few days which is why this is pretty brief - there's nothing to give away the fact that today is Monday, yesterday was Sunday, Saturday was Leeds etc. Over the next few days I will try to update on a more regular basis while it's fresh in the mind.
BR xxx
Attended the Talking Heads pub last night in Southampton to see a fantastic gig by the guys.
I thought Sparrow and the Workshop did a great job warming the crowd before the guys came on stage.
Overall a superb night of music with the guys destined for great success in the future.
Looking forward to the Green Man Festival.