We’ve just had one of the best weekends gigging ever. We played three really great shows, met some awesome people, partied hard, and suffered the consequences.
But we’ve also got some sad news, which we’ll announce later this week, that will change the course of the band. We’ll keep you posted.
We’d all like to say a massive thanks to Speccy and Molly for not only putting us up after the Pirate Punx gig in Bath, but for giving us free booze and throwing a quality after party at their house.
It was a great night all round which saw drummer Matt pole dancing with a mop (or was it Fro?) and all of us finally getting to bed about 6am.
Needless to say, we all felt a bit delicate on Saturday and certain people, who shall remain nameless, took part in some impromptu roadside weed control. Stinging nettles meet stomach acid, there can be only one winner. Nice.
The gig itself was hot, sweaty and intense and the crowd really went for it, which we are really grateful for. It’s so good to play a gig like that when you’ve been sitting in a van for five hours listening to bassist Jim scream his head off at cows, lorries and inanimate objects he is particularly drawn to.
We played our new song Bartholomew’s Day for the first time and it went down really well. We’ve been looking forward to playing it live for ages, as it took ages to learn and write bits for but we think it was well worth the effort.
Slightly-older-but-still-new-song Smuggler’s Leap also went down a treat.
Anyway, once we’d finished being ill we drove to Leeds where we met Andy, another great promoter, who was really good to us and put us up at his house and listened to us talk utter mince until 3am.
The Cardigan Arms, where we played, is one of those pubs where you get the impression the punters eat the glasses in lieu of ready salted, but the venue above was cool with a good PA and great soundman called Tom.
The gig was good fun, not sure people knew what to expect to begin with but by the end it was all going really well and we got some great feedback.
The night almost turned ugly however when a riot kicked off outside the pub while Marf, Fro and Matt were in the van.
They sensibly stayed (cowered) in the van while the locals chased each other down the street with metal pipes... eventually it quietened down a bit and we loaded the gear in... only for it to kick off again. We kept the engine running while we crammed Andy and his girlfriend Diana in the van and made a quick (relatively) getaway to York.
We stayed at Andy’s flat and sat up drinking and chatting for a bit, then went on a little tour of the city on Sunday. York is a great place that I know pretty well (went to uni there for four years) and it was good to see it again and wander about in the sun.
Matt and I also had awesome hog roast and Andy played with a Microkorg in Banks music shop. We all agreed we wanted a Microkorg but couldn’t afford one so we left.
Mafro drove us to Manchester for the next gig, and after unloading at the Retro Bar we went for a Chinese. We went to one of those dodgy all you can eat buffet places, laughably called No 1 Chinese Buffet or something like that.
Just put it this way, I’d have hated to try the second best in town. Mafro had some soup that tasted of wee, and everyone started feeling decidedly dodgy after consuming just a plate of glutinous mess masquerading as food.
Fortunately our constitutions held out and the gig was amazing, as always at the Retro Bar. We sweated it out most of the monosodium glutamate and by the end of the set people were dancing away and we want to say a massive thanks to TNS Records for organising the show.
Can’t wait to get back to the Retro Bar for our next Ska Bar gig, coming up in November!
Finally, for all our friends in Kent, if you can possibly make it, come to our gigs in Canterbury or Maidstone this weekend, it would be great to see you!
Cheers,
G