8.20pm 12th August 2006
When the Oil Runs out, written twenty seven years ago is now finally coming into sharp focus. Only now as we have reached the peak of global oil production are the powers that be worried about our reliance on oil. What do they do? Plough millions of dollars into researching renewable energy? No, they just invade a sovereign country privatise the oil industry along with the whole of the rest of the countie's resources and hand it over to their neocon friends, with our support of-course.
The Twentieth Century was defined as the century of cheap oil, the Twenty First Century seems like it is going to be defined by fighting over what is left of it. In between will be everyones standard of living. Dont forget, you heard it here first.
"What are you gonna to do, what are you gonna do, When The Oil Runs Out!"
We then play Fighting Times to remind people that giving up is not an option and then its time for Colin Dredds appearance.
Although a lot fitter now, at the time of discussions about reforming the band Colin was very ill indeed. The amount of energy and commitment that would be needed to bring the band back to life was far greater than Colin was capable of doing. So we drafted in Don Adams to play bass for us.
Nonetheless we were determined that Colin should be present with us to do a couple of numbers, he is a long time friend and we still appreciate his bass playing, vocals, influence and hard work that he has given the band over the years. He has performed his cameo apperance at all bar one gig since our re-emergence and we especially wanted him along side us on this one .
He steps on to the stage and does Blitzkrieg Bop and Hypocrite to great applause, it was so good to see people pay homage to his contribute to the band.
Agony was next up and the whole of the front section of the crowd (at least!) were singing along with every word (they singing to every song we played I am told, but on this one I really plugged into it).
Then came Living With Unemployment, our reworking of the Members Solitary Confinement. The place went really mad at this point and there was the pleasure of letting the crowd take over the backing vocals towards the end.
It was so loud; it seemed that everyone was singing it, right to the back of the hall, I swear.
Pure magic!
As the song rockets along, it builds and build and builds and builds until both the band and the audience had reached a fever pitch of excitement. We all arrive together at the same place, at the same time.
The roar is deafening and they will not let us go. And so they shouldn't.
I come back on stage and shout, what do you want to hear?
Now a strange thing happened. All through our careers we were tired of people calling for 'Kick Out the Tories', it was a number we eventually dropped but people would always call for it, it was so predictable. Why always that number?
But this time we had audience we always dreamed of, they were all calling out different numbers, their favourites and Kick Out the Tories was being drowned out.
We had especially included it to end the set but ended up with a debating society down the front there for a moment!
What do you want to hear? More multiple number shouting.
It wasn't really a choice, I had anticipated everyone wanting it and it was a way of introducing it. I got it wrong, so I changed tack and gave the number a different introduction and then sang, Lets Kick Out the Tory!
It didn't matter, as any Neurotics number was a Neurotics number and this would do fine.
Again at the end there was more fantastic audience participation and we extended the length of the number to accommodate that interaction.
"Don't believe, every thing that you read in the press. Don't believe, every thing that you read in the press. Don't believe, don't believe, don't believe what you read."
It is a hypnotic chant and it has a strange effect. It is a reminder that we are kept in our place by misinformation. A propagandist song? Of-course it is, and everyone loves it because of that.
By the time we finish, the atmosphere in the hall is electric and hot through the dancing of fans in the mosh pit.
For me I am cleansed of something, I am delirious, I am in another state altogether, I could not have asked for more.
This energy I am tapping into is pure soul, it is an essence of me. All my hopes, dreams, frustrations, desperation, jealously, pride, greed, humanity, the lot, stirred up into a quintessenal charge of rock 'n' roll.
Music is at its best when it is not going through the motions, it's best when it is a window into the soul. Either of the songwriter or your own or both.
This is our final gig and our finest moment, we are burning as bright as a cinder and will soon extinguish, disappearing unseen into the night.
Just how I wanted us to.
2005
The set is dynamite, and the sound is fantastic. We so rarely do a 30 minute set and that has forced us to distil the essence of the Newtown Neurotics into that short space of time. It is a great discipline and I think this is the best played gig this we have done this year.
Trouble is, there wasn't much of an audience to see it. With the first band overplaying in the other hall and our set only being half a hour, by the time people have surfaced into the main hall we are just finishing. It is disappointing but I not too bothered. I think we have achieved all we set out to this year and this one was a dry run in a way.
Simon and I hadn't played a large stage for twenty years and I dont think Don ever had. You do need to know how not to get swallowed up by it, there is a knack of exaggerating to fill it and being confident to command it. So this could be considered practise for the future.
We have been asked to play Wasted next year, this could have been a gig of preparation.
We shall see.
2003
One good thing.
I have been forced off of the treadmill. No matter how much you love your work, if it is constant and unremitting then its a treadmill.
I was reluctant to go off sick because I didn't want to think that vertigo was getting the better of me. I didn't want to be considered too ill to work.
Now I have no choice, for ten days I am going to do nothing but rest and heal and it is wonderful. I have time to think and thinking is all I am doing.
I am determined to use this break to turn my life around but I don't know how.
I am very worried too, one of the aspects of having a vertigo attack is that I don't know were to put myself so I fidget, jump up, sit down, throw my arms up in the air, rub the hair on the top of my head, sit down again.
If I wake up in the middle of the night with an attack it will be like waking up panicking in a metal straight jacket full of spikes. One little move and bang, intense pain. Luckily so far it hasn't happened.
I am sleeping on my own in a bed in the living room whilst I heal, and I can only sleep on one side of my body so I have cushions propped up behind me to prevent me from turning over.
I lay on the bed all day reading, listening to music and dozing and at night I lay awake thinking until I finally sleep, If I don't get much, it doesnt matter because I can catch up with it during the day.
I think about me, what I used to be, and what I am now. I am the furthest I have ever been from the guy that used to play energetically in the Newtown Neurotics. I am the furthest away from being able to perform again. I am the furthest away from being able to inspire people again.
And yet, paradoxically I am the nearest I have ever been to all three of these things for twenty years.
I have a revelation!
I know what is wrong with me and tomorrow I'm going to start to fix it!