Being in a band is:

Spending almost every night in a cold practice room.

Missing your other friends more than anything.

You don't have time for the one person you want to see the most.

Being fucking poor regardless of how much you work. You need a van. You need t-shirts. You need rent. You need studio fees....

You need a job to fund the band, but you lose / can't find any jobs because of the band commitments.

Spending all day, every day filling in application forms for jobs and legal training contracts for next year.

When you do land a job, be prepared to go work > band practice > sleep > repeat every day.

You can't get to work without a car, but you can't fix your car without earning money. You could walk to work, so you need to find a local job. But all the local employers want to know why a law grad wants to be a barman/waiter/hotel receiptionist for the rest of his life. Because you're in a band of course - you can keep the tour secret until you go or they won't employ you, but you'll need the evenings off for rehersals. But you can't be a waiter/barman without working evenings. Shitballs.

Spending your free time adding people on social networking sites or making promo material.

Again, stressing the poverty.

Still living at home. You can't afford a flat, and even if you could you couldn't justify it 'cos you're away/out so much.




It being worth all of that when you look up and people are singing back at you.

One last chance.

After a day of Call of Duty and Band of Brothers I just suffered another of those cider-induced awakening moments. I think I just realised my mortality. All these millions of people fell victim to violent, horrible deaths to protect our freedom. True heroes who climbed over trenches, jumped out of planes and stormed the shores to almost certain death for their cause. They'll never be forgotten, right? Well how many people can you name who fought in the great wars? Maybe the odd grandparent, that's all. My point is, these people made the ultimate sacrifice doing something terribly bold, and for what? Two generations have gone by and no-one even remembers their names. If no-one remembers them then what hope do I have? - I've done nothing great or memorable. And even if I did, I'd still be soon forgotten. I mean really, why bother? If I'm to be dead and forgotten in the end what is the point in existing at all? Why does it matter if I achieve anything, or if I live or die if all I am is a biological robot prolonging the inevitable until I cease and memories fade - a mere speckle on the scale of time. Then there's music. It's weird; it picks me up and shakes me around. Fuck it, if the above's true then I may at least have fun! Enjoy the time I have and forget being remembered. Tomorrow's another day and I have it all. Good health, good friends and at least some youth left. I wanna have fun, and if we can do something amazing at the same time, let's be remembered for two generations. It's better then being instantly forgotten right? Let's find out. See you tomorrow everyone. No more cider now. Goodnight.

It's been 5 days now and I'm still not really sure it's sunk in. This kind of thing only happens to other people, not to people I know and care about.  I still half expect him to pop up on MSN and tell me it's all been an elaborate prank.

This is the second time I have had to deal with death this year. Losing my grandad was devastating, but at least some comfort could be found in knowing that he led a long and happy life.  Conversely, I'm struggling to find any justice in Alex's untimely and tragic death, when these parasites who throw bricks through the windows of my home and torment my family are permitted to continue their pathetic existance and continue making other people's lives miserable.

Losing Alex has been like losing a limb.  I saw him almost every day - at band practice or on stage or just hanging around.  The prospect of playing a show without him stood next to me is truly unthinkable, but I guess is something that we're going to have to deal with.

The funeral is this Tuesday 12th August at 3:30pm at the crematorium in Lytham St.Annes.  I'm told that anyone is welcome, and on that note I predict that it'll be a very busy event.  Alex was a well known and well loved person and I'd imagine a lot of people will want to come and pay their respects.  I've been given with the honour of carrying Alex's coffin, and so with such an important role I can't afford to break down at the ceremony.  For that reason I've decided not to treat this as an occassion for mourning Alex's death, but rather for celebrating his life.

We say "rest in peace", but Alex McCulloch didn't know the meaning of peace - even after some of the heaviest nights I can remember he'd be up at the crack of dawn (and would ensure everyone else was up too) ready for the next day's adventure.  We stayed up all night, covertly snuck around abandoned mental asylums and swam in pretty much everything we came across.  He was one of the most approachable, embracing and passionate people I have ever had the pleasure to meet.  This is the Alex I will remember, and this is what I will be thinking of on Tuesday as I say goodbye.

If this tragedy has taught me anything, it is that life is too short and fragile to take any single moment for granted.  I need to make more effort taking care of myself and my friends who have been so great at this horrible time, and avoid unneccesary risks.

Goodbye Alex.  I miss you.

Currently sat in Bryony's room in Leeds.  I came up here to find a peaceful area in which to do some work for tomorrow, away from the distractions of American Dad and the likes, but in traditional 'Team Mike' style, I'm just sat here procrastinating on Myspace.

Wakefield tonight is the last day of our tour with Yes Sensei.  I'm not sure how it'll go.  I hope some people will come and watch us.  I've never been to Wakefield before so I have no idea what to expect.

In general the tour's been ok.  Not great, but ok.  Some good shows, and some not-so-good shows.  Last night was probably the fewest people we've played to, and it had the capacity to suck a whole lot, but the guys who came to see us really made the effort and in the end I had mroe fun than any of the other shows we've played in a while.

The highlight of the tour for me was Slam Dunk Festival.  I still can't get over the fact that we got to play it, and that we got such an awesome response.  Sat in Millenium Square two years ago, I never thought I'd get a chance to be on the bill.  It's amazing how much things can change so quickly.

I should probably get on with my prep now.  I don't relish the thought of getting up tomorrow at 6:50am for school, given that I won't be home until around 2:30 tonight.  I could skive the first class, but I've already had one threatening letter re: my attendance, and I don't fancy being failed on literally the last day of official learning; it's probably worth making the effort.

Anyhow, home soon, and only a couple of days until I get to see my Susie :)

Over and out.

1. I opened my car door into a stupid post outside Oli's house, leaving another attractive dent in the side.  Schoolboy error, although it was well below the area visable through my window.  Still, what an R-tard I am. I'm going to call for assistance tomorrow and see if the boys can't help me remove my inner door panels and puch it out.

2. The van's power supply has fried my laptop (again).  At least I know what causes it now, but it means ANOTHER day deleting my old partition and re-installing Vista and all my apps - the only way I could solve the problem last time.  This will be the 5th time I've re-installed the OS in 2 months due to freak accidents and experimenting with removing Dell bloatware.  It's not really that much fun.

3. I went to see the new Indiana Jones movie last night and it was appauling.  I would rather stab myself in the eyes with a rusty fork than watch that again.  I mean... aliens?  Really?  No wait, that would be too believeable - how about trans-dimensional ghost aliens with magnetic, crystal skeletons.  And it gets worse; that prick from 'Even Stevens' plays a substantial role and turns out to be Indiana's son.  Two great ways to ruin one of my favourite things.  How dare they tarnish the name of the Indiana Jones franchise with that piece of crap?!?!  I'm going to pretend that it was all just a terrible nightmare.

Oh yeah, that last bit contained spoilers, so you probably shouldn't read it if you intend on watching the film.

Wow, it's been a while!  I need to get back in the blogging game I guess, or risk lots of beautiful memories being erased through the magic of alcohol.

A whole load of stuff has happened since September (my last entry).  The whole band thing seems to have really taken off!  We bought a van, and went on our first ever tour in April with our pals Not Advised and Mexico Fallz.  It was bloody brill!  We just got back from playing Moshpit Open Festival in Nyvarn, Sweden this weekend, which was also fucking rad.  We were treated like real life rockstars, and it felt gooooooooood.  I hope things continue in this fashion so we can afford to do the whole band thing for as long as possible.  Playing pop-punk is what I was made for.

What else.... hmmm..... I guess I should write about my course.  I only have one teaching weekend and 4 exams left now until I'm done with education forever, and I can't wait for it to be over.  I say this, but the prospect of a masters for only 2 more modules after my LPC is a tempting one.  I guess we'll see about that one.  In the meantime, I have to take my stupid revision on tour with us next week.  Not very rock 'n roll eh?  I guess its ok though, cos I can see the end of it now.

On a more personal note, my grandad died pretty recently.  It's been a few months but I still don't think its sunk in properly.  Like, I miss him, but not as much as I should because I still think of him as being there.  I guess it'll probably hit me more at Christmas and big occasions.  He was an awesome dude - wish I'd made more of an effort to get to know him.

Well unless I think of some more stuff to add tomorrow I guess that's it for now.  I'll keep updating this on the road when I get a chance.  Laterrrrrr.

And what a mixed summer it has been.  Despite the weather (and to a lesser extent a certain grinch) trying its best to boycott fun, I think it went ok.  Not a touch on last summer, but ok.

Here's my summer checklist:

1. Watch Set Your Goals

2. Get band signed

3. Go surfing

4. Ingleton falls

5. Go on holiday

6. Transfer to Manchester BPP law school

7. Learn to play piano

8. Learn to front flip

9. Get lost in a maize maze

I'm sure there's a whole load of stuff I've missed out too.  Anyway, all in all it was pretty productive.  I can't help but think how much better it would have been had we seen some sun.  I'm definately gunna put some work into planning next summer with some kind of failsafe/weatherproof plan.

(c) Stricko/Rob Hoyle

Hello everyone!

Its been quite some time since my last literatual chronology, and for this I apologise.

I'd like to say a lot's happened in the meantime, but alas; no! Nothing blogworthy has occured.  I put this down mainly due to unforseen weather conditions.  It's late July and still fucking winter;  what's the criack with that?  I feel like I've been somehow duped out of a well earned Summer.

Our holiday in Abersoch was ok, although not much happened other than rain and coming home a day early thanks to a certain Judas.  Moving home from London has been a relief I guess, but nothing really special.

Well I say I've had enough.  I'm vow to make this Summer as awesome as possible regardlessof the weather, come hell or high-water.  As soon as I'm sober enough to focus I'm going to come up with some water-proof plans to make this this summer as memorable as possible for my pals. 

I would also like to enquire, wtf has happened to the Preston music scene?  I turn my back for a year and this happens.  I saw very few familiar faces tonight, and PR1 gets increasingly less busy each week.  The music was, without a shadow of a doubt the worst Where's Mavis has ever produced.  I'm unsure whether this is the cause of, or a result of the decline in suppot for our local 'alt-mosh' community, but my God- poor show!  And on that note I'm retiring to bed.  Goodnight all.

Huzzah!  Today saw an end to Mike, Eddy and Will's week of fun, and what a week it was.  The megabus to Manchester was an unusually comfortable and hastle-free ordeal, made all the more tolerable thanks to my P990 and Saw 3.  Four hours on the bus to Manchester is far more bearable than the five and a half to Preston.

Upon arrival in Manchester it was but a short walk to Eddy's flat, made all the better by Ross' swift arrival.  We fooled around with Ross' new motor for a bit (which is pretty tidy btw) and then went back to Eddy's to view media.  At some point we ran into a delightful old dear with colourful makeup.  She initially buttered us up with small talk, but as it turned out she was a geriatric prostitute.  I thought we'd made it pretty clear that we weren't interested in her services, but as we left she thought she'd try her luck anyway.  From behind me I heard the words "I'd love to shag yer" leave her blue-lipstic coated lips.  Amazing!  That was the best part of the weekend by far.  I was laughing pretty solidly for 2 days.

We also came into posession of a particularly loud and obnoxious siren at some point, or as it became affectionately known; THE PROZZY BUSTER.  Its wail strickes fear into the hearts of any ladies of  the night within audiable range.  We also bought a joke electric shock TV remote to fool our friends with.  We got Ross, but I was dissatisfied with the strength of electric-shock the feeble 1.5v AAA battery deliered, so we thought we'd hook it up to a 9v battery for Will.  It took the best part of an hour to disassemble the sod and hook up the battery, although the plan backfired when it only managed to generate one shock before frying the circuit, and that was delivered to me.  Pwned.

Anyway, the next day Will arrived and we met up with Lucy, Caz and Millar in the Yellowcard bar.  We got smashed and watched some films etc.  I think we did the same thing on the 3rd day too, although I can't remember.  I'm pretty sure that day involved Skittles Vodka which is probably responsible for the memory lapse.

Anyhow, on tuesday morning we once again monted the Megabus to London.  Another swift journey (this time with with Pirates of the Caribbean 3 on my phone) and we were back int he Big Smoke.  Spent the next two days playing Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess on Liam's Wii (omg so good) before New Noise on Wednesday night.  It was even better than usual!  absoloutely packed with pop-punkers, Aaron from Reel Big Fish DJing and good tunes.  Dancing to Mutiny! and Alive With The Glory of Love with some of my best pals was the most fun I've had in ages.

 

I hope this is a taste of Summer to come!  Also, my bass guitar is set to arrive this week - I'm most excited.  My car is also finally back from the bodyshop, although it took less than 24 hours for some shit to smash the back window :/  Poor Rupert.  I swear he's cursed!

 

Here is a non-exhaustive list of some of my targets for this summer:

1. Pursue band career (If my eBay bass ever arrives).

2. Get job.

3. Holiday to Prague.

4. Mine and Eddy's super-secret plan.

5. Pirate Day.

6. Scavenger hunt.

7. Drink Wider.

8. Get a tattoo.

9. Visit Matlock Quarry or somewhere similar, only being less ghey than the guys in the video.

10. Do some rollerblading.

I can't think of any more things right now, but as a spur-of-the-moment kinda guy, I'm sure the list will grow.

It always hurts more when someone you trust turns on you.  Like when one of your mates nicks your bird, or when your dog bites you.  Last night, I felt just that betrayed by an old friend: the pepperoni pizza.  I had just made a delicious looking pepperoni pizza, and attempted a rather ambitious, one-handed manouvre involving holding the plate with the pizza on it in one hand whilst trying to force the empty box in the overflowing bin with the other.

Predictably I lost my cool and the pizza slipped off the plate. However, rather than let the pizza fall to the floor, I instinctively shoved my hand under it to catch it. Unfortunately, the pizza somehow managed to flip 180 degrees and land upside-down on top of my hand. It took a couple of seconds to react and even when I'd got rid of the damn thing, my hand was left doused in burning hot oil.

It stung all night, and although cold water provided temporary relief, 10 minutes out of the water and it was agony again.  At about 4am I came up with a fiendish plan: Fill a bowl with water and try to sleep with my hand submerged without soaking myself.  Remarkably it worked, although only allowed 3 hours of sleep.  Rest assured, class was not fun this morning.

But that wasn't the end of it.  With its dying breath the pizza had one last stab at me.  Despite the pizza landing upside down on the dirty table, reluctant to accept defeat, or maybe just to show the pizza that I was still boss I ate it anyway.  But the wiley bugger still had a trick up its sleeve.  I woke up with a raw throat, which I can only assume is the result of eating grubby pizza.  Damn you Chicago Town!  You outsmarted me again!  Furthermore, a fourth wisdom tooth popped out yesterday, 2 years after its friends.  Although I am pleased that my mouth will once again be a place of symmetry, its just another source of pain.  Its like a pain-party in my mouth, and everyones invited.

To rub salt in the wound (so to speak), the expensive bass guitar I ordered from eBay has been delayed due to 'family bereavement'.  I do feel sorry for the guy, but I was really looking forward to it a lot :/

This weekend, Will and I are joining Eddy in Manchester for the weekend, then the three of us are returning to London for New Noise.  I'm v.excited :D

Also, Eddy and I have some super-seceret plans for a summer extravaganza but we're gunna keep it on the down-low for the time being.

Later x

Will (aka Night Rider) spent 9 hours on the megabus overnight to get here.  And then we went to the Natural History Museum.  And then we went to the Yellowcard bar and got half drunk.  And then I had an exam the next day at 10:30.  And then I didn't do so well in the exam.  And then we went to Primark and bought matching jeans because they were £10 and we're gay for each other.  And then we went to watch Hit The Lights and Kids in Glass Houses.  And then afterwards we hung out with Hit the Lights for a bit.  And then we went home and watched the Anchorman.

What a wickedbad weekend :D  Heres some photos. with Hit The Lights

Will in the Natural History Museum

 

I also just scored 2 tickets for Give It A Name on Sunday for me and Oli at a very reasonable price.  Awesomeradness :D

We'll be seeing: Jimmy Eat World, AFI, Hellogoodbye, Sparta, The Audition, Hit The Lights, MXPX, The Receiving End of Sirens, Boys Like Girls and Beat Union.

Fucking A.

Jumping Jimminies!  Its 26 C in London today!  Thats almost 10 degrees hotter than Blackpool.  Hooray pollution!  Usually I'd love this kind of weather, however with no-one around it means the best I can hope for is sitting alone in my room reading about employment law.  I can't even procrastinate with my beloved Xbox due to a lack of batteries for the wireless control pads.  Lame.

In true Team Mike style, all the Easter work has been left until the last few hours.  Its how we roll.

Easter was awesome.  I was intoxicated pretty much every day (give or take a couple) and provided a taste of the summer to come!  I hope it lives up tomy expectations!

I won't go into too much detail, but some of the hilights of the past few weeks have included:

1. Drunk laser tag.

2. PR1, especially when playing Set Your Goals.

3. Constant 'Call of Duty 3' on a 72" screen using my high-def projector at Coop's house.

4. Driving range.

5. Setting fire to Coops dad's new patio heater.

6. KFC honey-bbq boneless bites.  mmmmm.

I can't remember much else, but I'm pretty sure it was all awesome.  I'm a little sad we didn't manage pirate day, but then I guess thats something we can look forward to for summer :)

Hit The Lights and Kids In Glass Houses are playing on the 21st, so I'm counting down the days til that!

Back to work now!  Later skaters xx

Let me begin by saying "300, OMFGZ".  Rly, OMFGzz.  This film is fucking incredible.  Can't stress that enough.  I will DEFO be going to see this on Wednesday when it hits cinemas.  Imagine Gladiator (which was awesome BTW), but without all the boring shit like a complicated plot and talking.  Real men don't talk things out, the just throw spears at their problems, in slow motion if possible - and that's just what they do in 300.  Now imagine its filmed and directed in the comic-book style of Sin City, only with more boobs.  Its like art in motion, but violent enough that you can admire it without being ghey.  Really, go see it.

I also watched 'The Departed' lately.  It was pretty good, but a bit long.  Tonight I watched 'Hot Fuzz'.  Like its predecessor 'Shaun of the Dead' it had its moments, but was ultimately predictable and lacking.  I really do not get  the hype around these guys (sorry Eddy).  It's kinda like the annoying guy who turns up at any parties you attend, and says what everyones thinking but isn't quite funny enough to be worth saying.  You can see the jokes coming a mile off.

The new South Park season 11 is off to a flying start.  It seems to have the potential to be the best season yet.  Over the last 4 days, I have watched around 25 hours of 'Lost'.  I felt it would have been a waste of my time having watched the first series not to follow it through.  I effing love it.  It had beeter have a good conclusion after I've invested this much time in it, and not some crappy open-ended effort.  I'll be hella pissed if its one of thse "what do YOU interpret it as?" BS endings.

In terms of music, I am upset to have found that even more bands of 'my day' have split up, namely Allister, Mest, Finch, Homegrown and Save Ferris (OK, so some of them not so lately, but certainly within the last few months).  However in their place new pop-punk is rising from the ashes.  The new all Time Low EP is amazing.  Years of hard work seems to be paying off for those guys.  The newest Plain White T's album is basically an album of singles.  every song is memorable.  Four Year Strong's new hardcore influenced pop-punk is even better than their older material, and I recently discovered 'Quietdrive', 'You, Me and Everyone We Know', 'Bangarang' and ''You Me at 6'

So all in all a productive week of doing nothing but sitting at my computer.  Who cares.  It beats doin' stuff.

EDIT Add to the list of disbanded.. erm.. bands: Test Icicles and Hidden In Plain View.