10 shows, 11 days
We’re looking out of our window in Scarborough across the road to the Merchant pub, our first gig of the tour, where a fire engine is hoisting up a ladder to a flaming chimney. A good start, however the danger is dampened by the fact that the regulars seem oblivious to the events outside, which have closed the entire street, and are still happily drinking inside. As events develop, it appears that the brigade had been requested by a rather enlightened fellow from the pub up the street, a pub where children are made welcome with a jobseekers form and a pint of Buckfast. Good times.
There’s another gig in Scarborough tonight so were not expecting a grand turnout, however playing to your mates can’t be beaten and its all very relaxed. After being called Justin Lee Collins several times by an interesting fellow, I took up his suggestion of a shot of port with my Guinness, to help take the edge off his feverish wit. This was a success, with a side effect of allowing the audience the pleasure of witnessing some horrendous fretwork and some of my own incredible speaking talents. The night went on for quite a while, with Eddie closing the curtains, bringing out the ashtrays and sticking two fingers up to Mr Brown. We left at 4:30 in the morn to get up to hand some essays in to Uni for 9, this was not great, however we were under the impression that our gig in Hull later on was cancelled so we could sleep more, I then preceded to get a call at 1 to say it was on, which changed things a bit.
We’ve played in Sharkeys in Hull once before with the excellent Don Broco, it wasn’t very busy though, however this time there’s a good vibe and when we turn up the kit and bass amp are already set up and the sound is good which is nice. Some people had come specifically to see us, which was pretty amazing for us, and they bought some cd’s and t-shirts, which coupled with money from the bar started off the tour petrol fund nicely. It’s only an hour-ish drive back to Scarborough meaning we could sleep in our own beds, and the next day Andy proudly constructed a merch stand with a shoe box and duck tape, honing all his primordial skills it was built like a panzer!
Durham next, and the chance to drive through the gorgeous moors, however my little (its not that little but it is really?) rover estate found the road a tad tricky with all the hills and weight, yet it tackled them with all the muster and passion of an idiot in a chilli eating comp. After parking on a ridiculous hill by the venue it appeared that the other band had only just been asked to play so the crowd was limited, however Becca brought a legion of northerners all with amazing accents so all was good! Skin Up played a Slipknot cover that none of us have ever seen a band cover and it sounded really good, very impressive. I turned up my re-tubed amp up too loud though and Ben couldn’t hear his vocals during our set so he strained his voice a little, but it was good, lots of room to dance! After a fraught discussion about why were not leaving all our gear in the car outside a pub to get a pint after the gig we headed to Becca’s Nans house in a town just outside Durham called Stanley. It’s named after knife, to give you an idea of this metropolis (well not really but that was pretty good yeah?). Anyways, Junes house is nice and she makes us a massive fry up in the morn and stuffs us like only a Nan can. Becca’s cousin also pops over and addresses her distaste of my beard instantly, ‘so, what’s the crack with the beard?’ After some educating in the regional dialect we head off for a look at the Angel Of The North. Its rusty and there’s nowhere to park, and suddenly me swearing at these retards who were trying to play chicken with my car didn’t seem like a good idea, and as per Daily Mail styleee we did not venture too far from the car for fear of being attacked by an accent that matches German with equal ferocity.
Down the A1 to Leeds, a city that I love, but for me was the worst gig of the tour. The Royal Park Cellars is so dark, and with no bar open people venture upstairs after each band for a drink, and then get subdued by the ‘lol’s’ of karaoke. It is good fun though! We played with some really good bands though which was ace, Lifescreen, Mae’s Lost Empire (who we were to play with the next night out of coincidence) and Arcane Roots, from stonerish riffs to pedal stomping prog and popcorn hooks, some amazing music. We stayed at our mate Rich’s house, which is complete with a full sized snooker table and dartboard, which provided endless entertainment! A good English breakfast at a café and some catch up in the papers set us up for the short drive to Rotherham.
First impressions of Rotherham ended up translating into the actual image of the town as a whole but the venue is a nice size and quite busy. We have a 3 ½ hour drive to Norwich after the gig so I went out in search of some food and found a chippie that served me the worst tasting battered burger with hard grated cheese. I gave my chips to some dudes outside the venue and then preceded to entertain my stomach with the worst tasting J20 thing I’ve ever had. We had a good crowd due to a local band playing after us but then as soon as they had played everyone left for Mae’s Lost Empire who played to a pretty empty room. Its all politics I guess isn’t it, even the bands leave and I can’t stand that though, we had to explain to the last band that we’d got a mega drive so can only catch a few songs of their set and we feel bad. Band politics is a big feature not just in the punk scene but just in general to all live music and I can’t stand bands that leave after they’ve played, no no no.
Drive to Norwich was pretty swish and Abbi and Mike had turned their lounge into a boudoir of comfort for us, dreams! Spent the day looking round Norwich and got a Sunday roast in a pub, good times. The bands we were playing with were quite young, and as such had just found out that the venue was 18+ so none of their mates could come which was a shame for them as they were pretty good, with some tasty Bouncing Souls covers. We all had mates turn up whom we hadn’t seen for ages, as well as my cousin, which was cool, nice relaxed gig. Stayed a second night in Norwich at Andy’s friends house that was sweet and then drove down the A140 to Ipswich.
I was proper looking forward to the Ippo gig as I hadn’t played in my hometown for a couple of years, and I had organised the gig myself. My mate Chris had put together a band just for the gig comprising of all our mates who I had toured with in previous bands, they were super tight even only after a handful of practices, smooth and silky vocal harmonies, nice dreamy prog! We also managed to get Leon Smith who had just got back from Uni to play an acoustic set, even though he hadn’t played live for near two years, classic songs and Rumbleseat covers yes yes yes! It was like the old times again and we pretty much sold out the little 80 capacity Blue Room. We played our longest set and it was proper sweaty and tight, sold loads of merch as well, near on £130!
Taste taste taste, we stayed at my parents house and had a nice day off playing footy with our dog. It was well needed as we were all proper aching after all the dancing, was good to get some Look East news as well, which is definitely the most boring subdued news in the UK!
Our next gig was at Oxford Brookes Uni, which had been organised by Andy’s mate who studies there. Never having been to Oxford and hearing all of the stereotypical views that it would be full of ugg wearing, blazer wielding rugby boys we were actually not disappointed even though we actually were to see such a site! The first dude we saw was dressed in a casual suit smoking a cigar, amazing! The second dude we saw was a kid who wanted to be on my windscreen, I’m not a great fan of driving. After spending quite a frustrating amount of time during rush hour in the heat trying to get to the Uni we arrived, and realised that Music may be a harder degree but that they are all pretty screwed without Music Tech! The sound was pretty bad but the bands were good, the dudes nice and it was quite busy, just a bit spread out! Mr Luke Keegan, our flatmate in Scarborough had come down to gig as he lives down that way and it was all good times just hanging out drinking. We went to a club night, my first of the year which was fun but shit? Then all the fun really began. I ended up verbally abusing these stuck up dickheads in a Kebab shop after they tried cheating the owners out of monies, and then I woke up in the night to see Ben poised on a chair just pissing on the floor, and all over his jeans and my hoody. That was quite an interesting one!
Next gig was in Leicester in a really nice venue called The Shed, good sound, stage, video games (just 20p a go!) however without out any real promoter other then the bands it was dead. We played with a band who had travelled down from Preston to whom we felt for; they were stupidly tight, kinda like Elbow but with more balls, and The Legend Of Ron Jeremy from Luton who played good solid hardcore and were proper proper nice guys! CD’s were swapped then we set off for Grays, Essex.
We had big expectations for this gig, it was the third time we played there and it delivered. It was proper rammed, biggest crowd yet, all of Joe and Ben’s mates and more, they all had a good time seeing them again. In fact we all kinda know them all now ‘cus we’ve been down that way a lot so it was nice seeing the faces! I had got my ex band members new band Damn This Town to come down and play so it was just like one huge family. They were proper tight even after having not played since Feb, it was ill seeing them as I had yet to witness the might! The crowd were a bit odd though, as they didn’t clap or anything after songs. Its hard ‘cus they were a great audience for us, I think they were all just a bit excited at there being so many people to talk to, to really take notice of the band which is a bit of a shame but there you go, it’s still our home! We also had a short set as Forever Never performed a DJ set to promote their new album so it all kinda went pretty quick, it was like oh right, that’s it done! Got some ace pics from Richard Crooke’s as always though, and the sound was the best yet.
And that was that really, had some beers in Grays then parted ways for Easter the next day.
I never thought we’d actually make a profit but we covered our costs and now have enough dosh to get some more tshirts and other fab stuff made which is really cool, all really stoked about that. Really want to say a massive thank you to everyone that put us up and fed us, and everyone that came and saw us, as well as the bands for letting us use your gear and being so sound, we didn’t come across a shit band, which is always nice! The generosity of strangers and friends can never be underestimated!
