Friday: Got a letter from that place I had an interview at on Wednesday, I didnt get the job (rats cocks!), tried to book a ticket for the Jandek show only to find out that it had been cancelled, which made me glad I didnt get a ticket when I first heard about it. Walked to Rochester after three oclock and got a train to Victoria. There was a young mum yelling at her kid We behave ourselves dont we, dont we dont we, dont we dont we, dont we slapping him in the face every time she said dont we an old American guy sitting ahead of them turned round and said hey take it easy then a big argument ensued about the mum raising her children as she saw fit and the guy threatening to call the police and scolding her for swearing at the boy. The mum and the kid went away but stayed in same carriage and all the people around the old American guy started talking about how the mum was going about disciplining her son wrong, all within ear shot of her which is kind of bitchy but it did help her to see that maybe she was being too harsh as when the little boy and his brother, misbehaved she was to scared to raise her voice to them. Got to Camden and got some thing to eat at the Vegan Chinese place, the main reason I go there is because they gave me that card for a free meal after Id filled up the twelve boxes on the card but also out of all the Vegan Chinese places in London (theres a chain of them) the people there are the nicest, the one near Soho square may have better food but not as nice people working there. Went in the Worlds End and got a ticket for Discharge, tried getting a ticket for Jesu but they werent on sale yet, I know I could probably buy one on the day but Ive been wanting to see this band for a year, I am just stupid enough to buy a ticket over the internet and get overcharged. No real cue outside as not too many people actually knew it started at six oclock. Bands:
Deny Everything: Good performance, its a same that hardly anyone was there. I was afraid to sing along as I made a tit out of myself in front of the singer when he was doing the merch for xCANAANx a few years ago, I asked him how much the t-shirts were and he just said well a wild guess, six pounds like it says on the price list next to them which I hadnt seen.
Betrayed: I never liked Champion but I was prepared to them a chance as they also had ex-members of Carry On who I did like. My jaw hit the floor they were so good. The singer said some righteous things between songs, paraphrasing at best: Were a Straight Edge band but I dont give a fuck if you drink as long as what your doing comes from the heart being Straight Edge does not give you the right to look down on someone suffering from drug addiction, these people need help if that sounds like Bill Hicks to anyone (except about the Straight Edge part). They played a cover of a Dag Nasty song that I didnt recognise (later I checked when I got home and found out it was One To Two) and they finished by doing a cover of Screaming At A Wall by Minor Threat, kewl.
Bane: Because one of the guitars was turned up stupidly loud a smoke alarm got set off (Im not sure how that works either). They opened with Can We Start Again which they ended with last time, the set was riddled with technical problems, be it the guitars or the mic breaking apart and of course the annoyance of stage divers, I got so fucked off at times I was actually grabbing guys legs and throwing them into the floor (being a prick, I know but in my defence, some of these guys where flaying their legs around and kicking people in the head). The singer said something great, again paraphrasing at best: has anyone heard this crazy rumour going around the olinternet that were anti-dancing and stage diving, no, good because we love that shit, however, there is a line where it stops being an extension of the music and just an ego thing to look tough to other people, thats what were against (someone shouts for him to shut up and play another song) no I wont shut up, we came here to preach, I love the fact that you dont want to hear an exchange of ideas and just the bass drum going so you can dance and look tough that isnt what Hardcore is about.
After they finished Geoff and Lindsay came up and said they only just got there fifteen minutes ago, chatted for a bit then they went off to the merch tables.
F.V.K./Cro-Mags: So on paper they might technically have been the real Cro-Mags (they only had two original members who were just on the first album, John Joseph who only just got a new band together (Bloodclot) and Makie who has since been in Bad Brains, Shelter and was on the last two Fun Lovin Criminals albums) but oh my fucking god were they good. Much to my (and many others) elation they opened with We Gotta Know, because they were only playing songs from the first album they also through in some Bad Brains covers into the set (I actually got to scream into the mic when the did Sailin On). I could see there set list and originally planned to leave for the cloak room and pick up both of Betrayeds CDs from their merch table after they played Malfunction but because I was having so much fun singing along I wound up staying until they did a cover of the title track from I Against I (first Bad Brains album I ever picked up I should mention). They encored with Hard Times and got the whole crowd to do the Cro-Mag! SKINHEAD! Breakout! NOOOOOOW! part at the end, fun.
Went to Victoria and met up with Lindsey and Geoff on the train and chatted all the way to Chatham. Went to the Tap, just put my backpack in the cloak room and turned around just in time to see Chris calling me a cunt. Hung out with Chris, Ollie, Zak and Natalie on the Top floor for an hour then left to get something to eat. In the kebab I saw a bunch of pikeys one of which was a guy called Jake who went to my college and supposedly nicked my CD player out of my bag when I was in the gym, now I dont know for sure if it really was him but I said it was him to the security guard because he was the last person I saw go into the changing room and I was having a really bad panic attack after I found it missing, when I calmed down I talked to the security guard again and said maybe I was wrong because I saw a bunch of other guys going in and out of the changing room but he said that Jake was present when other people had things nicked so I could have been right the first time, he dropped out of college soon after that and one of his mates said that before hed borrowed 10 and then disappeared off the face of the earth. Now Id seen him hanging around the kebab a few times before but he hadnt seen me. This time he turned round to one of his friends and said is that the guy from the gym I could see a fight coming so I quietly left when he had his back turned (like Richard Pryor said sometimes you intelligence should tell you to RUN!), thankfully him and his friends didnt follow me as I walked under the bridge a bird shat on my shoe, it did put a damper on my night a little but it could have been worse, I could have had the crap beaten out of me by a bunch of fucking Pikeys.
Deny Everything: Good performance, its a same that hardly anyone was there. I was afraid to sing along as I made a tit out of myself in front of the singer when he was doing the merch for xCANAANx a few years ago, I asked him how much the t-shirts were and he just said well a wild guess, six pounds like it says on the price list next to them which I hadnt seen.
Betrayed: I never liked Champion but I was prepared to them a chance as they also had ex-members of Carry On who I did like. My jaw hit the floor they were so good. The singer said some righteous things between songs, paraphrasing at best: Were a Straight Edge band but I dont give a fuck if you drink as long as what your doing comes from the heart being Straight Edge does not give you the right to look down on someone suffering from drug addiction, these people need help if that sounds like Bill Hicks to anyone (except about the Straight Edge part). They played a cover of a Dag Nasty song that I didnt recognise (later I checked when I got home and found out it was One To Two) and they finished by doing a cover of Screaming At A Wall by Minor Threat, kewl.
Bane: Because one of the guitars was turned up stupidly loud a smoke alarm got set off (Im not sure how that works either). They opened with Can We Start Again which they ended with last time, the set was riddled with technical problems, be it the guitars or the mic breaking apart and of course the annoyance of stage divers, I got so fucked off at times I was actually grabbing guys legs and throwing them into the floor (being a prick, I know but in my defence, some of these guys where flaying their legs around and kicking people in the head). The singer said something great, again paraphrasing at best: has anyone heard this crazy rumour going around the olinternet that were anti-dancing and stage diving, no, good because we love that shit, however, there is a line where it stops being an extension of the music and just an ego thing to look tough to other people, thats what were against (someone shouts for him to shut up and play another song) no I wont shut up, we came here to preach, I love the fact that you dont want to hear an exchange of ideas and just the bass drum going so you can dance and look tough that isnt what Hardcore is about.
After they finished Geoff and Lindsay came up and said they only just got there fifteen minutes ago, chatted for a bit then they went off to the merch tables.
F.V.K./Cro-Mags: So on paper they might technically have been the real Cro-Mags (they only had two original members who were just on the first album, John Joseph who only just got a new band together (Bloodclot) and Makie who has since been in Bad Brains, Shelter and was on the last two Fun Lovin Criminals albums) but oh my fucking god were they good. Much to my (and many others) elation they opened with We Gotta Know, because they were only playing songs from the first album they also through in some Bad Brains covers into the set (I actually got to scream into the mic when the did Sailin On). I could see there set list and originally planned to leave for the cloak room and pick up both of Betrayeds CDs from their merch table after they played Malfunction but because I was having so much fun singing along I wound up staying until they did a cover of the title track from I Against I (first Bad Brains album I ever picked up I should mention). They encored with Hard Times and got the whole crowd to do the Cro-Mag! SKINHEAD! Breakout! NOOOOOOW! part at the end, fun.
Went to Victoria and met up with Lindsey and Geoff on the train and chatted all the way to Chatham. Went to the Tap, just put my backpack in the cloak room and turned around just in time to see Chris calling me a cunt. Hung out with Chris, Ollie, Zak and Natalie on the Top floor for an hour then left to get something to eat. In the kebab I saw a bunch of pikeys one of which was a guy called Jake who went to my college and supposedly nicked my CD player out of my bag when I was in the gym, now I dont know for sure if it really was him but I said it was him to the security guard because he was the last person I saw go into the changing room and I was having a really bad panic attack after I found it missing, when I calmed down I talked to the security guard again and said maybe I was wrong because I saw a bunch of other guys going in and out of the changing room but he said that Jake was present when other people had things nicked so I could have been right the first time, he dropped out of college soon after that and one of his mates said that before hed borrowed 10 and then disappeared off the face of the earth. Now Id seen him hanging around the kebab a few times before but he hadnt seen me. This time he turned round to one of his friends and said is that the guy from the gym I could see a fight coming so I quietly left when he had his back turned (like Richard Pryor said sometimes you intelligence should tell you to RUN!), thankfully him and his friends didnt follow me as I walked under the bridge a bird shat on my shoe, it did put a damper on my night a little but it could have been worse, I could have had the crap beaten out of me by a bunch of fucking Pikeys.