Thursday: Started walking down to Rochester train station at three o'clock and couldn't help thinking all the way "god, I wish I was seeing MC5 and Gallows at the Underworld tonight" I found out about the Negative Approach show first and couldn't help but think it was going to be as fun. Went to Sister Ray and tried to get Ten by cLOUDDEAD but when I took it up to the counter the guy said he couldn't find the CD and put the case in the missing pile. Went to Virgin and found it for the same price, in fact I looked around their hip Hop section and found they did all the Anticon and Mush stuff cheaper than Sister Ray. Stopped by the Mean Fiddler box office to see if the Brutal Truth tickets had gone on sale yet, they hadn't. Got the train to Mornington Crescent, walked up to Marks And Spencer's and found Orange juice with crushed Raspberries (OK, they may be a horribly middle class chain of stores but every few weeks they come up with fruit juice most mortal men can only dream of), walked to the Vegan Chinese place and got something to eat there. Went to Tufnall Park and waited around for the show to start, saw Tony Sylvester walking around, they opened the doors the other side of the building that I went in last time, when I got in I found there was actually another venue on top off the hall I was in last time that actually has a proper stage.
Search & Destroy: When I saw them walk onstage decked out in Burberry and Fred Perry along with their singer with a shaved head and suspenders I was expecting to hate them but they actually turned out to be a really good old school style Hardcore band. "That isn't our regular Guitarist, he's in the army shooting people, just joking he's only in training." They only played for about fifteen minutes because they only have one seven inch worth of material.
The Horror: "My vision is withered, there is a pit of lava in front of us" pointing at the empty space in front of the stage, saved for moshing "if you step on the lava it wont hurt you, come closer, do an old man a favour." The singer didn't do as much pacing around the stage as they did the last time I saw them, played a really good set, especially glad they played Fuck Whatcha Heard and even surprised they did Exotic? as that was one of their joke songs.
Negative Approach: Fucking yes. I was a bit worried that they'd be crap when I noticed how old they were but they played their nads off. Played all the classics, when they played Ready To Fight a stagediver stamped on the guitarists peddles so when they got to the point of the song when the music stops before they go into the chorus you just heard "god DAMN IT!" then they started the song again once they checked the guitar peddle still worked. Stood up front for fifteen minutes until someone trying to get to the mic punched me in my good eye, which started to water so I went to the side. Without introducing the song, they started playing the intro to Nothing and this huge circle pit broke out, once it calmed down I said "fuck it" and ran back to the front of the stage to sing along, finding myself standing next to Tony Sylvester, they played Lost Cause so I stayed to sing along to that, then played a song from Tied Down I didn't know followed by a Weirdos cover so I went to the bar and got a J2O, they finished with Negative Approach then came back on and did a cover of Borstal Breakout by Sham 69 and another song from Tied Down I didn't know, completely made me forget about MC5.
Bought Search & Destroy's seven inch and left, got to Victoria saw my train was leaving in less than ten minutes but from where it was I could still rush into Marks & Spencer's and get something to eat, got a fruit salad and a litre of Clementine juice but in my hurry I forgot to get a fork, so I wound up having to eat the fruit salad with my fingers. Go to Chatham and decided not to wait around for the 12:11 back to Strood and thought I'd get a taxi as it was before twelve but when I got to the taxi rank the queue was fucking huge so I started walking along the high street avoiding New Road and the whores (too tempting), avoided pissed up Chavs and got to Rochester and had to wait twenty six minutes for the train to Strood because the cunt was delayed. Eventually got to Strood and walked the rest of the way home.
Friday: Left for the Tap about quarter to seven, sat down in the pool room and read until Chris and Zak came. Went to the Manor for the first time in three months, got two quid out just in case but despite me not DJing there in over a year I can still get in free. The New DJs that Mills spoke of turned out to be a guy with facial hair that looked drawn on and that guy who calls himself Korn from back when I DJed there, they played some utter shite but I will give them credit for playing two Pantera songs back to back (someone had to on the anniversary of Dime's shooting). Saw James was working in the cloak room and later in the night collecting discarded bottles chucked on the floor, also noticed Manny is now DJing in the Indie room, which makes more sense what with his taste in music. Steve, Liam and some of their crowd showed up, Steve told me 8-Ball now have a MySpace page (www.myspace.co/8ballrule) and that they're playing next Saturday at the Tap (I'll be sure to go and heckle them this time), spent my night wandering around chatting to random people, this one guy that always talks to me there came up to me and said "you're Straight Edge right? Then how come you always look pissed?" "I'm tired" I wouldn't mind so much but he always says the same thing to me whenever he sees me, another guy shook my hand on the strength that my screen name on MySpace is a Bill Hicks reference. Stuck it out 'til half one (god knows how) and got a taxi home with Steve, Liam, Liam's Girlfriend and some guy named Gabriel, originally and since I was paying for the taxi they where all going to get out at my house and walk the rest of the way, but somewhere along the way it changed to Steve, Liam and Gabriel (who put in one pound towards the taxi fare I should add) getting out at Liam's house and then me and Liam's Girlfriend went the rest of the way as she lives on my road, I let her get out at her house because I'm a nice guy like that. The total of my spending the whole night: 16.40 and most of that was just on the taxi, I love not drinking.
Saturday: New shirts from Straight Edge O.G. came through the post
Got a text from Mills a couple of hours before I left the house saying he couldn't make it to the Command House. Left the house at quarter to seven, got the bus to Chatham, went in the Tap for a little while as I didn't want to go straight there, left after fifteen minutes of sitting by myself in a dark corner. Went in the Command House, saw this sign that made me laugh
No caps I can understand, but what happened to make them ban people from taking the shirts and shoes off? Sat by myself felling miserable until eight o'clock and went outside because I just didn't feel like being around people, waited for the basement doors to open until I heard the bouncer say it didn't start 'til nine. Went back inside, nearly got ID'd by the old cunt on the door, sat at the bar, felt miserable but slightly warmer. Eventually went downstairs which opened before nine:
Deadman DJ: Walked in before he started, hadn't heard him before but I'd heard other people making noise about him. Didn't even realise he was on until I saw this scrawny guy with glasses with a laptop and a mixer, I just thought there was music playing before the bands. Enjoyed bits of his set but it's not really my kind of music.
Mths: Played a longer set than the last time I saw them. Their music is weird and interesting enough for me but they aren't much to watch live when they're crouched behind an amp and a drum kit. The scrawny guy with the glasses went on again after them.
Sons Of Alpha Centauri: I sneaked a look at their set list and noticed they only refer to their songs as numbers (in fact people were even calling out for songs by shouting "NUMBER 2!" they rocked hard as always, towards the end of their set this blonde girl who was screaming at the top of her lungs between every song started shacking a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale at the band covering them with little flecks of brown, they didn't seem to mind that much, about that time I felt something hit me in the chest, I looked down and it was a drumstick, after they finished the song the drummer spoke to this woman in front of me, I thought he was saying where it went so I picked it up and handed it to him, the woman turned round and said "I didn't even see that" "well I felt it" "he did say sorry if it hit anyone." They went on for an hour and twenty minutes and even did an encore, which I've never seen a Medway band do, but then they have enough material to do that, well Billy Childish does have more but it's spread across all his different bands and I doubt the miserable cunt plays more than an hour, if that.
The scrawny guy with the glasses went on again so I left. Walked to the kebab shop got something to eat then headed for the taxi rank.
Sunday: Went to the record fair in Chatham, picked up the dates for next year and found out this was going to be the last record fair in Chatham, they're still going to have the one at the Corn exchange in Rochester but that ones always crap, may have to see what the one in Rainham is like. They had a couple of stall with good Punk sections picked up some Buzzcocks, Cock Sparrer, Dropkick Murphys, Crass, Good Riddance and a Joy Division bootleg of early demos that I thought was Unknown Pleasers as it had the same cover.
Monday: Started walking to Rochester train station after two, when I crossed Rochester Bridge I saw this guy walking up a down the same stretch of the bridge occasionally stopping to stare at the sky and make sign language. Went straight to Sister Ray in Berwick Street and looked for Hip Hop seven inches (I didn't think such a thing existed either until I stumbled upon them in the Lex/Anticon/Mush vinyl section in that shop), found a Subtle picture disk that was 2.50, nearly got a Sixtoo single but it was 7.99 and that seems too much, found the Melvins new album for 9.99 which would be a penny cheaper than they'd charge at the show so I got it. Went in Reckless Records and got the new Disaster Strikes album. Went in Virgin and found a new Bronx seven inch and It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy for only 5.99. Got the train to Mornington Crescent, walked to Marks & Spencer's and got a bottle of Orange juice and crushed Mango (genius), went in the second hand place and got Made Out Of Babies new album. Took a quick look around the Punk accessory shops for a Conflict patch but couldn't find one, got something to eat at the Vegan Chinese place then headed for Kings Cross. I'd never been to that part of London (except to get the train to Donington) so I took a walk to see what was there, not a lot as it transpired, got excited when I saw shop signs with Books in them only to find on close inspection they were just Porn shops. Got in line outside the Scala and read for a bit, saw Tony Sylvester walking around again, when doors opened I noticed that Porn had been added to the bill and Big Business and the Melvins were now sharing their set making the show end at half eleven, meaning I'd have to leave before they finished. Went to the merch stall and got Big Business' album and new demo, put my backpack in the cloak room.
Porn: The bass player came out in a blazer, no trousers, ludicrously coloured boxers and socks, the guitarist came out dressed as Santa and the drummer as Elvis. They played a song that kinda sounded like a Melvins song then they had a really weird instrumental jam session, at one point Santa said "here, ducky, ducky" and Elvis and bass player pulled out duck calls. After they finished Elvis came to the front of the stage and said talked about how it was their first time in England "Merry Christmas, oh wait, you say that" Santa: "I got some pot"
Flipper: I heard one song before and didn't like it, having Kirst Novoselic with them to replace their original bass player being dead didn't mean that much to me as I always hated Nirvana, they sucked, they played way too long and cut into the Melvins set, the only good bit was when Buzz and Dale from the Melvins with the drummer from Big Business came out and joined them for a song, then Dale stayed with them when they played Sex Bomb as their last song.
Big Business: Didn't translate well live from record, they got better when Dale came out and played guitar with them for a few songs.
Melvins: Buzz and Dale walk onstage and suddenly Big Business morph into the Melvins. It was so packed I had to move around loads until I found a good vantage point, I eventually wound up on the balcony. They played a whole bunch of new stuff but I recognised The Bloated Pope, Set Me Straight (which they stopped after the first chorus and went into Cream covers again, be nice just to hear the whole song all the way through just once, you could hear people yelling for White Room once they stopped), Oven (sung by the bass player from Big Business) and Tripping The Lion, I left while they were in the middle of a jam session, saw a couple of guys from Capricorns before I left.
Got a potion of chips in pita from the kebab shop across the road from Victoria station before getting on the train, this guy from Rainham sat across from me, noticed my Black Flag bars, said he recognised me from the Manor, asked if I went to the Sick Of It All show at the forum and chatted about Hardcore for a bit. Got off at Chatham as the train didn't make any stops before that (not even Bromley South) and got a taxi home because I could be arsed to walk home.
Search & Destroy: When I saw them walk onstage decked out in Burberry and Fred Perry along with their singer with a shaved head and suspenders I was expecting to hate them but they actually turned out to be a really good old school style Hardcore band. "That isn't our regular Guitarist, he's in the army shooting people, just joking he's only in training." They only played for about fifteen minutes because they only have one seven inch worth of material.
The Horror: "My vision is withered, there is a pit of lava in front of us" pointing at the empty space in front of the stage, saved for moshing "if you step on the lava it wont hurt you, come closer, do an old man a favour." The singer didn't do as much pacing around the stage as they did the last time I saw them, played a really good set, especially glad they played Fuck Whatcha Heard and even surprised they did Exotic? as that was one of their joke songs.
Negative Approach: Fucking yes. I was a bit worried that they'd be crap when I noticed how old they were but they played their nads off. Played all the classics, when they played Ready To Fight a stagediver stamped on the guitarists peddles so when they got to the point of the song when the music stops before they go into the chorus you just heard "god DAMN IT!" then they started the song again once they checked the guitar peddle still worked. Stood up front for fifteen minutes until someone trying to get to the mic punched me in my good eye, which started to water so I went to the side. Without introducing the song, they started playing the intro to Nothing and this huge circle pit broke out, once it calmed down I said "fuck it" and ran back to the front of the stage to sing along, finding myself standing next to Tony Sylvester, they played Lost Cause so I stayed to sing along to that, then played a song from Tied Down I didn't know followed by a Weirdos cover so I went to the bar and got a J2O, they finished with Negative Approach then came back on and did a cover of Borstal Breakout by Sham 69 and another song from Tied Down I didn't know, completely made me forget about MC5.
Bought Search & Destroy's seven inch and left, got to Victoria saw my train was leaving in less than ten minutes but from where it was I could still rush into Marks & Spencer's and get something to eat, got a fruit salad and a litre of Clementine juice but in my hurry I forgot to get a fork, so I wound up having to eat the fruit salad with my fingers. Go to Chatham and decided not to wait around for the 12:11 back to Strood and thought I'd get a taxi as it was before twelve but when I got to the taxi rank the queue was fucking huge so I started walking along the high street avoiding New Road and the whores (too tempting), avoided pissed up Chavs and got to Rochester and had to wait twenty six minutes for the train to Strood because the cunt was delayed. Eventually got to Strood and walked the rest of the way home.
Friday: Left for the Tap about quarter to seven, sat down in the pool room and read until Chris and Zak came. Went to the Manor for the first time in three months, got two quid out just in case but despite me not DJing there in over a year I can still get in free. The New DJs that Mills spoke of turned out to be a guy with facial hair that looked drawn on and that guy who calls himself Korn from back when I DJed there, they played some utter shite but I will give them credit for playing two Pantera songs back to back (someone had to on the anniversary of Dime's shooting). Saw James was working in the cloak room and later in the night collecting discarded bottles chucked on the floor, also noticed Manny is now DJing in the Indie room, which makes more sense what with his taste in music. Steve, Liam and some of their crowd showed up, Steve told me 8-Ball now have a MySpace page (www.myspace.co/8ballrule) and that they're playing next Saturday at the Tap (I'll be sure to go and heckle them this time), spent my night wandering around chatting to random people, this one guy that always talks to me there came up to me and said "you're Straight Edge right? Then how come you always look pissed?" "I'm tired" I wouldn't mind so much but he always says the same thing to me whenever he sees me, another guy shook my hand on the strength that my screen name on MySpace is a Bill Hicks reference. Stuck it out 'til half one (god knows how) and got a taxi home with Steve, Liam, Liam's Girlfriend and some guy named Gabriel, originally and since I was paying for the taxi they where all going to get out at my house and walk the rest of the way, but somewhere along the way it changed to Steve, Liam and Gabriel (who put in one pound towards the taxi fare I should add) getting out at Liam's house and then me and Liam's Girlfriend went the rest of the way as she lives on my road, I let her get out at her house because I'm a nice guy like that. The total of my spending the whole night: 16.40 and most of that was just on the taxi, I love not drinking.
Saturday: New shirts from Straight Edge O.G. came through the post
Got a text from Mills a couple of hours before I left the house saying he couldn't make it to the Command House. Left the house at quarter to seven, got the bus to Chatham, went in the Tap for a little while as I didn't want to go straight there, left after fifteen minutes of sitting by myself in a dark corner. Went in the Command House, saw this sign that made me laugh
No caps I can understand, but what happened to make them ban people from taking the shirts and shoes off? Sat by myself felling miserable until eight o'clock and went outside because I just didn't feel like being around people, waited for the basement doors to open until I heard the bouncer say it didn't start 'til nine. Went back inside, nearly got ID'd by the old cunt on the door, sat at the bar, felt miserable but slightly warmer. Eventually went downstairs which opened before nine:
Deadman DJ: Walked in before he started, hadn't heard him before but I'd heard other people making noise about him. Didn't even realise he was on until I saw this scrawny guy with glasses with a laptop and a mixer, I just thought there was music playing before the bands. Enjoyed bits of his set but it's not really my kind of music.
Mths: Played a longer set than the last time I saw them. Their music is weird and interesting enough for me but they aren't much to watch live when they're crouched behind an amp and a drum kit. The scrawny guy with the glasses went on again after them.
Sons Of Alpha Centauri: I sneaked a look at their set list and noticed they only refer to their songs as numbers (in fact people were even calling out for songs by shouting "NUMBER 2!" they rocked hard as always, towards the end of their set this blonde girl who was screaming at the top of her lungs between every song started shacking a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale at the band covering them with little flecks of brown, they didn't seem to mind that much, about that time I felt something hit me in the chest, I looked down and it was a drumstick, after they finished the song the drummer spoke to this woman in front of me, I thought he was saying where it went so I picked it up and handed it to him, the woman turned round and said "I didn't even see that" "well I felt it" "he did say sorry if it hit anyone." They went on for an hour and twenty minutes and even did an encore, which I've never seen a Medway band do, but then they have enough material to do that, well Billy Childish does have more but it's spread across all his different bands and I doubt the miserable cunt plays more than an hour, if that.
The scrawny guy with the glasses went on again so I left. Walked to the kebab shop got something to eat then headed for the taxi rank.
Sunday: Went to the record fair in Chatham, picked up the dates for next year and found out this was going to be the last record fair in Chatham, they're still going to have the one at the Corn exchange in Rochester but that ones always crap, may have to see what the one in Rainham is like. They had a couple of stall with good Punk sections picked up some Buzzcocks, Cock Sparrer, Dropkick Murphys, Crass, Good Riddance and a Joy Division bootleg of early demos that I thought was Unknown Pleasers as it had the same cover.
Monday: Started walking to Rochester train station after two, when I crossed Rochester Bridge I saw this guy walking up a down the same stretch of the bridge occasionally stopping to stare at the sky and make sign language. Went straight to Sister Ray in Berwick Street and looked for Hip Hop seven inches (I didn't think such a thing existed either until I stumbled upon them in the Lex/Anticon/Mush vinyl section in that shop), found a Subtle picture disk that was 2.50, nearly got a Sixtoo single but it was 7.99 and that seems too much, found the Melvins new album for 9.99 which would be a penny cheaper than they'd charge at the show so I got it. Went in Reckless Records and got the new Disaster Strikes album. Went in Virgin and found a new Bronx seven inch and It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy for only 5.99. Got the train to Mornington Crescent, walked to Marks & Spencer's and got a bottle of Orange juice and crushed Mango (genius), went in the second hand place and got Made Out Of Babies new album. Took a quick look around the Punk accessory shops for a Conflict patch but couldn't find one, got something to eat at the Vegan Chinese place then headed for Kings Cross. I'd never been to that part of London (except to get the train to Donington) so I took a walk to see what was there, not a lot as it transpired, got excited when I saw shop signs with Books in them only to find on close inspection they were just Porn shops. Got in line outside the Scala and read for a bit, saw Tony Sylvester walking around again, when doors opened I noticed that Porn had been added to the bill and Big Business and the Melvins were now sharing their set making the show end at half eleven, meaning I'd have to leave before they finished. Went to the merch stall and got Big Business' album and new demo, put my backpack in the cloak room.
Porn: The bass player came out in a blazer, no trousers, ludicrously coloured boxers and socks, the guitarist came out dressed as Santa and the drummer as Elvis. They played a song that kinda sounded like a Melvins song then they had a really weird instrumental jam session, at one point Santa said "here, ducky, ducky" and Elvis and bass player pulled out duck calls. After they finished Elvis came to the front of the stage and said talked about how it was their first time in England "Merry Christmas, oh wait, you say that" Santa: "I got some pot"
Flipper: I heard one song before and didn't like it, having Kirst Novoselic with them to replace their original bass player being dead didn't mean that much to me as I always hated Nirvana, they sucked, they played way too long and cut into the Melvins set, the only good bit was when Buzz and Dale from the Melvins with the drummer from Big Business came out and joined them for a song, then Dale stayed with them when they played Sex Bomb as their last song.
Big Business: Didn't translate well live from record, they got better when Dale came out and played guitar with them for a few songs.
Melvins: Buzz and Dale walk onstage and suddenly Big Business morph into the Melvins. It was so packed I had to move around loads until I found a good vantage point, I eventually wound up on the balcony. They played a whole bunch of new stuff but I recognised The Bloated Pope, Set Me Straight (which they stopped after the first chorus and went into Cream covers again, be nice just to hear the whole song all the way through just once, you could hear people yelling for White Room once they stopped), Oven (sung by the bass player from Big Business) and Tripping The Lion, I left while they were in the middle of a jam session, saw a couple of guys from Capricorns before I left.
Got a potion of chips in pita from the kebab shop across the road from Victoria station before getting on the train, this guy from Rainham sat across from me, noticed my Black Flag bars, said he recognised me from the Manor, asked if I went to the Sick Of It All show at the forum and chatted about Hardcore for a bit. Got off at Chatham as the train didn't make any stops before that (not even Bromley South) and got a taxi home because I could be arsed to walk home.