Friday: Left the house at twenty to six in the freezing fog, managed to get a bus right near my house instead of walking all the way to Darnley Road. Got to the Tap, went up to the toilets and started taking off my hoodies to put in my backpack like I normally do and I heard a voice from the girls toilet saying "a boy's undressing out there" a small group of pissed up Chav girls came out, asked to read the tattoo on my arm that says "I AM HERE TO PISS YOU OFF BECAUSE YOU HAVE PISSED ME OFF" ("gasp he's here to piss us off!"), then they started to insist that I used to work in the Ferkin or at least still do at the Tap (one girl did ask me if I was a DJ and I just said no, if I'm honest the real thing that set me off on the Tap's messageboard was just me wanting to brag that I was a DJ, I've learnt my lesson), I tried to explain that I was trying that I wanted to use the toilet "do you want us to watch you piss?" one of the girls let me go through but two followed me in, I tried telling them to fuck off and a fat blonde one asked if I was gay if I didn't want two girls to watch me piss, some Chavy guy came in and started talking to them and I said fuck it and walked out. Got a J2O and found a corner of the pool room to read. About an hour later Mills found me and we chatted for a while, Ollie, Nick and their friends (in less than a year of knowing them, I've only picked up two of their names) came in and joined us. I left about half past eight and walked to the Command House. It was 5 to get in but I didn't mind as I knew that they'd be selling Urban Fox books for cheap inside, except they didn't have the one I was looking for because they just released two new books and that was all they were selling, it was pretty packed, went up to the bar and overheard two Chavs comparing their ammeter MCing to Eminem's character in 8 Mile, I was surrounded by Indie goons and Chavs and couldn't help thinking this is actually worse than the Manor, no actually it is like being in the Indie Room only everyone around me is actually of age to be there.
The Long Weekend: I'd heard people slagging off these guys and wondered why, my answer came when the singer opened his mouth, he was ripping off Liam Gallagher and even though this was an acoustic set I could tell musically they were aping Oasis, having said that their set was kind of pleasant to listen to. They finished with a cover of White Christmas, they singer had to have his mate stand over him with a mobile phone and a lyric sheet so he could read the words, the crowd would let them leave before doing a cover of Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, a couple of their mates joined them on tambourine and drums (although there wasn't any drum sticks around so just using the bass drum really), it kind of sounded like Oasis doing a cover of the song, which was shit and good at the same time.
Lawrence G. Lennon: When I heard there was going to be a poetry reading I was scared that it would be this guy, he did his usual impression of Rik Mayall's character from the Young Ones (I think the thing that irks me my is he always announces himself as a "Punk Poet"), but this time he actually did some good stuff (one poem about how some the drug laws haven't been changed in years and basically demonise dealers) and between every poem his big skinhead mate was getting more and more wound up that people were talking while Lawrence was trying to read and kept offering out people for a fight, when Lawrence finally finished his mate (called John by the way) had one finally go at the people in the back saying everyone had paid to get in here to listen to stuff like this "and you pricks, sorry, you twats and cunts keep talking, go to another fucking pub."
There were another two bands but I decided to leave as I told most people I'd be back to the Tap by 10, got in, found no one I knew, sat by myself on the top floor for a while to laugh at Indie kids dancing and thought to myself I really need to sort my life out. I don't want to dwell on this too much but I know that even if I could go to the Manor, it's still not going to be fun, I just wish that I could be with my friends, also if this is how every Friday is going to be, maybe I should stay in every once in a while except when say, a decent band plays the Command House or I definitely know that someone will be there at the Tap and if not, just go out on Saturday instead, they've moved Sub's there now and it sees promising for a good night out. Saw Anita and Geoff and they actually made me feel better (apparently Lindsay was around but I didn't see her), I also was approached by Izy's ex and regular poster on the Taps messageboard, Stubbs, who I had a job understanding because he was quite drunk, he tapped me on the shoulder asked me what could either have been "have you been prosecuted?" or (and what would have been more accurate) "how could you be prosecuted?" I said no and he said not to worry "I'm very pissed." Stuck around 'til eleven then got a taxi home (too depressed to get something to eat), the lesson learnt being if you are having a good time at the Command House, stay there. Watched TV's Naughtiest Blunder's on ITV and taped Adult Swim to watch the next day.
Saturday: Left the house about twenty past nine, got a bus to Chatham from Darnley Road, read in the Tap for about two hours, nearly sent a text to mills asking if he was still going out when he tapped me on the shoulder. Had a chat, a couple of young girls sat across from us asked Mills if he'd go up to the bar and get them drinks if she gave him the money, Mills asked if they were underage, they said yes so Mills said no. James showed up and chatted with us, apparently a lot of people who work at the Manor are fucked off with Stuart (the guy who Steve got me to talk to last week) and someone even left this week because of him, Pete joined us, James had to go off to a party but he said he'd try and be back for November Coming Fire. Saw Mike and his mate Steve, they sat down with us for a bit, Steve brought Mike a pint and (classic Mike) he accidentally chucked most of it over the side of the table, one of the bouncers came over and asked if he'd like a straw. Mills saw that the chairs had been taken out of the doorway to the Pool Room so we went in to watch the bands.
We Are Carnivores: They've gotten a lot tighter since the last time I saw them, bought their EP after they finished.
Carmen: In between bands we sat in the main room and talked to Pete, we discussed Carmen and that time they got banned from the Command House for smashing a glass table and destroying microphones, I hadn't actually seen them in ages and wondered if they were still insane, yep. I walked into the Pool Room and saw they had set up their instruments right in the middle, before they started they insisted that people sit on the stage and watch them. The singer Chris was rolling around the floor screaming and occasionally climbing up the pipes in the middle of the room and swinging upside down by his legs gripping onto them, the guitarist was pacing up and down swinging his guitar around, not caring if it was near someone's face. "Does anyone like Nirvana?" asked the guitarist "Who doesn't like Nirvana?" asked the bass player before going into a Noisecore version of Negative Creep (which I only recognised by Chris screeching "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more"). They played She Speaks while one of their mates slam dancing around them and pushing them while they tried to play, they meant to finish but everyone sat on the stage begged for one more, at the end of which the guitarist threw his guitar at the floor, grabbed a microphone and started screaming into it, Chris dove onto the drum kit sending both it and the drummer crashing into the floor, when they got up bits of it looked completely broken, well Guillaume Seam aren't around to do the kind of stuff anymore so someone has to.
November Coming Fire: They had to do a bit of a sound check before they went on because they arrived late. A lot of things were going wrong while they played (the bass kept making dying sounds between songs and had to be fixed every few times, Bones snapped his last pair of drum sticks after the second song and had to borrow a pair from We Are Carnivores' drummer) but it was still the best set I've seen them do since Thom left, who actually joined them onstage to do co-vocals with Gareth on The Boys With Nails, when they finished Thom was back to beg them to do Transgression (which they haven't done since Thom left, it was their big song off their first EP and I guess they got sick of playing it at every show) "come on it's Christmas!" begged Thom, eventually he convinced them to play it with him singing as Gareth had walked straight off, but eventually came back when he realised his band wasn't finished. We all crowded around Thom to do the chant at the beginning of the song and I actually got to scream into the mic a couple of times, the crowd erupted when the song kicked in, so much so that Gareth lost his mic, he pulled the cable out of the pit and found the mic had come off, he didn't seem to bothered, just finished smoking the cigarette he lit when he originally walked off stage while the band finished the song, and I was that bothered either because I got to scream "IN DARKNESS WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL" for the first time in what's got to be over two years.
Got my backpack out of the cloakroom, said bye to James and Mills, went to the kebab shop to get a portion of chips, then a taxi home, watched Adult Swim for a bit then went to bed.
The Long Weekend: I'd heard people slagging off these guys and wondered why, my answer came when the singer opened his mouth, he was ripping off Liam Gallagher and even though this was an acoustic set I could tell musically they were aping Oasis, having said that their set was kind of pleasant to listen to. They finished with a cover of White Christmas, they singer had to have his mate stand over him with a mobile phone and a lyric sheet so he could read the words, the crowd would let them leave before doing a cover of Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash, a couple of their mates joined them on tambourine and drums (although there wasn't any drum sticks around so just using the bass drum really), it kind of sounded like Oasis doing a cover of the song, which was shit and good at the same time.
Lawrence G. Lennon: When I heard there was going to be a poetry reading I was scared that it would be this guy, he did his usual impression of Rik Mayall's character from the Young Ones (I think the thing that irks me my is he always announces himself as a "Punk Poet"), but this time he actually did some good stuff (one poem about how some the drug laws haven't been changed in years and basically demonise dealers) and between every poem his big skinhead mate was getting more and more wound up that people were talking while Lawrence was trying to read and kept offering out people for a fight, when Lawrence finally finished his mate (called John by the way) had one finally go at the people in the back saying everyone had paid to get in here to listen to stuff like this "and you pricks, sorry, you twats and cunts keep talking, go to another fucking pub."
There were another two bands but I decided to leave as I told most people I'd be back to the Tap by 10, got in, found no one I knew, sat by myself on the top floor for a while to laugh at Indie kids dancing and thought to myself I really need to sort my life out. I don't want to dwell on this too much but I know that even if I could go to the Manor, it's still not going to be fun, I just wish that I could be with my friends, also if this is how every Friday is going to be, maybe I should stay in every once in a while except when say, a decent band plays the Command House or I definitely know that someone will be there at the Tap and if not, just go out on Saturday instead, they've moved Sub's there now and it sees promising for a good night out. Saw Anita and Geoff and they actually made me feel better (apparently Lindsay was around but I didn't see her), I also was approached by Izy's ex and regular poster on the Taps messageboard, Stubbs, who I had a job understanding because he was quite drunk, he tapped me on the shoulder asked me what could either have been "have you been prosecuted?" or (and what would have been more accurate) "how could you be prosecuted?" I said no and he said not to worry "I'm very pissed." Stuck around 'til eleven then got a taxi home (too depressed to get something to eat), the lesson learnt being if you are having a good time at the Command House, stay there. Watched TV's Naughtiest Blunder's on ITV and taped Adult Swim to watch the next day.
Saturday: Left the house about twenty past nine, got a bus to Chatham from Darnley Road, read in the Tap for about two hours, nearly sent a text to mills asking if he was still going out when he tapped me on the shoulder. Had a chat, a couple of young girls sat across from us asked Mills if he'd go up to the bar and get them drinks if she gave him the money, Mills asked if they were underage, they said yes so Mills said no. James showed up and chatted with us, apparently a lot of people who work at the Manor are fucked off with Stuart (the guy who Steve got me to talk to last week) and someone even left this week because of him, Pete joined us, James had to go off to a party but he said he'd try and be back for November Coming Fire. Saw Mike and his mate Steve, they sat down with us for a bit, Steve brought Mike a pint and (classic Mike) he accidentally chucked most of it over the side of the table, one of the bouncers came over and asked if he'd like a straw. Mills saw that the chairs had been taken out of the doorway to the Pool Room so we went in to watch the bands.
We Are Carnivores: They've gotten a lot tighter since the last time I saw them, bought their EP after they finished.
Carmen: In between bands we sat in the main room and talked to Pete, we discussed Carmen and that time they got banned from the Command House for smashing a glass table and destroying microphones, I hadn't actually seen them in ages and wondered if they were still insane, yep. I walked into the Pool Room and saw they had set up their instruments right in the middle, before they started they insisted that people sit on the stage and watch them. The singer Chris was rolling around the floor screaming and occasionally climbing up the pipes in the middle of the room and swinging upside down by his legs gripping onto them, the guitarist was pacing up and down swinging his guitar around, not caring if it was near someone's face. "Does anyone like Nirvana?" asked the guitarist "Who doesn't like Nirvana?" asked the bass player before going into a Noisecore version of Negative Creep (which I only recognised by Chris screeching "Daddy's little girl ain't a girl no more"). They played She Speaks while one of their mates slam dancing around them and pushing them while they tried to play, they meant to finish but everyone sat on the stage begged for one more, at the end of which the guitarist threw his guitar at the floor, grabbed a microphone and started screaming into it, Chris dove onto the drum kit sending both it and the drummer crashing into the floor, when they got up bits of it looked completely broken, well Guillaume Seam aren't around to do the kind of stuff anymore so someone has to.
November Coming Fire: They had to do a bit of a sound check before they went on because they arrived late. A lot of things were going wrong while they played (the bass kept making dying sounds between songs and had to be fixed every few times, Bones snapped his last pair of drum sticks after the second song and had to borrow a pair from We Are Carnivores' drummer) but it was still the best set I've seen them do since Thom left, who actually joined them onstage to do co-vocals with Gareth on The Boys With Nails, when they finished Thom was back to beg them to do Transgression (which they haven't done since Thom left, it was their big song off their first EP and I guess they got sick of playing it at every show) "come on it's Christmas!" begged Thom, eventually he convinced them to play it with him singing as Gareth had walked straight off, but eventually came back when he realised his band wasn't finished. We all crowded around Thom to do the chant at the beginning of the song and I actually got to scream into the mic a couple of times, the crowd erupted when the song kicked in, so much so that Gareth lost his mic, he pulled the cable out of the pit and found the mic had come off, he didn't seem to bothered, just finished smoking the cigarette he lit when he originally walked off stage while the band finished the song, and I was that bothered either because I got to scream "IN DARKNESS WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL" for the first time in what's got to be over two years.
Got my backpack out of the cloakroom, said bye to James and Mills, went to the kebab shop to get a portion of chips, then a taxi home, watched Adult Swim for a bit then went to bed.
india:
happy xmas and thanks for the sweet comment on my set
