Friday: Went to Tap about half seven and saw Mills talking to Joe (or Annoying Indie Bloke as I like to refer to him), he fucked off to chat to Mash at the bar, talked bollocks with mills for a bit asked what he was doing for New Years Eve and he mentioned that he might go up to London, that was an idea I was playing with myself as a band for Canada called Fucked Up were doing a special New Years show in Kilburn. Ollie, Nick and their mates showed up, more bollocks was talked, when they left to go to the Manor I made Nick take the CD I made for Chris as I didn't know when the fuck I was seeing him. Mark, Emily, Beccy, Bjorn and a bunch of their friends showed up in aide of Emily's Birthday the day before, I sat on the corner of the table not contributing much to the conversation (just like old times), all the while the idea of going up to London was warming to me, all I was going to do was mope around the Tap like last year, I deserve a New Years Eve I can be proud of, I started talking to Mills as if we were both going (he's planning to go to the Crobar, if he does go I'll try and meet up with him), he left to go to the Manor, I got chips and a taxi home, it may not sound much for leaving before half ten but it was still the best Friday night out I've had in Chatham for a good long while. Got home went straight on the internet and found out there were no presales on the Fucked Up show, you just had to pay eight quid on the door, this is so doable.
Saturday: Told my parents first thing that I was going to London, they seemed OK with it, just asked if I was going to Trafalgar Square as there was meant to be a big storm that night. Spent the morning buzzing off my own energy. I walked to Chatham to do my food shopping and had a feeling I might run into Steve from the Manor, so I took my hat off, put my iPod on pause, turned a corner and first thing I saw was Steve lighting up a cigarette. He asked me if I saw my friend with long hair and a beard (Liam, Steve? Whoever it was I didn't) and told me I'm not actually banned from the Manor and he and Stuart accept my apology I posted on the Taps messageboard (no apology from him for the threat of a law suit from Learndirect, insulting my DJ abilities and casual threats of violence, which would have been nice, at least he realizes now that because of my Autism he has to speak directly to me for me to get things, last time I got unbanned from the Manor he just pretended nothing ever happened and just asked why I hadn't been down the Manor), he told me I was "more than welcome to come to the Manor" and I left saying "I'll bare that in mind" it actually took a lot off my mind, it's nice to know that I can go back to the Manor, even if I don't want to (I estimate sometime between February and April before I give in and go back).
Sunday/Monday (they both sort of bled into each other): Tried to have a lie in but between my stomach, excitement and parents making noise when they got up I only managed to sleep 'til past eight o'clock. Went on the Taps messageboard and the thirty year old guy who Steve and Stuart were so upset that I drove away from the Manor actually did go and had this to say "Well, it was shit. Still playing the same songs as ten years ago. Utter bobbins! Fucking "Too Fly For A White Guy"!?!? Jesus Christ!
I won't be going back." I managed to hold back from gloating. OK, this is were details get a little sketchy as I'm writing them on very little sleep. I walked to Rochester train station and went to Charring Cross, I took one Pro Plus pill to see what it was like, I was worried it was going to be what I heard taking Speed was like, I did notice that I was more awake and excited (I'd been like that all day though), the only real difference I noticed was that I was salivating a lot. Went to Soho, managed to find the new location that the Intrepid Fox now is, only to find it closed along with the Crobar so I went straight to Kilburn. I actually walked past the venue, the thing hat made me turn back was a kid in a Hatebreed hoodie just ominously standing around, there wasn't much of a queue so I decided to take a look at the rest of Kilburn High Street, it struck me like a nicer version of Highbury Corner, it has exactly the same stuff, only more of it (off license, take away, off license, take away, off license, take away, etc). Got in line with Turkish Hardcore kids in front of me and Scousers behind me. Got in The Luminaire (which kind of struck me as a nicer version of The Garage), bought Fucked Up's album off a dumpy Asian woman (who I later found out was their bass player) and checked my jacket into the cloakroom, which was in the same window as the merch desk. Went to the toilet and saw two guys come out of the same cubical (doing coke? bumming each other? anyone's guess), took another Pro Plus pill, went back out, listened to the DJ play horrible eighties dance music and waited for the first band to start.
Self Destruct: I liked them, good old school style Hardcore. The singer broke all the mics on the first song and just started miming along when they went straight into the next one. When all the mics were repaired the singer went into this rant about how they weren't a Straight Edge band "but I still fucking am, anyone who sells out tonight is a fucking fag!" They played a cover of Dicks Hate The Police by The Dicks, who the singer ranted we weren't cool enough to know but still let people sing along to the "Mommy, I've had a bad day" part at the end (which I'm sorry I could take part in because I wasn't standing close enough to the stage).
Frightener: Never heard of them before but they struck me as a really good Power Violence band (like Man Is The Bastard meets Soilent Green). There was this one guy calling for Earth Crisis so the guitarist played the intro to Firestorm, after which the drummer asked to be handed the mic to say "fuck Veganism, cunts" after they finished the next song the same guy called out "Play Strife".
Dirty Money: One of the most generic Hardcore bands I've ever heard, went into the toilet while they were playing and saw the same two guys from earlier come out of one cubical again (more coke? more bumming?). Came out and watched the rest of Dirty Money's shitty set. They did finish with a cover of Something Must Be Done by Antidote, which the singer said we were lame if we didn't know and then forgot most of the song except for the chorus (which I would have liked to sing along to but the pit was very violent and I didn't want to risk getting the buttons torn off my Neurosis work shirt the first time I wore it).
The Down & Outs: I didn't really like them before when I heard them off their MySpace page but I really warmed to them this night, the guitarist/co-vocalist took a moment to speak to the crowd before they started "I've had a word with the security guys, they are proper nice blokes, you can get as close to the stage as you like, you're just not aloud to get on it (during Dirty Money's set they asked if they needed the security guys there because "it's depressing" and one of them took the mic and said "you can kill each other if you want you just not aloud to get on stage, health and safety"), you lot at the back, in two weeks it'll be really cool to like us and you'll be sorry." They played really well but they kind of sound a lot like every other British Punk band right now. Despite not being aloud to get onstage there were a few stage dives towards the end. After they played the last song they got begged for more "encores are gay" said the guitarist/lead singer, but picked up his guitar again "it's only for the Homophobia" and played another one of their songs and a cover of Attitude by The Misfits.
Fucked Up: They went on just a little after midnight but the singer got us to do a countdown anyway. I got pinned to the wall while they were playing but got a few good pictures from my phone camera.
It was a mental set, the singer took off his shirt and showed us a big bruise on his back "gnarly, huh? That's what happens when you're in a Hardcore band and people think you're impervious to pain, but I fucking hurt." At one point they gave out a guitar to a member of the audience and let him play along with them for one song. Then later the singer went out into the pit and started pacing back and forth like the guys moshing while he sang. As an encore the singer invited the singer from hard Skin to come up and sing a song with them to quash a "beef" between the two bands "unless he's chicken" the singer from Hard Skin got onstage and announced "I can play any Fucked Up song, they're all the same" sang a song with them then said "I think I did quite well considering I'm pissed" they played a couple more songs then finished.
Stuck around the club, seeing as I had no where else to go, highlights included walking into the toilet and overhearing a guy talk about how much he loves doing coke but wouldn't touch pills because of "the long term damage" and having my Dead Kennedys tattoo complemented by a drunk foreign bloke ("Your tattoo is safe man" "What?" "Dead Kennedys, fucking safe"). The music went from Dance Hall to bad dance music (interrupted by an MXPX song and half of Babies by Pulp) to some Drum & Bass (which I didn't mind too much, I put that down to the Pro Plus) to some Punk and Indie stuff (good stuff by The Germs, Bad Brains and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), then the music stopped an hour before the club was meant to close, not a lot of people left so I made my way to Charring Cross. Got there and saw there were some trains going to Dartford as early as after four am so I stuck around, I did take a wander around Trafalgar Square as I heard I could expect to see some crazy shit at that time in the morning, it was empty, took a couple of pictures of the more well lit things.
Took a walk to try and find some place serving food I could actually eat (there were MacDonald's and Subways open near the station but they were fuck all use to me being Vegan). Found myself in a KFC rip off place selling chips by themselves for 1.50, one guy complained that his chicken burger was practically raw while I was ordering. Came back to Charring Cross and found out after the 5:02 train to Dartford the station would close, asked the guy in the ticket office when the first train to Strood would be and he told me just before half nine "oh this is going to be fun" I found myself saying out loud. Decided to walk to Oxford Circus and back to kill time, I found that it took me less than half an hour to get there along Charring Cross Road so I decided to get the train to Victoria to see if there were any trains going sooner than Charring Cross, had to pay 4.90 for a return as the trains stopped being free after half four. Found out there was a train to Rochester at 9:03 so I stuck around, spent to time taking more Pro Plus, drinking coffee and publicly urinating around the area surrounding the station (didn't notice that one of the pay toilet was left open and free until much later), bought a single to Rochester, got on my train, thought how wrong the passing scenery looked in the light, took two Pro Plus at once to see what would happen, felt even more awake, excited and when I sneezed into my hand I spat all over it took, managed to walk all the way home from Rochester, brushed my teeth, went to bed for three hours, got up, made some sandwiches and wrote the bulk of this entry.
Saturday: Told my parents first thing that I was going to London, they seemed OK with it, just asked if I was going to Trafalgar Square as there was meant to be a big storm that night. Spent the morning buzzing off my own energy. I walked to Chatham to do my food shopping and had a feeling I might run into Steve from the Manor, so I took my hat off, put my iPod on pause, turned a corner and first thing I saw was Steve lighting up a cigarette. He asked me if I saw my friend with long hair and a beard (Liam, Steve? Whoever it was I didn't) and told me I'm not actually banned from the Manor and he and Stuart accept my apology I posted on the Taps messageboard (no apology from him for the threat of a law suit from Learndirect, insulting my DJ abilities and casual threats of violence, which would have been nice, at least he realizes now that because of my Autism he has to speak directly to me for me to get things, last time I got unbanned from the Manor he just pretended nothing ever happened and just asked why I hadn't been down the Manor), he told me I was "more than welcome to come to the Manor" and I left saying "I'll bare that in mind" it actually took a lot off my mind, it's nice to know that I can go back to the Manor, even if I don't want to (I estimate sometime between February and April before I give in and go back).
Sunday/Monday (they both sort of bled into each other): Tried to have a lie in but between my stomach, excitement and parents making noise when they got up I only managed to sleep 'til past eight o'clock. Went on the Taps messageboard and the thirty year old guy who Steve and Stuart were so upset that I drove away from the Manor actually did go and had this to say "Well, it was shit. Still playing the same songs as ten years ago. Utter bobbins! Fucking "Too Fly For A White Guy"!?!? Jesus Christ!
I won't be going back." I managed to hold back from gloating. OK, this is were details get a little sketchy as I'm writing them on very little sleep. I walked to Rochester train station and went to Charring Cross, I took one Pro Plus pill to see what it was like, I was worried it was going to be what I heard taking Speed was like, I did notice that I was more awake and excited (I'd been like that all day though), the only real difference I noticed was that I was salivating a lot. Went to Soho, managed to find the new location that the Intrepid Fox now is, only to find it closed along with the Crobar so I went straight to Kilburn. I actually walked past the venue, the thing hat made me turn back was a kid in a Hatebreed hoodie just ominously standing around, there wasn't much of a queue so I decided to take a look at the rest of Kilburn High Street, it struck me like a nicer version of Highbury Corner, it has exactly the same stuff, only more of it (off license, take away, off license, take away, off license, take away, etc). Got in line with Turkish Hardcore kids in front of me and Scousers behind me. Got in The Luminaire (which kind of struck me as a nicer version of The Garage), bought Fucked Up's album off a dumpy Asian woman (who I later found out was their bass player) and checked my jacket into the cloakroom, which was in the same window as the merch desk. Went to the toilet and saw two guys come out of the same cubical (doing coke? bumming each other? anyone's guess), took another Pro Plus pill, went back out, listened to the DJ play horrible eighties dance music and waited for the first band to start.
Self Destruct: I liked them, good old school style Hardcore. The singer broke all the mics on the first song and just started miming along when they went straight into the next one. When all the mics were repaired the singer went into this rant about how they weren't a Straight Edge band "but I still fucking am, anyone who sells out tonight is a fucking fag!" They played a cover of Dicks Hate The Police by The Dicks, who the singer ranted we weren't cool enough to know but still let people sing along to the "Mommy, I've had a bad day" part at the end (which I'm sorry I could take part in because I wasn't standing close enough to the stage).
Frightener: Never heard of them before but they struck me as a really good Power Violence band (like Man Is The Bastard meets Soilent Green). There was this one guy calling for Earth Crisis so the guitarist played the intro to Firestorm, after which the drummer asked to be handed the mic to say "fuck Veganism, cunts" after they finished the next song the same guy called out "Play Strife".
Dirty Money: One of the most generic Hardcore bands I've ever heard, went into the toilet while they were playing and saw the same two guys from earlier come out of one cubical again (more coke? more bumming?). Came out and watched the rest of Dirty Money's shitty set. They did finish with a cover of Something Must Be Done by Antidote, which the singer said we were lame if we didn't know and then forgot most of the song except for the chorus (which I would have liked to sing along to but the pit was very violent and I didn't want to risk getting the buttons torn off my Neurosis work shirt the first time I wore it).
The Down & Outs: I didn't really like them before when I heard them off their MySpace page but I really warmed to them this night, the guitarist/co-vocalist took a moment to speak to the crowd before they started "I've had a word with the security guys, they are proper nice blokes, you can get as close to the stage as you like, you're just not aloud to get on it (during Dirty Money's set they asked if they needed the security guys there because "it's depressing" and one of them took the mic and said "you can kill each other if you want you just not aloud to get on stage, health and safety"), you lot at the back, in two weeks it'll be really cool to like us and you'll be sorry." They played really well but they kind of sound a lot like every other British Punk band right now. Despite not being aloud to get onstage there were a few stage dives towards the end. After they played the last song they got begged for more "encores are gay" said the guitarist/lead singer, but picked up his guitar again "it's only for the Homophobia" and played another one of their songs and a cover of Attitude by The Misfits.
Fucked Up: They went on just a little after midnight but the singer got us to do a countdown anyway. I got pinned to the wall while they were playing but got a few good pictures from my phone camera.
It was a mental set, the singer took off his shirt and showed us a big bruise on his back "gnarly, huh? That's what happens when you're in a Hardcore band and people think you're impervious to pain, but I fucking hurt." At one point they gave out a guitar to a member of the audience and let him play along with them for one song. Then later the singer went out into the pit and started pacing back and forth like the guys moshing while he sang. As an encore the singer invited the singer from hard Skin to come up and sing a song with them to quash a "beef" between the two bands "unless he's chicken" the singer from Hard Skin got onstage and announced "I can play any Fucked Up song, they're all the same" sang a song with them then said "I think I did quite well considering I'm pissed" they played a couple more songs then finished.
Stuck around the club, seeing as I had no where else to go, highlights included walking into the toilet and overhearing a guy talk about how much he loves doing coke but wouldn't touch pills because of "the long term damage" and having my Dead Kennedys tattoo complemented by a drunk foreign bloke ("Your tattoo is safe man" "What?" "Dead Kennedys, fucking safe"). The music went from Dance Hall to bad dance music (interrupted by an MXPX song and half of Babies by Pulp) to some Drum & Bass (which I didn't mind too much, I put that down to the Pro Plus) to some Punk and Indie stuff (good stuff by The Germs, Bad Brains and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), then the music stopped an hour before the club was meant to close, not a lot of people left so I made my way to Charring Cross. Got there and saw there were some trains going to Dartford as early as after four am so I stuck around, I did take a wander around Trafalgar Square as I heard I could expect to see some crazy shit at that time in the morning, it was empty, took a couple of pictures of the more well lit things.
Took a walk to try and find some place serving food I could actually eat (there were MacDonald's and Subways open near the station but they were fuck all use to me being Vegan). Found myself in a KFC rip off place selling chips by themselves for 1.50, one guy complained that his chicken burger was practically raw while I was ordering. Came back to Charring Cross and found out after the 5:02 train to Dartford the station would close, asked the guy in the ticket office when the first train to Strood would be and he told me just before half nine "oh this is going to be fun" I found myself saying out loud. Decided to walk to Oxford Circus and back to kill time, I found that it took me less than half an hour to get there along Charring Cross Road so I decided to get the train to Victoria to see if there were any trains going sooner than Charring Cross, had to pay 4.90 for a return as the trains stopped being free after half four. Found out there was a train to Rochester at 9:03 so I stuck around, spent to time taking more Pro Plus, drinking coffee and publicly urinating around the area surrounding the station (didn't notice that one of the pay toilet was left open and free until much later), bought a single to Rochester, got on my train, thought how wrong the passing scenery looked in the light, took two Pro Plus at once to see what would happen, felt even more awake, excited and when I sneezed into my hand I spat all over it took, managed to walk all the way home from Rochester, brushed my teeth, went to bed for three hours, got up, made some sandwiches and wrote the bulk of this entry.
poopy:
Happy New Year ...... 