Friday: Went for another check up on my tattoo, Dom wasn't there, she took the day off apparently but I was told she'd be in tomorrow afternoon or Sunday. Did my food shopping, some Chavs were trying to do some parkour outside Tescos, can you imagine the amount of accidents that would happen if all Chavs take this up, is it the new playing chicken with trains for them? Came home and watched a DVD of Henry Rollins' stand up, the irritating thing is that it was supposed to be recorded the time I first saw him at the Astoria, but it was actually the night after (disappointing as he threw a temper tantrum when he came out and the mic wasn't turned on, which would have been funny to see again). Watched a couple of downloaded episodes of Heroes, then my internet went down, along with the digital telly so I spent the rest of the night re-watching episodes of Evaneglion and random music DVDs.
Saturday: Gave myself a hair cut, watched another downloaded episode of Heroes, ate then started walking to Chatham. The Tap was closed so I walked down to Sounds Perfect, ran into Pete on the way. Said Hello to Manny, he told me all about the candle light vigil they're having next week for the last hour it's open, then he's doing an acoustic set at the Command House, told him I'd be there. Walked back to the Tap, found Steve and 8 Ball discussing their final name change to Wired, Liam invited me to his Birthday party the next Saturday, may not be able to see many at the Command House, still going to be at Sounds Perfect though. Steve told me Chained Down didn't think I was shit (they've picked a singer now, not me, obviously), it was just that my vocals weren't what they were looking for, I still feel like I embarrassed myself. Apparently there is some beef between 8, I mean Wired and The Beautifully Decayed, the local all girl Punk band, according to their guitarist Liam told her he thought they were shit and his band were better than them, which he didn't. Suffered through the first band, I swear the singer was singing threw his nose, plus there was the Fall Out Boy and Jackson 5 covers.
Wired: "We're 8 Ball, well we are for the next ten seconds because we're changing our name to Wired for those of you who actually give a shit, and if you don't give a shit you can suck my dick" They played good despite not having practiced in two weeks, but the crowd just weren't into them, everyone was just up by the bar, this was the second time I agreed to do merch for them and I barely had to do anything, Paul the guitarist in Liam's other band found two guys at the bar who actually liked them and gave me four quid for two demos for them. There were some mistakes here and there, during the intro to Go Fuck Yourself Steve's guitar seemed to die and it took a minute to fix. Steve had some great between song rants "Judging by your reaction true Heavy Metal still has a place here, your probably more into music like this" played what sounded like a piss take of an Indie song "DO I GET A FUCKING RECORD DEAL NOW?"
Gave Steve the money from the Demos, started walking to Rochester and got a bus the rest of the way home, ate, showered, dicked around on the internet, listened to music then started walking to Chatham again. Decided to risk walking along Rochester High Street but gave up when I got to the Corn Exchange when I saw how many Chavs there were hanging around. Took the road that connects Rochester and Chatham High Streets, avoided even more Chavs. Got to the Tap and found a massive queue of Hardcore kids from all over Kent, the reactions of passing Chavs were hilarious; a couple on a bicycle saw he line and the one at the front exclaimed "Farcken hell!" Later a car full of Chavs went passed repeatedly beeping their horn and laughing, I'm guessing all those Hardcore kids aren't used to this as they come from bigger cities where people are a little more tolerant because they didn't seem to know what to make of them and just seemed a little bemused. Eventually got in, saw the first band whose name I can't remember and were fucking shit anyway, they all looked pretty which didn't earn them points with me to begin with, played Metal riffs with Emo vocals, sat down at the side until they finished. Chris came along, warned him he probably wouldn't like the bands as they were arty, Punky Hardcore and he said he'd stay and watch until Ollie showed up, then he went off for a drink and I didn't see him again so I just assumed he found Ollie.
Blackhole: Didn't know what to expect when I saw them wearing shirt like The Who and AC/DC but I wound up really liking them. They reminded me of Bars (same kind of 70's Rock influenced Hardcore). I recognised the singer from somewhere but couldn't figure it out until Frank from Gallows grabbed the mic away from him then I realised he was Frank's younger brother who sang with them when I saw them play with Send More Paramedics at the Barfly. Bought their demo after they finished, found out later that this was actually their first show.
November Coming Fire: Played a similar set to when I last saw them at the Tap, only this time I got to scream into the mic on a couple of songs.
Gallows: Hands down the most fucking insane reaction from a crowd I've ever seen at the Tap. The second Frank stared singing loads of kids started pilling on top of him to scream into the mic, only managed to get close to it once when Frank dived into the crowd during In The Belly Of A Shark. "It means a lot to us that you came out for this, I'm sick to death of playing to five thousand Bullet For My Valentine fans every night."
Frank's younger brother got up and sang with them on Six Weeks like the time at the barfly.
Joined in a stage invasion when they played Orchestra Of Wolves then wrestled with other guys to scream into the mic when Frank handed it out at the end of the song. Felt completely fucked at the end of their set, this is why I love going to Hardcore shows.
Found Chris with Ollie in the Cage room, Chris said I was a cunt because I left him on his own for two hours (sorry). Felt really good, hung around 'til quarter past two, amazed to find the kebab shop was still open (probably due to Judge Jules playing at the Manor), got myself some chips then headed up to the taxi rank, saw Chris again while I was in the line and chatted 'til a taxi arrived.
Sunday: Woke up feeling so fucked, this is the closest I come to hangover's these days. Watched more downloaded episodes of Heroes, left the house just before seven, loads of Pikey kids hanging around the streets, was going to get the train to Chatham but by the time I got into Strood High Street I realised I didn't have enough time to get to the train station so I just walked the rest of the way. Some whore along New Road asked me for a cigarette before I got to the Tap, Chris Pritchard was at the bar with the singer from Lakes, who was asking John the manager what was the cheapest way to get pissed, John recommended the Biddens cider (one of the Tap's specialties), the guy from Lakes asked "It doesn't taste like wee does it?" this really pissed John off, he replied with a stone face "We don't have anything that tastes like wee, do you like cider?" "it's alright" "then order a strong cider and shut up." Got bored so I walked up to the petrol station and bought a local paper, found a story about Sounds Perfect, it seems like the original owner is buying it back to start again like it used to be. Ignored Up C Down C, went in the pool room while the next band were setting up.
Cousin Scampi: Kind of like a spazzy version of Iceburn, couldn't make up my mind whether I liked them or not.
We Are Carnivores: I actually wasn't watching them when they started because I discovered a box of seven inches at the merch table and had a look through, one of the guitarists from Lakes recommended Brain Dead to me (I already own every Brain Dead seven inch, but it was sweet of him), eventually found a Fucked Up seven inch and watched the rest of the bands set. They played a shorter set than the last time they played here, the bass drum kept moving forward moving forward so Chris started stacking Up C Down C's equipment in front of it, then Chris and the Guitarist from Lakes started sticking Tape the drum set and the pile of equipment, and the drain pipe in the middle of the pool room (what started off as trying to keep the drums in place ended as some weird art statement).
Lakes: Slightly more mental set than the last time they played here, the singer took his shirt off, despite that it wasn't that hot in the pool room, wound up smashing a glass next to him while they were playing and at the end he started shouting "Up the Skins!" (a variation of Chris' "Up the Punks") at everyone else in the band until they all took their shirts off except for the bass player who got too embarrassed "UP THE SKINS! UP THE SKINS! No, he's a pussy, he won't do it."
Left at ten to twelve to get a cheap taxi home.
Saturday: Gave myself a hair cut, watched another downloaded episode of Heroes, ate then started walking to Chatham. The Tap was closed so I walked down to Sounds Perfect, ran into Pete on the way. Said Hello to Manny, he told me all about the candle light vigil they're having next week for the last hour it's open, then he's doing an acoustic set at the Command House, told him I'd be there. Walked back to the Tap, found Steve and 8 Ball discussing their final name change to Wired, Liam invited me to his Birthday party the next Saturday, may not be able to see many at the Command House, still going to be at Sounds Perfect though. Steve told me Chained Down didn't think I was shit (they've picked a singer now, not me, obviously), it was just that my vocals weren't what they were looking for, I still feel like I embarrassed myself. Apparently there is some beef between 8, I mean Wired and The Beautifully Decayed, the local all girl Punk band, according to their guitarist Liam told her he thought they were shit and his band were better than them, which he didn't. Suffered through the first band, I swear the singer was singing threw his nose, plus there was the Fall Out Boy and Jackson 5 covers.
Wired: "We're 8 Ball, well we are for the next ten seconds because we're changing our name to Wired for those of you who actually give a shit, and if you don't give a shit you can suck my dick" They played good despite not having practiced in two weeks, but the crowd just weren't into them, everyone was just up by the bar, this was the second time I agreed to do merch for them and I barely had to do anything, Paul the guitarist in Liam's other band found two guys at the bar who actually liked them and gave me four quid for two demos for them. There were some mistakes here and there, during the intro to Go Fuck Yourself Steve's guitar seemed to die and it took a minute to fix. Steve had some great between song rants "Judging by your reaction true Heavy Metal still has a place here, your probably more into music like this" played what sounded like a piss take of an Indie song "DO I GET A FUCKING RECORD DEAL NOW?"
Gave Steve the money from the Demos, started walking to Rochester and got a bus the rest of the way home, ate, showered, dicked around on the internet, listened to music then started walking to Chatham again. Decided to risk walking along Rochester High Street but gave up when I got to the Corn Exchange when I saw how many Chavs there were hanging around. Took the road that connects Rochester and Chatham High Streets, avoided even more Chavs. Got to the Tap and found a massive queue of Hardcore kids from all over Kent, the reactions of passing Chavs were hilarious; a couple on a bicycle saw he line and the one at the front exclaimed "Farcken hell!" Later a car full of Chavs went passed repeatedly beeping their horn and laughing, I'm guessing all those Hardcore kids aren't used to this as they come from bigger cities where people are a little more tolerant because they didn't seem to know what to make of them and just seemed a little bemused. Eventually got in, saw the first band whose name I can't remember and were fucking shit anyway, they all looked pretty which didn't earn them points with me to begin with, played Metal riffs with Emo vocals, sat down at the side until they finished. Chris came along, warned him he probably wouldn't like the bands as they were arty, Punky Hardcore and he said he'd stay and watch until Ollie showed up, then he went off for a drink and I didn't see him again so I just assumed he found Ollie.
Blackhole: Didn't know what to expect when I saw them wearing shirt like The Who and AC/DC but I wound up really liking them. They reminded me of Bars (same kind of 70's Rock influenced Hardcore). I recognised the singer from somewhere but couldn't figure it out until Frank from Gallows grabbed the mic away from him then I realised he was Frank's younger brother who sang with them when I saw them play with Send More Paramedics at the Barfly. Bought their demo after they finished, found out later that this was actually their first show.
November Coming Fire: Played a similar set to when I last saw them at the Tap, only this time I got to scream into the mic on a couple of songs.
Gallows: Hands down the most fucking insane reaction from a crowd I've ever seen at the Tap. The second Frank stared singing loads of kids started pilling on top of him to scream into the mic, only managed to get close to it once when Frank dived into the crowd during In The Belly Of A Shark. "It means a lot to us that you came out for this, I'm sick to death of playing to five thousand Bullet For My Valentine fans every night."
Frank's younger brother got up and sang with them on Six Weeks like the time at the barfly.
Joined in a stage invasion when they played Orchestra Of Wolves then wrestled with other guys to scream into the mic when Frank handed it out at the end of the song. Felt completely fucked at the end of their set, this is why I love going to Hardcore shows.
Found Chris with Ollie in the Cage room, Chris said I was a cunt because I left him on his own for two hours (sorry). Felt really good, hung around 'til quarter past two, amazed to find the kebab shop was still open (probably due to Judge Jules playing at the Manor), got myself some chips then headed up to the taxi rank, saw Chris again while I was in the line and chatted 'til a taxi arrived.
Sunday: Woke up feeling so fucked, this is the closest I come to hangover's these days. Watched more downloaded episodes of Heroes, left the house just before seven, loads of Pikey kids hanging around the streets, was going to get the train to Chatham but by the time I got into Strood High Street I realised I didn't have enough time to get to the train station so I just walked the rest of the way. Some whore along New Road asked me for a cigarette before I got to the Tap, Chris Pritchard was at the bar with the singer from Lakes, who was asking John the manager what was the cheapest way to get pissed, John recommended the Biddens cider (one of the Tap's specialties), the guy from Lakes asked "It doesn't taste like wee does it?" this really pissed John off, he replied with a stone face "We don't have anything that tastes like wee, do you like cider?" "it's alright" "then order a strong cider and shut up." Got bored so I walked up to the petrol station and bought a local paper, found a story about Sounds Perfect, it seems like the original owner is buying it back to start again like it used to be. Ignored Up C Down C, went in the pool room while the next band were setting up.
Cousin Scampi: Kind of like a spazzy version of Iceburn, couldn't make up my mind whether I liked them or not.
We Are Carnivores: I actually wasn't watching them when they started because I discovered a box of seven inches at the merch table and had a look through, one of the guitarists from Lakes recommended Brain Dead to me (I already own every Brain Dead seven inch, but it was sweet of him), eventually found a Fucked Up seven inch and watched the rest of the bands set. They played a shorter set than the last time they played here, the bass drum kept moving forward moving forward so Chris started stacking Up C Down C's equipment in front of it, then Chris and the Guitarist from Lakes started sticking Tape the drum set and the pile of equipment, and the drain pipe in the middle of the pool room (what started off as trying to keep the drums in place ended as some weird art statement).
Lakes: Slightly more mental set than the last time they played here, the singer took his shirt off, despite that it wasn't that hot in the pool room, wound up smashing a glass next to him while they were playing and at the end he started shouting "Up the Skins!" (a variation of Chris' "Up the Punks") at everyone else in the band until they all took their shirts off except for the bass player who got too embarrassed "UP THE SKINS! UP THE SKINS! No, he's a pussy, he won't do it."
Left at ten to twelve to get a cheap taxi home.