So I'm taking a part time job making road signs in fucking Aylesford, which I don't really want to do but they basically giving me the job and I need something to do while I waiting for an office job and the voluntary thing fell through (although the woman at the agency is still trying to get me a placement so all is not lost on that front), I can tell right off the bat I'm going to hate it so they set me up a weeks "work trail" (read as "work experience") to see if I really want to do it and if they really want me (apparently the last person my employment advisor sent there didn't even get past two days). Also a little bitching about the Medway scene, the Manor is now opening on Saturdays and Sub Sonic has moved back there, what a smart idea to open on a night that even the Tap can't draw that many people, it doesn't help on the opening night the Tap is doing a free entry night(aggressively competitive on the Tap's part maybe?), although I did notice that they are playing Grime in the main room of the Manor from what I read on the flyer, that's a smart idea, I can see that they're doing this because they can't compete with the draw of the Tap on a Friday, so why not reopen the place as a dance/Hip Hop club on a Friday so Chavs wouldn't go to the Tap and pick fights with my fucking friends, the Manor is dead to the alternative community now anyway.
Saturday: Went straight to HMV in Oxford street and picked up the new Gallows seven inch and a Blood For Blood ep for a fiver, then went to Sister Ray and picked up a Dinosaur Jr. album and a J. Masics solo album. Got so bored browsing around Virgin that I wound up looking through the Blues section on the top floor, did find a Skip James CD for a fiver though. Got something to eat at the Vegan Thai/Chinese place off Soho Square, had a look at the Indie comics in Foleys, found out they have a Jazz Caf on the first floor, bought an organic cola (tastes like supermarket own brand that's been left out for a while), went over the road to Borders and look through the graphic novels then went to get the tube. The train stopped at Holland Park because there was a signal failure in Acton, after six minutes I got bored, consulted my London map book and found the road was a straight line to Sheppard's Bush, so I got off the train and walked. Having found the Map had lied to me I only managed to take one wrong turn at a subway but eventually got there. Got in line, doors opened on time, looked at the running order and my heart sank, this was the night Conflict were the main support, yes, but the other bands I wanted to see, Zounds, Flux Of Pink Indians, Deviant Instinct, all playing the second night. Looked at the merch stall and saw they were selling special shirts for these two shows for fifteen quid (ten for the one that didn't have a back print), fuck that, you can get better looking bootleg Crass shirts for a fiver in Camden market.
The Restarts: This is the second time I've seen them and it's amazing how they still don't make me care.
Disrupters: The drummer and guitarist looked way too young to be original members and the singer and bass player were overweight, their playing was so lazy they sounded like an Oi band.
Conflict: I hear a young guy next to the person I'm standing next to ask "Who's next?" "Conflict" "Are you sure?" and then starts yelling "CONFLICT, CONFLICT" why did he ask first, to make sure he didn't look a fool? Before Conflict hit stage the same guy starts singing Crass songs at the top of his lungs, an older guy on my opposite side says "I think he's taking this too seriously, don't you?" Conflict play really fucking well (as per usual), they've added a new second guitarist and a new female co-vocalist who came out a random times to lend backing vocals, Colin was in a noticeably good mood, talking more between songs (dedicating A Message To Who to his mum and Tough Shit Mickey to the Countryside Alliance "I fucking shit 'em") and hugging and shaking hands with people coming over the barrier, even stopping bouncers from intervening when a guy got up and did a stagedive. A tall skinny guy came out and sang along when they played Berkshire Cunt, Steve Ignorant originally did co-vocals on that song, in fact when Crass broke up he joined Conflict and they did play stuff from that time, why couldn't he have joined them for just one song.
Steve Ignorant & Friends: This could have either gone two ways, this could have been really good or really shit, thankfully it was the former. After the lights went dark and the Crass symbol came up on the screens onstage the band came on and went straight into Do They Owe Us A Living, would have been cool if they just played Asylum as a intro tape. It was cool that Steve managed to assemble a group of competent musicians, this worked out better than if he got all the original members of Crass back together (seeing as the drummer is now in his sixties and playing Jazz, that wouldn't work so good). They brought out this fat middle-aged woman to do the vocals on Women, was she Joy De Vivre, I'm not sure, Steve sang the three songs Pete Wright sang on The Feeding Of The Five Thousand, at which point I went to the toilet to wash all the spit off my head, no beer this time, that's a blessing. After running through all the songs off The Feeding they went into some of the old Crass favorites (and even some of the more loathed material off the last album they did), they brought out the woman of dubious origin to do Shaved Women and then a little girl, after a few moments silence and wondering what the fuck was going to happen she started to sing the intro to Big A Little A, half way through the song two saxophone players appeared at the side of the stage out of fucking nowhere to play along. They end by Steve giving his heart felt thanks to everyone involved and playing Do They Owe Us A Living again like The Feeding Of The Five Thousand album ends. Tonight was basically a really good Crass tribute band, but it isn't something you can see that often, well maybe if you're a lucky bastard with tickets for the next night.
Delays on the Central line, had to wait eight minutes for a train but I was glad for that because the next train was twenty minutes away. Changed at Notting Hill Gate for the Circle line to Victoria, lots of kids that had been to see Machine Head and Trivium around when I got there. Got tofu and rice from the Japanese place and waited for my train. Got a fast train to Chatham an a taxi home.
Saturday: Went straight to HMV in Oxford street and picked up the new Gallows seven inch and a Blood For Blood ep for a fiver, then went to Sister Ray and picked up a Dinosaur Jr. album and a J. Masics solo album. Got so bored browsing around Virgin that I wound up looking through the Blues section on the top floor, did find a Skip James CD for a fiver though. Got something to eat at the Vegan Thai/Chinese place off Soho Square, had a look at the Indie comics in Foleys, found out they have a Jazz Caf on the first floor, bought an organic cola (tastes like supermarket own brand that's been left out for a while), went over the road to Borders and look through the graphic novels then went to get the tube. The train stopped at Holland Park because there was a signal failure in Acton, after six minutes I got bored, consulted my London map book and found the road was a straight line to Sheppard's Bush, so I got off the train and walked. Having found the Map had lied to me I only managed to take one wrong turn at a subway but eventually got there. Got in line, doors opened on time, looked at the running order and my heart sank, this was the night Conflict were the main support, yes, but the other bands I wanted to see, Zounds, Flux Of Pink Indians, Deviant Instinct, all playing the second night. Looked at the merch stall and saw they were selling special shirts for these two shows for fifteen quid (ten for the one that didn't have a back print), fuck that, you can get better looking bootleg Crass shirts for a fiver in Camden market.
The Restarts: This is the second time I've seen them and it's amazing how they still don't make me care.
Disrupters: The drummer and guitarist looked way too young to be original members and the singer and bass player were overweight, their playing was so lazy they sounded like an Oi band.
Conflict: I hear a young guy next to the person I'm standing next to ask "Who's next?" "Conflict" "Are you sure?" and then starts yelling "CONFLICT, CONFLICT" why did he ask first, to make sure he didn't look a fool? Before Conflict hit stage the same guy starts singing Crass songs at the top of his lungs, an older guy on my opposite side says "I think he's taking this too seriously, don't you?" Conflict play really fucking well (as per usual), they've added a new second guitarist and a new female co-vocalist who came out a random times to lend backing vocals, Colin was in a noticeably good mood, talking more between songs (dedicating A Message To Who to his mum and Tough Shit Mickey to the Countryside Alliance "I fucking shit 'em") and hugging and shaking hands with people coming over the barrier, even stopping bouncers from intervening when a guy got up and did a stagedive. A tall skinny guy came out and sang along when they played Berkshire Cunt, Steve Ignorant originally did co-vocals on that song, in fact when Crass broke up he joined Conflict and they did play stuff from that time, why couldn't he have joined them for just one song.
Steve Ignorant & Friends: This could have either gone two ways, this could have been really good or really shit, thankfully it was the former. After the lights went dark and the Crass symbol came up on the screens onstage the band came on and went straight into Do They Owe Us A Living, would have been cool if they just played Asylum as a intro tape. It was cool that Steve managed to assemble a group of competent musicians, this worked out better than if he got all the original members of Crass back together (seeing as the drummer is now in his sixties and playing Jazz, that wouldn't work so good). They brought out this fat middle-aged woman to do the vocals on Women, was she Joy De Vivre, I'm not sure, Steve sang the three songs Pete Wright sang on The Feeding Of The Five Thousand, at which point I went to the toilet to wash all the spit off my head, no beer this time, that's a blessing. After running through all the songs off The Feeding they went into some of the old Crass favorites (and even some of the more loathed material off the last album they did), they brought out the woman of dubious origin to do Shaved Women and then a little girl, after a few moments silence and wondering what the fuck was going to happen she started to sing the intro to Big A Little A, half way through the song two saxophone players appeared at the side of the stage out of fucking nowhere to play along. They end by Steve giving his heart felt thanks to everyone involved and playing Do They Owe Us A Living again like The Feeding Of The Five Thousand album ends. Tonight was basically a really good Crass tribute band, but it isn't something you can see that often, well maybe if you're a lucky bastard with tickets for the next night.
Delays on the Central line, had to wait eight minutes for a train but I was glad for that because the next train was twenty minutes away. Changed at Notting Hill Gate for the Circle line to Victoria, lots of kids that had been to see Machine Head and Trivium around when I got there. Got tofu and rice from the Japanese place and waited for my train. Got a fast train to Chatham an a taxi home.