I've been dwelling on how pointless my job actually is; I take digital photos of receipts because technology hasn't come so far that the humble scanner can't take anything smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, so you have to employ a staff of eight to do what is really should be one persons job. I'm supposed to average 275 images an hour, so far I'm barely doing less than 200, but I feel safe that I'll keep this job as even the people who are faster than me aren't even hitting the companies target.
Friday: I won't bore you with what CDs I got in Camden, I'm sure the people who actually read this are sick of me bragging about what cool, obscure bands I'm into, I will say I did piss away over 90 in the second hand shop, albeit on really cheap CDs but still, that's a lot. Went up to the second hand bookshop in the market buildings, picked up a couple of out of print Henry Miller books and Soledad Brother by George Jackson (I've always been attracted to prison writing and I'm not sure why). Doors opened an hour earlier.
1000 Hertz: Missed the beginning of their set. Hardly anybody there but I doubt if it would have made much difference, unless it has a beatdown London Hardcore kids don't care. It doesn't make sense that they keep touring with all these tough guy Hardcore bands, they be much better off doing the UK Punk cricket, in fact they be better off on a label like Deck Cheese rather than In At The Deep End.
Burn The 8-Track: Again, hardly anyone has shown up yet. I'm normally drawn to bands with less beatdowns and more melody but they weren't really offering anything I couldn't get from any other band and the singers range of Bruce Dickinson like poses put me off a little.
Death Before Dishonor: I've gotten into the habit of wearing shirts of bands that aren't anything like what I'm going to see in the hope that people will see I'm into other kinds of music and I'll get into a decent conversation. No one took real notice of my Joy Division shirt but one kid did ask me if I liked Death Before Dishonor; no, but I'm prepared to give them a chance. I've really gone off beatdown Hardcore, not only because it sounds formulaic as hell but it seems that kids getting into Hardcore these days going seem to care about the breakdown sections when they only make up a small fraction of what Hardcore is, I see it in the same terms as Chuck D saw Hip Hop; a communication tool. It would bother me less if it weren't for the arseholes in the pit, I used to dance when I started going to shows but what made me stop was not only that because of my lack of co-ordination and motor skills I looked retarded but it occurred to me that most of the others weren't doing it for the fun but to show off to their fucking mates, also if I accidentally hit or kicked anyone I'D FUCKING APOLOGISE, I've lost count of the times someone has punched me in the face or clotheslined a group of people just trying to watch a band and just not gave a fuck about it. If I ever get round to do a band (which is looking increasingly less likely with the amount of free time my job is taking up) I'd love to do just fast songs with no or at least sparingly used breakdown sections, but certainly not in EVERY FUCKING SONG. Anyway, DBD weren't bad but again, they aren't doing anything that anybody else isn't doing, I did like a couple of their songs and the cover of England Belongs To Me by Cock Sparrer.
Ignite: On top fucking form, excellent melodies and tight playing. Loads of Hungarians as always (is there a group of them that follow Ignite to every show or are there lots of them living in London? If it's the former then why? I know that Zoli is originally from there and a lot of his lyrics deal with the Communist government but it's not like they don't tour in Eastern Europe), they played A Place Called Home with Zoli half singing in English and Hungarian and they place went apeshit. I was impressed they played Man Against Man but unfortunately that was the oldest song they played (how come no Call On My Brothers or even Embrace?). They Encored with the cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday, a couple of new acoustic ones and, yes we all knew it was coming, Veteran, they played Know Your History as a second encore.
Show ended really early, managed to get to Chatham in time for a cheap taxi home.
I found out the next morning my cousin Jonathan died in hospital while I was in London. He got hit by a car on Tuesday and had been in intensive care with a fractured skull, we had a phone call late on Thursday that he'd taken a turn for the worst but I really doubted that he'd actually die, I mean he's only a little bit older than me. I've already had Nan's funeral this year but we were expecting her to go for a while, this on the other hand is thoroughly fucked up, I'm not looking forward to this funeral.
Friday: I won't bore you with what CDs I got in Camden, I'm sure the people who actually read this are sick of me bragging about what cool, obscure bands I'm into, I will say I did piss away over 90 in the second hand shop, albeit on really cheap CDs but still, that's a lot. Went up to the second hand bookshop in the market buildings, picked up a couple of out of print Henry Miller books and Soledad Brother by George Jackson (I've always been attracted to prison writing and I'm not sure why). Doors opened an hour earlier.
1000 Hertz: Missed the beginning of their set. Hardly anybody there but I doubt if it would have made much difference, unless it has a beatdown London Hardcore kids don't care. It doesn't make sense that they keep touring with all these tough guy Hardcore bands, they be much better off doing the UK Punk cricket, in fact they be better off on a label like Deck Cheese rather than In At The Deep End.
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Burn The 8-Track: Again, hardly anyone has shown up yet. I'm normally drawn to bands with less beatdowns and more melody but they weren't really offering anything I couldn't get from any other band and the singers range of Bruce Dickinson like poses put me off a little.
Death Before Dishonor: I've gotten into the habit of wearing shirts of bands that aren't anything like what I'm going to see in the hope that people will see I'm into other kinds of music and I'll get into a decent conversation. No one took real notice of my Joy Division shirt but one kid did ask me if I liked Death Before Dishonor; no, but I'm prepared to give them a chance. I've really gone off beatdown Hardcore, not only because it sounds formulaic as hell but it seems that kids getting into Hardcore these days going seem to care about the breakdown sections when they only make up a small fraction of what Hardcore is, I see it in the same terms as Chuck D saw Hip Hop; a communication tool. It would bother me less if it weren't for the arseholes in the pit, I used to dance when I started going to shows but what made me stop was not only that because of my lack of co-ordination and motor skills I looked retarded but it occurred to me that most of the others weren't doing it for the fun but to show off to their fucking mates, also if I accidentally hit or kicked anyone I'D FUCKING APOLOGISE, I've lost count of the times someone has punched me in the face or clotheslined a group of people just trying to watch a band and just not gave a fuck about it. If I ever get round to do a band (which is looking increasingly less likely with the amount of free time my job is taking up) I'd love to do just fast songs with no or at least sparingly used breakdown sections, but certainly not in EVERY FUCKING SONG. Anyway, DBD weren't bad but again, they aren't doing anything that anybody else isn't doing, I did like a couple of their songs and the cover of England Belongs To Me by Cock Sparrer.
Ignite: On top fucking form, excellent melodies and tight playing. Loads of Hungarians as always (is there a group of them that follow Ignite to every show or are there lots of them living in London? If it's the former then why? I know that Zoli is originally from there and a lot of his lyrics deal with the Communist government but it's not like they don't tour in Eastern Europe), they played A Place Called Home with Zoli half singing in English and Hungarian and they place went apeshit. I was impressed they played Man Against Man but unfortunately that was the oldest song they played (how come no Call On My Brothers or even Embrace?). They Encored with the cover of Sunday Bloody Sunday, a couple of new acoustic ones and, yes we all knew it was coming, Veteran, they played Know Your History as a second encore.
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Show ended really early, managed to get to Chatham in time for a cheap taxi home.
I found out the next morning my cousin Jonathan died in hospital while I was in London. He got hit by a car on Tuesday and had been in intensive care with a fractured skull, we had a phone call late on Thursday that he'd taken a turn for the worst but I really doubted that he'd actually die, I mean he's only a little bit older than me. I've already had Nan's funeral this year but we were expecting her to go for a while, this on the other hand is thoroughly fucked up, I'm not looking forward to this funeral.