April is my favourite month. My birthday, first signs of sun and
Easter holidays are all reasons why. Obviously now I'm all grown
up like I don't get 2 weeks Easter Holiday so I was well pleased
when Belle and Sebastian decided that we all deserved a big piss
up in a holiday camp on the South Coast of England - in April. Since
then Mogwai, Tortoise and this year Shellac have all kept up the
trend. Can April get any better? I went to all these festivals previous
years and had a really good time, but for some reason this year
when the Friday arrived I didn't want to go. It all started off
badly when we left loads of stuff behind and had to go back and
then I nearly murdered some of the lame assistants in Tesco on the
way. Car chat was dominated by car crash paranoia and how we were
all convinced we were going to die in car crashes at an early age.
I had been feeling ill for weeks and wasn't in the mood for fun.
I just wanted to stay at home feeling sorry for myself.
I'm pretty glad I didn't give in to my lack of fun though. Friday
was loads of fun and I felt loads better as soon as we got there.
We saw Oxes for a start who were fantastic as expected and I got
some fairly good photos of them. We also saw The Breeders. I had
a copy of 'Last Splash', their last album at home but I hadn't listened
to it much, I'm more of a Pixies girl. I recognised most of the
songs from 'Last Splash' and really enjoyed the stuff I didn't know.
It was a pretty messy set though and everything seemed pretty disorganised.
Kim's voice still sounds divine if a little raspy at times, this
appears to be due to the truck load of cigarettes she must get through
every hour.
The next day I felt rough as hell. It felt like throat and ears
were on fire and when I woke up my eyes were all gunky. I had to
get some help. We eventually managed to crawl out of our chalet
at about 2pm. The others sat on the grass near the pub and I went
to seek medical assistance at reception. I managed to punch and
kick my way through the Shellac queue to get to reception and got
ignored for 10 minutes by the receptionist who was watching some
people making a telephone call. Eventually I got bored of this and
squished round the telephone people and asked where I might find
a doctor. The receptionist told me there was a first aid thing around
the corner but I could tell that the telephone people had finished
with the phone and were now listening to us. One of them said something
to the receptionist about going out to a Doctor this afternoon,
so the receptionist said we should swap chalet details or mobile
numbers. One of them, an American lady then spoke to me directly
and asked me if I'd like to go with them to a Doctor in Hastings.
I turned round while telling her that would be great and I recognised
her straight away. She said "Hi, I'm Kim" and I just totally
froze.
The guy she was with asked what was wrong with me and I told him
about my ears, eyes and throat. I ran out to my chalet chums to
tell them what was going on. I bounded across the grass, attempted
a sentence including the words 'Kim Deal' and 'Doctor' and then
bounded off again to cries of "get to her to sign......".
When I got back Kim was saying that a doctors appointment might
cost 60 - 100 quid. I was totally not caring or thinking straight.
I still wasn't sure if she knew that I knew who she was. Just before
we left reception to go to the car I said to Kim "It's really
lucky I bumped into you, thanks for this. You're a star". The
guy she was with gave me a funny look and I realised what a stupid
thing I had just said. I shut up for a while after that. As soon
as we set off towards Hastings I got my car crash paranoia back,
I was sharing the back seat with the biggest ever duvet. I tried
to wrap it round me as much as possible so that I'd get a soft landing
when I was thrown through the windscreen. Kim then declared that
I had been hijacked but I didn't make a fuss. They chatted about
interviews, photoshoots and the NME. The sunroof was wide open,
both their windows were open and my ears were very painful. The
chances of me hearing much of what was being said was very slim.
Maybe that was their plan. Kim then made some notes on stuff she
wanted to say to the doctor. By the time we arrived at the surgery
I had impressed both of them with my map reading skills (although
we did need a little help from some 10 year old Korn and Slipknot
fans), and the inten
se breeze in the car had made me feel loads
better. We went in to the surgery and "Kimberley Deal"
announced herself to the receptionist. She only had to pay 15 quid
and the NHS came to my rescue for free. We sat in the waiting room
and Kim read a leaflet about having babies. Ed the driver guy asked
her if she wanted one and Kim said she would get one even if she
had to go to an organ donor!?! She then said she would ask the Doc
if we could all have Vitamin B shots. Kim went in and relayed her
notes to the Doc. She came out, I went in and Doc says to me, "You're
not a singer too, are you?" in a panicky voice.
When I came out they were lying on the grass outside in the sun.
We both had prescriptions to pick up but the chemist was closed.
I went into the newsagent next door and got some sketchy directions
to a chemist. So we bundled into the car and drove in the general
direction we believed the chemist was in. We finally found one and
parked up. Ed stayed in the car looking rough as hell. We spent
ages in the Chemist. I bought our prescriptions while Kim started
looking for stuff she needed to replace the toiletry bag she had
left in Madrid. I helped her choose her new toiletry bag, mascara
and eyeliner. I pointed out the hole she had in her handbag as there
were some in the chemist but instead she chose a little black purse
with a Union Jack clasp she liked. She also bought some candles
and some other bits and pieces. I also told her that as it was 2
of my chalet chums birthdays we were having a little party for them
and I had got them a cake and party stuff, so she got them birthday
card. She spent about 70 quid. I bought a couple of cheesy animals
on springs ornaments to give to Kim and Ed later to say thanks.
Kim found me some socks because I told her that I had forgot to
bring any socks and undies with me.
We stopped off on the way back to Rye, Kim and Ed went into an
off licence to get some wine and Kim had instructions to get me
some chewing gum. I called the chalet chums to let them know what
the Doc had said and that Kim was treating me nice. After some more
of my impressive giving of directions we arrived in Rye and took
a walk around the shops. We had a look in a really cool record shop
- Grammar School Records, a bunch of guys outside nearly had heart
failure upon spotting Kim, one of them said to his chum "What's
she doing round 'ere then?" very loudly. Unfortunately I was
feeling a bit sketchy again and couldn't concentrate on anything
in the shop. Kim asked for stuff by someone/something beginning
with D, they didn't have any except on a compilation CD and I think
Kim only likes vinyl. We then went in another off licence and they
purchased some more wine. As we left we bumped into some guys from
4ad - Rich and Tony. They went into Grammar School Records and we
went for a walk to find a nice place for some dinner. On the way
Kim and Ed spotted a pretty church, it was the kind of church my
Nan would have liked a photo of so I decided to take a photo of
it. Kim and Ed looked at me like I was totally mad for a second
and then I realised that maybe I should actually take a photo of
Kim Deal so I got them both to pose and took a snap and then Ed
took a photo of Kim and me.
We couldn't find a nice place for food nearby so we went in the
pub opposite the record shop and waited for Rich and Tony. I bought
a round for the three of us. Kim wanted a Bud, she watched in horror
as the barman poured it in to a glass and then she made a total
mess pouring it back into the bottle. We then walked through to
the other room with Kim dropping loads of stuff out of her bag and
me struggling behind picking up her stuff and trying not to drop
my money and my drink. Kim said that she was feeling uncomfortable
because she had her period and that she felt really guilty because
she had bled on the chalet duvet last night. I think it was a bit
too much information for Ed and me. Kim was also worried that the
Tour Manager, Kevin was annoyed because there was a microphone issue
at previous nights show and asked Ed what he thought about it.
Rich and Tony arrived and Tony showed off his Bargain buy - Chipmunk
Punk. He said he was going to get the DJ in the pub to play it that
night. We then talked about sport, mainly ball sports. Kim asked
my opinion on netball and I began to have hideous flashbacks of
netball at secondary school so I described it as a horrific game.
Ed then said his sister was the Captain of the English netball team
or something and said it was a really good game but then totally
changed his mind and said it wasn't very good at all. Kim also asked
me if I had been to the show last night and asked if I thought her
voice sounded OK. I said that I did go and her voice sounded fine
but also said that she was ill and she should try and get better.
We finished our drinks and headed off to the Indian place round
the corner, Kim and Ed went off to park the car nearer. Rich and
Tony were talking about Autechre curating next years ATP, they were
a bit sceptical but they said they would still go for the beer.
We arrived at The Ghandi and were shown to our table. Kim and Ed
came back and sat down. Tony announced that the bill was on the
record company, then Kim began smoking all Tony's 10 pack of cigs.
At one point we started talking about the Gallaghers and Kim asked
who the less mouthy one was, she then wanted to know if Noel was
single or not and said that she really liked him. She did a really
good impression of Staind as well. Just as we were finishing our
meal we noticed the guys on the table just over from us were American
and upon closer inspection realised they were a couple of members
from Cheap Trick. They were headlining the next night at ATP. Kim
was ecstatic. We chatted to them for a while, they complimented
Kim on her Albini-style boiler suit and 'Shellac Tech' t-shirt,
and then asked if her and Kelley would write their set list for
the following nights show. Kim nearly exploded. Cheap Trick wanted
to know what time the bands were on so I gave them my card with
the stage times on it.
On the way back Kim said that they were going to gatecrash the
birthday party we were planning after the bands finished that night.
We arrived back at Pontins and Kim pointed out The Breeders tour
bus, a blue and grey Merc van with blacked out windows. We parked
up and got out. Kim game me a big hug and Ed gave me a kiss on the
cheek. Kim double checked my chalet number and I gave them the animals
on
springs before walking back to my chalet in a total daze. When
I arrived I could barely speak to anyone properly. I told them about
Kim coming to the party and then realized I'd left my prescription
in the car. We did a tidy up in case Kim did turn up. None of us
knew whether to believe her or not.
We went and saw the bands and then went to the pub. Kim arrived
in the pub but she was visibly faced and my attempt at telling her
I'd left my prescription in the car was poor. We went back to the
chalet briefly to do the birthday cake thing but we decided it was
pretty stupid hanging around in the chalet waiting for her, especially
after seeing how out of it she was. So went had a smoke, went back
to the pub and got trashed. At about 4am Tony and Rich grabbed me
as I was walking through the pub. A girl they were with took a photo
of us while Tony explained to her that I was the one who they had
met up with that day. Tony was clutching Chipmunk Punk but he hadn't
been able to convince the DJ to play it, which was a shame. Ed asked
if we had got the birthday card so I assumed they had delivered
it while we were out, I also told him that I had left my medication
in his car. I was very hammered at the point so I dread to think
how that photo came out and how little sense I must have been making.
When we got back to the chalet there was no birthday card though.
During the week following the first ATP I managed to get hold of
2 tickets to the totally sold out Breeders show at The Water Rats,
Kings Cross. As a wandered around trying to find the venue I walked
past the Breeders drummer. I then spotted a very familiar blue Merc
van parked up and saw a very familiar face walking towards me. It
was Ed. He said hello, asked how I was and pointed me in the right
direction for The Water Rats. As soon as I arrived Tony spotted
me and called me over, the girl he was with asked me how I was which
was a bit scary as I didn't have a clue who she was. She turned
out to be Ed's girlfriend, so I told her that he was star for driving
us around on Saturday. We went in and got a drink. David Lovering
introduced The Breeders onstage and did a few of his crazy tricks.
They played really well and it was great to see them in such a small
venue, Kim's voice sounded fine and they seemed really comfortable.
I recognised nearly all the new stuff even after only hearing it
a few times. At the end Kim and Kelley hung around as they always
do to talk to the audience and sign stuff. I was prepared this time
and approached Kim with my Last Splash inlay. As soon as she saw
me she leapt at me with a massive bear hug and didn't let go for
about 5 minutes saying she was really sorry about not being able
to return my medication and how she knew my address and phone number
because they were on the label and asking me how I was. She signed
my inlay, so I helped her up off the floor, stuck a cig in her gob
and lit it for her.
That's the end really. We sat around in the bar for a while afterwards
chatting to the sound guy's wife, Carleen. We watched Kelley larking
about and Carleen told us that the White Stripes had been around
earlier. We had a few more drinks, said goodbye to Carleen and wandered
off in the direction of the train station. A week later Kitty Empire
does a Breeders live review in NME. I read with interest the part
near the end mentioning how Kim had made friends with a girl at
ATP making sure she got the girl's friend a signed birthday card.
Oh well, it was so nearly right. Perhaps she did just get the chalet
number wrong but I can't really complain can I? I had a fantastic
day with Kim, she was so intensely lovely to me all day and I really
miss her now. I suppose that's quite sad but I don't care. I'll
never forget the day Kim Deal was my Best Mate.
article by Kat Kitten
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