two great, two not quite as great. first on were akira who suffered from the age old snare drum rattle problem, which seemed to last throughout their whole set. i know they’ve been around for some time, and that being the first time i’d ever heard them, i don’t want to cast (too much) judgement, but they didn’t seem to really do a great deal. the first song sounded like blew by nirvana, which is probably as good an indicator as any.

next, charlottefield who were really very good indeed. i hadn’t heard of them until the day before the gig, and had no idea what to expect, but ten seconds in they were rocking out and i was loving it. they had shouts and stoppy-starty-swingy-roundy riffs and, probably most importantly, they seemed like a competent band, which the previous band sadly didn’t. i’m on the look out for their new 7″ on jonson family.

minutes to live feature three members of crs* along with one sexy bitch on bass. this was their first gig, and they played three songs. it was hard to know what to make of it, as nothing seemed that clearly defined (not that that’s a problem in itself, but there were a few times when the songs went nowhere, and left me feeling unsatisfied). still, it’s very early days…

finally, after months of anticipation, cat on form took to the stage. once i had overcome the shame of being made to feel like the tubby bastard that i am by steve and dan’s skinny shirtless antics, they proved to be my favourite band of the evening. the one thing that struck me overall is that the conviction and yes, the anger of these guys just doesn’t let up for a second. recently i mentioned how bands rarely play with that unabashed fury that first made rock music so exciting to me, and i was very pleased to see that cat on form apparently share my views. there was lots of leaping around and falling over and shouting and more shouting and sweating. i also decided when left-hand-side guitarist/shouter dan was lying at my feet scratching at the floor that he is possibly the tiniest human being i have ever seen. they played ‘back off man i’m a scientist’, my favourite song from their recent vacuous pop 7″ and it was mighty good. i hope they come back, this city needs bands like them to play here.

in other news, i just got a shitload of blood drained from my arm, and i have to go back tomorrow so they can drain some more cos they couldn’t get enough today. i’m covered in puncture wounds and i hate illness. me and marceline should start some kind of sick kids club, where you have to be pastey white and be calcium deficient to join.

Well it seems with diskant being broke recently the usual tardiness of most bloggers has not improved and so I figured I’d try to buck the trend and actually post something. A week ago today I moved to London to start my new job at Southern Records and it was some week. Three gigs (The Apes, Nina Nastasia and Billy Mahonie) later and lots of effort trying to work out what my new job actually involves has left me a little frayed around the edges but hey it’s been fun. Of the three gigs I have to say Billy Mahonie were the best. They debuted their new line up (kev & Hywell have left) one bass guitar being replaced by a normal guitar and some new songs. I was a little worried how they’d be live after Hywell left but these fears were unfounded ‘cos they were excellent and the new songs bode well for the future of the band. Apart from that I’ve not much to add aside to say I’m missing the diskant list’s inane chatter and my computer/stereo/records. If you are one of the nice people that check out the diskant gig guide then I apologise for the lack of updates between now and the new year but Marceline will be doing her best to keep things as up to date as possible!!! So for now then all I have to say is if I’m not back before Christmas then a hope a good time is had by all and keep your eyes peeled in the new year for a new Errol website and errol-y release including the stunning Reynolds album. Egg nog all round then…

No point telling you stunning Fugazi were, Marceline’s just done that and I heartily agree with everything she wrote [exept the bit aboot cameras, obviously. Evil things steal yr soul, ye know]. What was amusing was how many of the Scottish rock mafia were out in full at the gig to takes notes or something. Spotted were: Lapsus Linguae, Electric Tibet, Cayto, Small Enclosed Area, 1″ Volcano, Fighting Red Adair, Aereogramme, Biffy Clyro, Stapleton, and hunners more I probably missed.

Speaking of which, most of these fusty buggers have also been involved in the Rock Mess Monsters compilation. Thus there were launch gigs aplenty last week. I popped down to see Frightening Fred Astair in full Halloween regalia [a day early], and donned my own satanic visage for the Lapsus Linguae gig. Pish sound at both gigs, but lots of dressing up, beer and sillyness; which always equals: fun!

ok, so i’m drunk and in no state to blog, but marceline insisted. when the overlord calls, what can you do?

um was, as ever, a lyrical genius, and managed to get through his own set, despite there being a crowd of about seven people, quite superbly. this man deserves awards. give them to him. now.

sunnyvale, despite 15 minutes of technical problems,. managed to get their groove on quite severely. hats off to smint and stu.

and then crs*, while playing a very short set, managed to charm the pants off most of the audience, and they even got some bookings on the strength of their set. so, yeah, rock!

so, an all dayer. i managed about five hours before scuttling home, inebriated and exhausted. take heed kids. entering your 20s does bad things to a person.

i’ve been on an excitement fest this past week. well, by my standards, anyways. on thursday i met up with marceline in london to go see trail of dead. i also met david for the first time. surprisingly, pie was eaten. trail of dead were fantastic. i’d not seen them since Reading 2000. damn, that seems so long ago. lesson learned that day: don’t trust rock stars to pass messages on for you. i’m sure marceline will have more elaborate tales of rock on the TOD front, so i’ll not go on about it.

last night i saw ghostworld, and you know, it’s as good as everyone else said it was. the reason i’m seeing it so late is because my local odeon only show non-blockbuster types on special screening events. it’s been southend projection month or something these last few weeks. ghostworld, unfortunately, is the last in the series, but i did see the pledge with jack nicholson the other week, which was equally good – a touching story with a surprising ending. jack was on top form.

i’ve also been making a skateboarding video on a digital camera which has been fun.

and today is my birthday. so yay. i’m Getting Old too. i give up.

heh

last night i went along with marceline and kat to see reynolds, part chimp and fixit kid (but not in that order) upstairs at the garage. we met up with ollie there and tried to convince him to throw the tv out of his hotel room window. as of yet i’ve not heard that he hasn’t, so i’ve got my fingers crossed.

i’d never heard them before but i was really impressed with part chimp, they were great and their drummer was really funny, they were really fun to watch, i totally recommend them. fixit kid didn’t make much of an impression on me, just a bit too shellacy rock with shouting. i hadn’t seen reynolds for ages, so i was totally glad to see them again, they were great and i enjoyed their set, and was particularly pleased to see them do ‘stopper’.

and this morning we ate pie. woohoo!

so i spent last weekend hanging out with marceline and nicolette in glasgow. of course, it rocked. i’m only getting round to writing about it now because i’ve been recovering. but that’s not because i’m a wuss, of course.

highlights were seeing american analog set, who were absolutely delightful, being involved in possibly the biggest diskant meet-up ever, seeing john and steve from bis, who looked absolutely upstaged and starstruck when they realised the diskant crew were in the house, watching instrument, the mighty fugazi video & finding out what it really means to be punk, playing with candles, and watching an hour’s worth of ‘metal anthems’ on mtv2.

oh yes.

since that weekend i’ve been listening a lot to american analog set’s ‘know by heart’ and getting all sappy and nostalgic. bah.

Rock. If you don’t know me I’m the events hadler. Or gig boy. Anyhow might as well let you all know that I’ve been doing some serious events research recently. Last Thusday (27th Oct) was Coventry with the glorius Souvaris. I thought they were great they thought they were crap. Typical huh? If you not familiar with them they have six members and play long instrumental sound scapes that meander a bit, lurch a bit and just generally make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Sunday (30th Oct) was Portsmouth and an all dayer with Hirameka Hi-Fi, Caretaker, Escanna and disoma among others. Caretaker were very late and while I was drunk I just wasn’t impressed. Hirameka were ace however, played some new stuff too all of which sounded wonderful. Escanna were the best I’d ever seen them play and disoma just plain rocked. Anyhow Bristol yesterday for Les Savy Fav, Enon, Kiska and Mountain Men Anonymous. MMA did their heavy instrumental thing well; Kiska did a groovier instrumental thing; Enon were just plain ace and Les Savy Fav were Les Savy Fav. If you’ve not seen them yet you must. Arty-Punk stuff. They even played Paradise City by Guns ‘n’ Roses during a fuck up with the guitarists gear, glorious. Next is Oxford on Monday for Billy Mahonie and Jullander. It’s tough working for Marceline but the job does have it’s good parts. Be back soon and sorry for the shit descriptions and reviews but that ain’t my job. Bye Bye…

Argh, don’t even mention boxsets. I made a disgusting impulse buy yesterday and ended up getting the scream trilogy boxset which i so can’t afford. I was ill, i got confused, they were playing the new Ian Brown album in the shop and i just lost my mind. I wouldn’t mind but scream 2 and scream 3 are so, so crap! And what the hell are Jay and Silent Bob doing in scream 3?

Oh yeah, and i’ve got an american express pen if you want it, marceline. Corporate enough?