Home of legendary sitcom "Last of the Summer Wine" (and metal band EVILE), we're always expecting to see some old bloke riding in some old tin tub uncontrollably down a hill screaming whilst being chased by another 3 old blokes on a motorbike and side car with failed brakes!But no.Although spending time with The Damned can be like an episode of last of the summer wine sometimes.
We (The Crew) arrived and proceeded to set up.Then Martin disappeared for a cig.That left the PA open for some Reign of Fury full blast!Jon grabbed his iphone and whacked it on,and it sounded good!Martin came back and turned it up louder.The house crew seemed to like it but our ears were fucked for a while afterwards.
After sound check we went for food and had whale on chips!I know you Yorkshire folk love your mushy peas with fish n chips but I can't stand it.We tried to get Dudsy (The Alarm blog master) who was sitting on the next table to pay but he wasn't having any of it.Stingy git.
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| Whale n Chips!No mushy peas! |
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| Jon with his normal face |
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| Crew tea |
All went well with the show.No drummers falling off the drum riser this time.Here's a couple of shots.
After the show we packed the gear and went next door for some drinks.This is where we discovered Captain has a hidden talent for beer mat throwing!We had couple of drinks with some friends and decided to retired to our hotel.We were off to Fife the next day so we had to leave early-ish for the long drive.
May 4th- Fife.The Big Stooshie Festival
We left about half 10 and stopped twice on the way.As Martin put it "Once to feed Dave,the other to ease his pain".I woke up late so didn't get any breakfast and had started to develop a huge headache.But that is more Jon's fault I reckon,due to him going on about his favourite service stations again (Yawn).We also discovered Martin has a weird fascination of taking photos of fields full of cows.For the sake of my own sanity,I buried myself in my book,Gunners Glory and tried to blank out anything around me for the next few hours.
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| Cabin fever is starting to creep in |
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| Life on the road |
Eventually,we arrived at The Big Stooshie.We all wondered what Stooshie meant and came to the conclusion it meant "pasty" or "cake" or something.Later,my girlfriend Missy,who is Scottish,later confirmed it meant "fight" or "brawl".Do you really want to be stuck in a place called THE BIG FIGHT surrounded by Scottish people?Luckily,she told me after the show.
Plenty of wine on the Ryder tonight,due to a mix up so we all grabbed a bottle each for later,before the mistake got rectified.
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| The Beat |
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| The Beat's Drum kit |
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| Bruce Foxton "From The Jam" |
The Actual stage was in a big barn or huge cattle shed.And it was bloody cold.It even started to snow at one point.The show went well with pretty much no problems but that meant we (the crew) didn't have to do anything really.So we sat there and got cold..But that meant it was a good show.
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| Pinch trying to stay warm |
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| The Big Stooshie Set |
Now,(this is where the cabin fever kicks in) something weird happened because all of a sudden,we started making up our own German style language,which is a cross between German,English and stupid words.We call it "Germglish".That kept us amused for a good hour before we fell asleep.But little did we know it will keep me and Jon amused for the next few days (and drive Martin mad).
This hotel by the way,had the most comfortable beds we've ever slept in in a hotel.But we had to get up early so we we weren't able to relish in our new found comfort for long.
May 5th-Warrington
We woke up about 8:45am with greats in our new "Germglish".The beds were well nice.I had a weird dream,that I was called in to help some people who were under attack from Russians I think.I spotted 3 snipers and killed them all.I went over to check the bodies and one was still alive.So I had to strangle HER to death.Reinforcements turned up and that's when I woke up.Must be the books I'm reading.
Once again me and Jon opted for extra sleep rather than breakfast.Martin stayed in a different room & had already eaten breakfast by the time we met him.We threw our personal gear in the back of the van and wasted no time in informing Martin of our new language.Then we set off for the 4hr + journey.Jon again pointed out his favourite service station while Martin tried and failed,again,to get a picture of the trees shaped like a cock on the side of a hill near the Scottish/English border.But he managed successfully to point out "Metal Bridge".
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| The weird horn thing on the M8 near Livingston Scotland |
A few more coffee stops later and a shit load of Germglish phrase repetitions later we got to the venue,loaded in and sound checked.All good again.
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| Sound checking Pinch'es drums |
The show itself went well,with a girl called Eloise coming up on stage for the song Eloise.Here's a few shots.
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| Eloise on stage for Eloise |
Show done,gear packed,back to the hotel.We got pulled over by the police but all was good.We stayed in the bar and drank.Extra spicy Bloody Marys for me Cider for Jon and Stella for Martin.We drank until they stopped serving us and Martin was wasted.We decided to call it a night and got in the lift to our rooms.Martins floor first,the doors opened and he disappeared.Me n Jon went to our room,watched some Boxing,talked Germglish and fell asleep,I think.The beds were bloody horrible and so were the pillows.I had to replace one pillow with my towel for a more comfortable night.Strange how the more expensive the hotel,the worse the night sleep is I get.Fuck it.Last day of the mini tour tomorrow so no problem.
May 6th-Leamington Spa
The Assembly in L.S. is a great venue.Jon only lives 20 mins away from it too so it's a sort of home gig for him.It was a short drive compared to the other days so that's a bonus too.We loaded in and set up in good time.Ozzy (Promoter from Birmingham but lives in Brighton) is doing the show too which means good sandwiches.
Gear set,another good sound check then a chance to check the play count of our 1st video(Reign of Fury,Psycho Intentions) on youtube.We broke the 10,000 plays barrier so that's another mile stone smashed for us.
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| Check out the play count bottom right |
Bison (our lead singer) and his old band Gash (which Jon was also in) were here tonight too so it was good to see them again.I couldn't miss out on that photo op.
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| Members of 4 bands in one photo.3 members of Reign of Fury,3 ex-members of 4ft fingers,3 Members of Section 13 and all 4 members of Gash |
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| Me,Evile Weazle and Jon.Check out Evile's T-shirt co. 666HCLtd. |
Job done.
Magic Dave.
P.S.
Check out my Girlfriend's blog too: http://missymalone-behindtheglitter.blogspot.co.uk/
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