Pic: Leeds 4

Clubbers at the back. Baby seal clubbers at the front.

Pic: Leeds 1

Vroom vroom

Pic: Leeds 3

Yes, the three power extensions you see in this picture (plus one just off screen to the right) are all connected to each other. Someone had better Paul that's not a good idea.

Pic: Leeds 2

Once I even got to be a shepherd

Review: Leeds Night

Okay, van driving was quite fun. And seeing as I haven't been told otherwise, I presume we got all of our deposit back despite some hub scraping thanks to some of my tyre-please-meet-the-kerb suggestions. I'm not a reckless driver (certainly the least of the Subsource quartet) but I'll be making a concerted effort in the future not to cut up large vehicles on the motorway... takes such a while to actually get up to 60/70 mph that it's pretty annoying to be forced into braking and then getting back to cruising speed again.

I digress.

This gig was just weird. We arrived at some social club, slightly reminiscent of the sort of social club where the Full Monty took place. Nice hefty sound system installed, but lack of any decent lighting (aside from the ones on the Christmas tree at the back of the stage) made it feel more like I was back in primary school being pageboy in the nativity play.

Supporting acts were very varied and I mention these now with the set highlights. The Woodhouse Funk Extravaganza (a variety of tightly performed cheesy covers including Lynyrd Skynyrd [GAH], many of which had extended keyboard solos, using an electric guitar sound..), The Smackdaddy MCz (who kept rapping about having AIDS and clubbing baby seals), Fulibulbus (the gig-organiser was the vocalist here and he seemed quite calm beforehand but he went pretty psychotic-schizophrenic when the mic was placed in front of him). Finally, there was Hayashi, who did some pleasant Portishead-style trip-hop grooves. All pretty good performances, but the mash of styles span me out.

We played okay, not as great as the previous landmark gig (by which I'll now have to keep making references to when judging other gigs), we weren't entirely together at times.. and the only noticeable mess-up was when we'd the drum n bass section and were really kicking it, then the power gave up and most of our gear went down. I thought it was pretty spectacular at the time that we'd manage to blow a fuse or something, but it later turned out that one of Paul's more exotic tribal dance moves had led him to step on a power off switch on the only extension lead that spidered across the stage to power the rest of us.

The first of our promo CD's that is actually signed by all of us (on their request) is now out there and in the hands of a very loyal fan. One more step on the road to greatness no doubt.

An expotition North

This Friday will see me driving a van for the first time. I'm quite nervous about the prospect of the motley Subsource crew being in close confinement for the best part of a few hours. The Leeds gig this Friday is a bit scarce on details (no website, no flyer yet) except for the cryptic name, "Axis of Wobble". Rehearsals coming along as usual.. we were interrupted this week by one of the guys from the excellent and well-respected Reuben (http://www.wordsfromreuben.com/) who were very nice and complimented us on our sound. Yes, the walls are a little on the thin side where we rehearse and we have been asked in the past if we could possibly turn our bass down a bit please.

Time feels like it drags this week. A million people could have a million dreams and I can't help but feel that when someone stands still, the rest of us step backwards.

From Muff Jamm night

From Muff Jamm night: Winners of the 'best dancers' award at the end of the night, looking slightly worse for wear..

From Muff Jamm: I can't help cracking up every time I look at this one... what's that guy doing!?

Review: Muff Jamm Night

Like a Mr. Kipling cake that's been left out in the open too long, things get stale when you've been doing them for a while. With music projects, I find I need something exciting (and tangible) to happen every few months and I've had the feeling that we've been long overdue. Thankfully, the Muff Jamm night proved to be one of those.

Slightly daunted by the fact that the flyer had impressively said, "Best DnB/Breaks since Reprazent and The Bays", we were a bit apprehensive about living up to that - but the crowd was responsive and good to us and we played the best gig we have done for a while. We got away with it anyway..

With the continued absence of a resident MC, Stuey has finally taken the reins for frontperson duties with panache and the required amount of tolerance towards expected cliches. (How y'all doing? ARE YA HAVING A GOOD TIME!?) It's taken a while, but it looks like he'll be sitting comfortably at the front of the live shows (even if it is only to relive his glory days as the frontperson of a thrash metal band in his earlier years) Stagecraft and on-stage presence was talked out about plenty before this gig and that paid off well for us.

Really looking forward to playing for the Muff Jamm crew again.

Return to Brixton

MuffJam, Brixton this Saturday. Brixton - famed for its music venues (and internationally recognised crime rate), we actually played here in an early Subsource incarnation. Neither the Academy nor MuffJam though - it was a squat party in an abandoned pub. I don't remember who got us the gig, I don't know who organised it and I don't remember the name of the band on before us - they pissed the crowd off by being very shit and very loud. I'd name them if I could (what good is a diary if you can't be brutally truthful?) but I honestly don't remember what they were called. Even the guy on ketamine who had brought his dog to the party sat out during their set.

Needless to say, following them, we sounded good despite the fact we were jamming the whole set. We thought Stix was nuts when he said he was going to the car for a nap, but when we finally started playing at 4am, he was definitely fresher than the rest of us. There was a mutual agreement amongst the band that we ought not to do squat parties any more.