Gig Review: Friday 22nd September - Dulwich Hamlet FC

In my head, we played like gods of rock and the Spice Girls were right there in the flesh, boogying away as we played.

It's never a surprise to us when we do get poorly attended gigs, but what these lacked in numbers, they made up for with buckets of enthusiasm.

Once upon a time (and before my time), a live band might be seen as something special - something to make an occasion out of. Nowadays, whenever I tell someone I'm in a band it's with a shameful tone out of embarrassment of being a worn-out cliche. Just spend a minute looking around Myspace and every third person is a musician - there's just not enough audience to go round, especially now they've been put off by the hordes of mediocre acts out there. 

Looking out over This Town

Alchemy sits on the 29th floor of a tower block in the heart of Soho, filled with posh consultancy offices and men in suits. The man at the front desk raises an eyebrow:

"Alchemy?"
"Uh, yes.."

They tell us on a clear day you can see right to Guildford cathedral. 

Mastering at Alchemy

As we wind up for the Spinout Records release of 'This Town', we're offered the chance to see a pro do the mastering phase of the record. (Where it's made sure the track is at the right volume, as well as other bits of polishing of the sound is carried out) The big Tonka-style machinery is deceptively expensive and state-of-the-art for the job, and here's John (absolutely top-class quality guy) from Alchemy Studios in Soho taking a break to visit our website.

We took the van into the City because we figured we'd go straight from this mastering session straight to the Dulwich gig. We almost found out the hard way that multi-storey car parks do not accommodate for such tall vehicles. 

Kimba

International man of mystery and superstar MC, who we are blessed to have him appear as special guest to most of our live shows. Think of him as our secret weapon (although getting to be not-so-secret these days) in the Subsource arsenal - Those who have seen him in action know his brilliance already and he carries the same vibes off-stage - he's the chilled, relaxed guy that you can't not get on with... the guy found talking/dancing in the crowd after the show when the other four wusses have passed out. He's the guy that keeps the back-of-the-van spirits up when our optimism has failed. And he's the guy that loves his food. Really loves his food. Sometimes like he might love a woman, but not the American Pie way.

Until their recent demise, Kimba was one quarter of the Malawian hip-hop supergroup, Real Elements, who had a couple of album releases under their belt and a collaboration with A-Skillz and Krafty Kuts a few years back.

http://myspace.com/kimbamutanda 

Gig Review: Friday 8th September - Ginglik

Really hot.

I looked over at Paul about 2 minutes into the first track and he had sweat dripping off his chin and into his laptop. Some gigs feel like they take years from your life and this was definitely one of those. 

Gig Review: Friday 1st September - Cargo

Lots and lots of friends came to support us for this one... thanks all so much. It's been a while since we've played a show where we weren't the main act, so we were worried about people not turning up in time, but just about everyone made it (the room was packed) and we got to boogie to a bit of the excellent Hexstatic afterwards.

Love this photo. Click on it to enlarge it. You can see right to the back. People at the back think it's safe and we can't see them. But we can. And we're bitter about the handful of people in there that don't have their hands up. We don't care if you might spill your pint on the head of the person next to you - think about it, they'd probably do the same to you. Look at the guy in green at the front... follow his example by throwing a sweaty armpit towards the cause (I think I was introduced to him at the beginning of the night, his name was Chris) So if you're one of those people in this photo without your hands up, please take a moment to sit in silence and think about what you've done. 

Gig Review: Thursday 30th August - Brixton Jamm

Weekday nights hold very little promise, and diving from the giddy heights of the rammed, sweaty Solfest dance tent - where the atmosphere teems with an electric charge waiting for an hour-long storm - to peering down into an empty room ready to start the set with a single digit number in the audience. Including the barstaff, who glance at us like they want us to get it over and done with so they can go home.

After a couple of great gigs and a non-stop stream of e-mailed/myspaced compliments in the Solfest aftermath, there is a sense amongst the band members that we're beginning to stray into that territory of being a 'successful' band. I feel it in our changing attitudes towards support acts and I feel it in this twinge of resentment of having to play to 17 people. There is an increasing expectation of what we want from a show, and with it, an increasing expectation of how we should be treated. There is that stereotypical celebrity image of an arrogant arsehole demanding an outrageous rider and I'm beginning to get an insight into how such personalities could be formed from even the shyest of characters. With true success, for me, will come the paranoia that I've become a true arsehole.