Borg Diaries: May 2007

Music Hall, Shrewsbury

Above: Support from ~~Inner Sanctum~~ New Breed

We weren't expecting this - amazing venue with a fantastic soundsystem and brilliant lighting rig. But on asking the lighting engineer if he could get the strobe going at appropriate points in the set, he said he never uses the strobe because it gives him migraine. Grr.

In a temporary lapse of attention, I ordered the pub's chicken tikka masala. Not overly spicy I should probably have gotten away with it, but this meal decided not to agree with my digestive system, meaning a trip to the toilets an hour before we go on, as well as 30 minutes, 10 minutes and 2 minutes before hand. Thankfully no on-stage brown trickles.

Nelly remarked that this feels like a 'proper professional gig', with the awesome sound and lights. And also the tech crew that ran on-stage to mop up Stuey's on-stage accident. (Below)

As experienced at the Workhouse Festival (in the same area) last year, we've been bombarded with messages/new friends from this gig.. thanks loads to everyone who stayed to the end to see us!

Thanks to whoever threw this at the stage. It's being kept for prosperity.

More photos here:

Music Hall, Shrewsbury

Boileroom, Guildford

For the regular readers, please may I draw your attention to the new disclaimer above: the Borg Diaries do not necessarily reflect the opinions of a band as a whole, which has been added after my irrational disillusionment of the Synergy gig.. by all accounts it was a huge, exciting show for us, but this is a diary after all, and everybody has days where they really don't feel like going into work.

This month, for the first time in about 3 years, Subsource has no longer been an obssession and it's taken this long to realise that it has been. It's a strange feeling now that it's NOT the first thing I think about when I get up, and to not feel guilty about staying up working on stuff for the band right up until I decide to sleep. As a result, I now have loads of spare time where I'm bored as hell and I'm having a huge crisis of identity whilst feeling utterly lost. I dunno, are obssessions always unhealthy?

Back to the Boileroom last week for another show, supporting Warren Suicide (above), who were pretty cool. Paul's had a lot a few broken/lost pieces of equipment this week and probably wasn't sure about letting the guy use his amp.

"Hey thanks for letting me use your amp"
"No problems"
"You know you'd better check it wasn't sounding right towards the end"
(silence)
"I think it might have broken?"
(silence)
"I was a bit worried when I saw the flames"
(silence)
"That's when I pissed all over it.. to put the flames out"

Above: Boileroom crowd. In all of my Subsource non-obssession, I forgot to do an e-mail out for it so I'm taking the flak for the room only being half full. I mean half empty, I'm supposed to be a pessimist right?

Spinal Tap Moment: Somebody's knocked a beer over some electrical equipment/wiring whilst setting up and about a minute into a heated argument over who's beer is still standing, somebody realises that a beer has been knocked over some electrical equipment.

Lotsa people saying they'll be there at our Glastonbury slot. The excitement builds.

More photos from the Boileroom

Gig Review: Friday 11th May - Synergy, SEOne

At midnight, we're ready to go on and outside it's like a small bustling city under an archway with more people still queuing up than we've had at any of our recent shows. This is the biggest indoor venue we've played and I have no idea how many people there are - it's a huge room but not densely packed, there are arms up going all the way to the back at the end of the show. My guess is anywhere between 600 and 1000 people by the end... but as crowds get bigger, they just seem further away - it's the tale of living in a city where people stopped talking to their neighbours anymore. Am I part of this party or what? I'm scanning across the room looking for a moment of eye contact with anyone for a second of inspiration but there's nothing. To me, the crowd feels stationary and uninvolved.. pause for a reality check: this is still show biz baby so the desperation of isolation turns focuses into a frenzy of energy to fight these desperately humid conditions. But what the hell am I really doing here? And I seem to have lost the ability to tell whether anyone's really enjoying themselves.

Two lessons learned. 1) Don't be lazy, you need the wide-angle lens. 50mm for this kind of shot is crazy stupid. 2) Be taller.

Gig Review: Friday 4th May - Luminaire

Meet James, a new face that will be joining us on the road. This genius of all-things-technical-and-organised has stepped in to help us out with the sound problems we've been mentioning at some of the recent shows. As a bonus, he's pretty handy with a map which means I don't have to drive round in circles trying to get us home when the rest of the band are pissed and rolling around in the back of the van.