Electronic Woes

Borg Central is a complete mess right now. Just spent most of the night trying to get the new laptop up and running and it's almost ready for the gig tomorrow (or this evening rather).

Toshiba Satellite U300 T5250 2GB dual-booting XP/Vista to keep the system nice and clean. Will do the job. Better than that Alienware piece of shit, but I'll save that rant for another time.

Just discovered offline blogging thanks to w.bloggar, so thanks to that and a laptop that actually works.

Mambo, Swansea

We pass a few police patrols on the way and brace ourselves a few times to be pulled over, but we have a clear drive all the way there and back. Somehow, we're disappointed. From what we saw, Swansea's a lovely town that's just had a huge makeover and the people, including our hosts for the night are lovely. The venue isn't as full as it could be, but just as well because my laptop gave up the ghost half way through the set which kind of takes the edge off the set. Boom, I'll hit PC World on Sunday morning to try and get a machine up to speed for Peterborough on Friday.


With Kimba feeling rough as a duck from illness and the others being generally lame by crashing at our hosts for the night, it was up to me n Stu to pop round the corner to spend the rest of the partying hours at the Monkey Bar where DJ Hype was spinning some tunes. It was on the top floor here that I had a wonderful random encounter with an acquaintance from this year's Glade mudfest. Glade-goers know exactly the kind of coincidental encounter I mean.(Catherine - who got lost from her friends in the rain and sought temporary refuge under a leaky gazebo where I was sheltering from the leaky gazebo under a leaky umbrella...)

Having been separated from the pack and no way to find the hosts' house, me n Stu fought bitterly against freezing conditions in the van - which was christened with vomit during the night (nope.. neither of us, just a partying friend)

Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen

The Carps

Previous experience of weekday showcase gigs have not been good but this one was alright. You invite as many bods from the music industry down as possible on a workday, and you play relatively early when people are there to chinwag and stroke beards rather than actually enjoy themselves. Also people say they'll come but they don't bother. Considering the pissy weather outside, the turnout was pretty good, thanks to Dom/Chris for organising and there were some cracking support acts, The Carps and Ebony Bones.

Testing out a new lens. Sigma 20mm 1.8. It's not nearly as sharp wide open as my usual Canon 50mm 1.4 is wide open, but the extra field of view is definitely welcome.

The van's been diagnosed as having a broken windscreen wiper linkage. To repair it we've been quoted something in the region of £250, so for the time being, we're resorting to the speaker cable/Paul's arm pulley system which seems to be working out just grand. If there's any mechanics out there who could do the job for cheaper, there's a lot of Subsource loving available in return.

The police decided to stop us again on the way into the gig. They let us go fairly quickly this time, and seemed entertained by our makeshift wiper blade action. Apparently we were flagged as being dodgy from a visit to the south coast in April this year. It must have been from here Admittedly, it was a pretty dodgy gig, but I didn't think it warranted police harrassment.

Early November Gigs. Another run-in with the police.

Three weeks since the last post.. things have been hectic, my memory's not as good as it once was, so a brief update of the last four gigs:

1st November: New Cross Inn

Not our usual kind of haunt.. looked like it was going to be a dodgy pub gig but turned out okay. Bit thin on numbers (Thursday night) but people were moving about. Intimate venue with nicely controlled acoustics.. Best on-stage sound I've ever had. Helps that the monitor wedge was lifted to be right next to my ear. New tunes in the set.. will take a few gigs to feel comfortable with them.

Support from the Nicole Fermee trio - lovely people, nice soul/funk grooves. I believe it's a taboo to actually say it publicly in fear of being branded a chauvinist, but I'm sure every guy I spoke to said it: "Chicks that play instruments well are hot." It should be noted that they've also broken one of the cardinal rules of being in a band - the singer/guitarist is dating the drummer. That's so not a recipe for success. If Paul and Nelly dated, I'd be out in a flash.

Cheers to Arif for making it down all the way from the end of the road to give me Crossfader's latest EP. Check out: http://www.myspace.com/crossfadermusic

2nd November: Q-Bar Cardiff - Halloween

Supported Black Strobe.. didn't see much of their set, most of us were trying to claw back some sleep from the night before. Had a bit of a crew down and overall there was a fair amount of general messiness. Being surrounded by your mates whilst you're stone cold sober and the designated driver is a lonely thing.


The set took an unexpected downwards turn for the bizarre as we were taking to the stage. Someone had spat a kablooie on to one of Nelly's cymbals. Not sure who thought it would be a good idea to place the stage underneath a publicly accessible balcony. (I'd previously removed a couple of drinks sitting on the balcony handrail whilst Black Strobe were playing - it'd just take a simple knock and that moustache doesn't look like it dries easily) We got a couple of shifty looking guys chucked out but really not sure if they were the culprits. It made Nelly feel better though. I later found chewing gum in my hair when I got home, but wasn't sure whether that's what happens when you sleep on the floor in the back of the van.



9th November: The Welly Club, Hull

We're running late, there's loads of traffic and the fecking police decide to stop us again. I'm livid. "To be honest, your vehicle's been tagged as having something to do with cannabis." Well, that's blatant harrassment if you dish out 3 fines for not wearing seatbelts and you don't even bother searching/sniffing the vehicle for cannabis. If there was a Subsource swear jar, it'd have overfilled and the M1 North would be lined with a paper trail of bank notes.



Supported by Someone And The Somethings. A fresh-faced student-based 9 or 10-piece soul band. I lost count. Whilst the first few notes in soundcheck of the 6-string slap-bass sent the majority of the band flying for aural cover, these guys definitely oozed personalities and win the crown for being some of the nicest people we've ever played with.



Funky at the Welly Club is a brilliant night out in Hull - run by people passionate about decent music. If you're in the area, definitely check it out. Shout-out to Nicky who made it to see us all the way from Penrith.

10th November: The Jamm, Brixton

It's like a mini-Synergy Project. Good vibes and Chai available throughout the night.. every gig should be like this.



Always outnumbered, never out-gurned til now. Jabberwok were wicked and fired up the night with some kickin electronica/rock and some blazing top lip synth action. At the point of getting onto stage, I've had 3 hours sleep in over 40 hours. I really don't feel right. I slink off pretty sharp-ish after the gig. Gutted, it looked like a good party with some great DJs.

This month has definitely seen sleep go out of fashion in these parts. Thanks to some helpful hands and advice, we've been re-honing our sound in the studio, organising gigs (our first international venture is in the pipeline for early 2008) and current focus is all around our upcoming showcase gig on Monday 19th at Hoxton Bar and Kitchen. Would be great to have as many people down as poss to help impress industry people and the like!