Thanks to seeing the Southampton posse the previous day Nick and I found ourselves on a four o’clock train to the south coast town the following afternoon. Fortunately we found a Hogshead in the town to quench our thirsts (for Belgian beers), and made our way to St Mary‘s Street where we discovered Chuck enjoying some fish and chips outside the Joiners. The Romford boys were there too, and after a brief chat we went into the dark and scary pub opposite for a beer and a game of pool. Later, after paying to get into the gig, we hooked up with Chuck again and, along with his wife Samantha, we popped back over the road for some pool and Guinness before Discount played. We had a good chat and a few laugh’s (particularly when Sammy "accidentally" put "I’m Horny" on the jukebox) whilst playing very poorly, and nipped back over to the Joiner’s just in time to catch the start of Discount. The layout at the venue had changed since I was last there, and this improved the place no end. Lee and Phil had made their way from Uxbridge on the back of Lee’s drunken antics the previous day and declarations of undying love for HWM since seeing them play. Good man. Anyway, Discount rocked, and everyone was well into them. The songs I’d previously been unsure of were quickly worming their way into my brain, and sounded better and better.

Incredibly, Chris, Chuck, Jason and George were also getting better and better. Tonight was the best of the gig’s we’d seen so far, and everyone at the venue was affected by the sound these four men could produce. It penetrates your very soul. More dancing and singing along was the order of the evening, and I only had to look at Nick to know we were both damn pleased that we were going over to Europe to see them again and again. Our only regret by the end of the evening was that we couldn’t get up to Leeds the following night to see them at the Duchess, but our flight to Belgium was early on the Wednesday morning and I really needed to spend a little time at home with my baby daughter and her wonderful mother.

After the gig Cov John confirmed it was OK to stay at his place, but we discovered that the two bands, their entourage, a Scene Policeman (Emre) and assorted Gipsy Hill punk types were also booked in...at a two bedroom flat! We got a lift in a minibus (with seemingly half the rest of the people in the Joiners) and, once inside, perched near the TV and proceeded to enjoy Quake 2 on the N64 for a number of hours. Sadly, I got trashed more often than not, but Emre was pretty good, and the sheer dedication and commentary associated with Chris’ killing frenzy was top quality entertainment in itself. Cov John had a classic conversation with his neighbour downstairs who’d phoned about the noise (I believe The Ramones were playing loudly at 1:30 am whilst seventeen people were chatting or shouting death threats at other players on Quake 2)...after putting the phone down, Cov John said that he thought he should be ringing to thank him for educating him in good music!