It's the morning of Sunday 15th August. Today is
the big Hot Water Music all-dayer at
The Garage in London. I'm really *really* looking forward to this one as there's hardly
a bad band in the line-up. Doors open at 2pm and the line-up includes Hot Water Music,
Discount, The Tone, Spy vs Spy, Travis Cut, Rydell, Annalise and Sunfactor - and anyone
else who can be bothered to turn up I suppose! I wish I didn't have work tomorrow as I'm
gonna be righteously pissed by the end of the gig!
Will be adding bits to this after each band so
here we go! ---------------------------------------- I arrived at Highbury Corner about half-one and had a quick pint in the Cock Tavern
next to the tube station - I've always liked that pub ever since I went in there
for the first time in January. I don't why really.. it sells expensive beer and I
hate the bar staff... still, it's always held happy memories for me so there you go.
By the time I got in the venue at about 2.20pm the place was already filling up nicely.
Not bad really for a Sunday afternoon. Problems - no cloakroom all day, over-paranoid
security and a fucking awful DJ who I swear thought his choice of music meant he was being
'ironic' or something. Anyway, on to the bands. These are in order of appearance. Every
band got 25 minutes except for The Tone (who got 30 minutes for some reason), Discount
(40 minutes) and Hot Water Music (50 minutes). The Autumn Year --------------- They were a good, solid emo band. The vocalist was amazing with some intense screaming
and unbelievable guitar playing. The drummer seemed to be enjoying himself a lot as well..
Funny really, the bassist was the most 'punk looking' guy in the band but he was shit.
He didn't play very much, looked bored and stood still for most of the set. Still,
I quite enjoyed seeing them and I think I'll check em out again at some point. Silencer 7 ---------- Nick said they sounded like Good Riddance but I wouldn't know! They just sounded like straight ahead
hardcore to me. Not my thing really and I only liked 1 song (and I can't remember which
so don't even ask). Travis Cut ----------
This is only the second time I've seen this band and they were better the first time. Maybe it's cos it was a smaller venue last time but the crowd were just pathetic here. The band played damn well but you could see they were fighting a losing battle. Oh well. They don't know what they're missing....And god, that singer looks more like a young, thin Bob Mould every time I see him! (that's a good thing by the way)
Rydell
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Not much to say about this lot really. I can't honestly remember what they sounded like but I thought they were pretty good. However, I disappeared off to the loo towards the end of the set and by the time I came back, they'd finished. I can't say I was disappointed! Pretty non-descript stuff really - take it or leave it.
Annalise
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I'd heard great things about this band so I was gutted to find that they were a generic middle of the road punk rock band. It's a bad thing for me really when a band finishes and I find myself not giving a shit whether I ever see them again. Oh well... I think the crowd had a lot to do with it to be honest. Certain people really started getting on my tits during this lot's set. I really hate it when people shout things at the band which are obviously in-jokes and then proceed to laugh really loudly even though the humour level is somewhere on a par with Cannon and Ball.
Something else - why does EVERYONE seem fucking afraid to get closer than 7 feet in front of the stage??? It blows my mind every single time I see it. It's like they're afraid of looking uncool or something!!!
By the time Annalise finished it was 5.40pm and the kind people at the Garage decided to give everyone 40 minutes off (yes it did feel like work by this point) to go and have some dinner. We had a couple in the Cock Tavern first and then me and Mike went to get a burger. Lovely it was too. Dickie Hammond was in there watching the football... I don't know whether he supports Newcastle or Sunderland so god knows what he was thinking went the football score went from 1-1 to
Southampton : 4 Newcastle : 1
in a space of about 10 minutes. I was trying to see the look on his face but like a real trouper, his face didn't betray any secrets.... Some bloke from China Drum was in there as well - apparently they're mixing (or have just finished mixing) their new album so hopefully we should be seeing some activity from those guys pretty soon.6.20pm and we dutifully trooped back in again.....
Otherwise were on stage. They held my attention for about a song or so and then
---------
I disappeared off to write this. I'm not a very objective reviewer.
Sunfactor
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Best band of the day so far - just as good as I remember them from The Peel in Kingston. They had lots of great points - self-deprecating, genuinely nice singer. Sweet stories in between the songs but backed up with hard music. I recommend you go out and see this lot when they play Kingston on 30th September with Inside Right, Grand Central and Yeast. One thing that did stick in my mind was that people actually came a couple of feet closer to the stage when this lot played. But nobody danced. Not enough beer you see.
Spy vs Spy
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Band of the day... EASILY. This was the first time I'd seen them but they blew me away completely. I really regret missing them in Kingston now. People actually went to the front for this one. I lost my place there but it was worth it. Now this is what music is all about. Not only did this band have energy.. they were unique. With a name like Spy vs Spy I'd expected almost cartoon punk rock but god, was I wrong. There isn't really any easy way to describe this lot... just go check em out.
The Tone
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Fucking awful to be honest. I've seen this band twice before - first time was at the Red Eye in Islington - Southport played that night and they were utterly fantastic.. this lot were pretty average. The second time I saw them I thought they were excellent. Unfortunately this time I managed to get no enjoyment out of them whatsoever. The singer was a twat and they sounded completely different to how they usually sound. Maybe that's unfair but it is a bad thing. Still, the bassist was as good as always - he's definitely the best part of this band. And that fucking twat behind me was making jokes at the band again.
Discount
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I enjoyed Discount a hell of a lot as it goes. I'd been listening to their albums quite a lot the week before the show and I'd picked out the one I really wanted to see - the first one from 'Half Fiction'. To my obvious delight (ie. I went completely nuts) they played it... Alison was a very intense and energetic vocalist yet seemed completely free of arrogance. Makes a nice change. And once again, the bloke behind me kept making jokes - this time he was shouting for 'Old England' the entire set. At least I think it was him.
Let me tell you something - a joke is funny once... when you say it 20 times it ceases to be funny. It becomes irritating. You can say I don't have a sense of humour if you like but shut the fuck up will ya!
Hot Water Music
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The last band of the day... I was hoping Leatherface might show up and play a surprise set but unfortunately it wasn't to be. I really enjoyed HWM though - I don't know all that much about this band apart from the Leatherface split on BYO so it was a nice surprise to find that all their material is great and full of energy. I was so tempted to try and get on the stage but most of me was thinking "they won't catch you". So I didn't. I'm not completely stupid ya know! Highlight of the set for me was "The Living End" from the split - utterly amazing vocals.
Well.. that's it. Maybe I've been too harsh on some of the bands but whatever... they're just my opinions after seeing them for about 25 minutes apiece. Maybe I'll like them better next time and under different circumstances... it was a strange day really. Overall, it wasn't the best day in the world but I've had worse. It just seems sometimes that people expect more from these bands than they actually get. Everyone just seems so lethargic - even me. People seem content to nod their heads, drink beer, wear the latest style in one-strap rucksacks and play Mr (and Miss) Cool. Don't get me wrong, there were exceptions - and I can give specific examples if you like. They were some genuinely lovely people there. But what was it with the abundance of fucking photographers. They were bloody everywhere and I swear they thought they had the perfect right to the front spot just cos they were taking pictures. Whatever happened to just enjoying yourself for a change. Maybe I'm the stupid one. Make up your own minds...
See you at the next gig!