| MARCH 2001 Saturday 31 March - Southern Cross Festival, Mooi River. Characteristic tunnel vision by the organisers, Authentic Ideas, meant that the "Showcase" stage for up and coming bands is all but overlooked. I had to comment that it should have been renamed the Sideshow Stage. Zen Arcade began a poorly attended set 45 minutes late. Sound problems marred the beginning of the set - an horrendous screech of feedback from Iain's guitar then threw everybody (Starseed were kind enough to lend him a replacement Strat - big up, guys). The band did recover to deliver a gutsy performance, although the set was abridged (Step Back was dropped because of the delays) the small crowd was unanimous in praising the band. Very annoying that the organisers turned their backs on the unsigned bands who took the time to travel down. Still, this seems to be the modus operandi of the since rechristened Autistic Ideas - hijack the jol, push their own bands and fuck the rest. Dick, who owns the farm was pretty disgusted with the whole business and vowed we would be on the Main Stage the following year. Time will tell... Consolation was however to be found in the natural beauty of the setting, with its surrounding hills and river (we went skinny dipping in the freezing water in the wee hours on Saturday night and went tubing down the rapids on Sunday) and the weekend was otherwise excellent. |
 |
 |
 |
| APRIL 2001 Friday 6 April - Nile Crocodile, Lynwood Glen, Pretoria. Zen Arcade's first foray into Pretoria. Despite trepidation on the part of the band, the venue enjoyed a reasonable turnout. After an intense opening by local band Eve's Posture (very promising act, if musically a bit immature), Zen Arcade put in an excellent set. Called back for an encore, the band played the new song, Gunston Tease, which was starting to mature nicely. Tequila flowed and the party continued until late. |
 |
| (l-r) Al, James, Andy, Sue on the Crusty banks. X marks the spot below. |
 |
| X |
 |
 |
| The Showcase Stage - "Sideshow" would have been more apt. |
 |
| APRIL 2001 Saturday 7 April - Big Easy, Kensington. The first exposure of Zen Arcade to the Social Studies 1 Project - an initiative to produce a compilation CD featuring some 18 bands. Five bands were featured back to back. The predominantly rock audience did not react well to avant garde act Reach in prime timeslot after hard rock act Pestroy (Reach's self-aggrandizement was the cause of much in-fighting among the bands involved in the project). Zen Arcade followed and managed to restore some of the original energy, although we got off to a dodgy start - I plugged into the Active socket on the bass amp, subjecting everyone to a nosebleed inducing bass howl.. A short set - the bands were limited to 30 minutes each - included Ode, Not About You, Lopsided Affair, Sister, Take Out The Trash and Step Back. Time would only tell if this uneasy marriage of different musical styles is viable enough to warrant the hard work involved. Terry, the Big Easy manager bent my ear long and loud, convinced that we were being ripped off - Mark Presley and Martin Barbee were running a substantial bar tab on the door takings. My take on it was it was that Martin was well-intentioned but that the marketing suss wasn't there. |
| Wednesday 11 April - Good news in the form of a call from Barney Simon - Sony and 5fm wanted to re-record a "radio" version of Crazy Over You for inclusion on a compilation CD featuring 15 top unsigned bands. These were selected from over 100 bands by a panel at 5fm. Recording was secheduled to take place at RP Studios with Neal Snyman on Sunday 22 April, but before that, the Rustlers Valley Easter Festival beckoned... |
| After discussing the Social Studies thang, that Thursday Andy and I agreed to pull out of the project as we couldn't see much benefit for us and besides, we didn't want to jeopardise our tentative new relationship with 5fm and Sony. |
 |
| D-BASS DIARY |