Set List:
Donderevo + Dustball + Panda Love Unit + The Visit, @ The Boat Race, Green Mind Presents, £4 adv £5 door
With four bands on the bill, logistics suggested we were going to be playing rather early. Added to that, a sound check that was shorter than Matt's hair, things weren't looking that good. What we hadn't bargained for though was an enthusiastic crowd of punters, turning up in the nick of time, hungry to see some rock action. When we got on stage to play, it was to an empty space, but by the end of Silence the Poet the place was packed. So with only a sound man defying guitar volume chance, things really took off. By the last two songs I was all warmed up and ready to go. I could have done it all again. Oh Well, there was plenty of socialising, and stupid photography to get involved with instead. Dustball, and Panda Love Unit were great. I didn't see Donderevo, because the call of Bedazzled had taken hold by then (probably something to do with too many whiskey's). A big 'cheers' goes out to Mr Baker, for putting on such a good night.
Silence
The Poet
Warmer
Climes
Tofu
Escape Clause
Induced
Loyalty*
Summon
The Darkness
*Tom Dyer on Trumpet
The Visit + Matt Charlton + The One Trick Pony @ The Portland Arms, £2
Matt
Charlton's CD launch. Being a Sunday night I didn't really
imagine a very 'full on' evening. The thought of Monday morning
resting at the back of most peoples minds (including myself). However,
by the time Mr One Trick Pony had finished his 'delicate picked,
and charmingly shambolic' set, I was in the mood for music. Matt
C then came on, and produced one of the best performances I've seen
him do. The use of an acoustic guitar, instead of his normal electric
made everything that bit more intimate. I hope he sells many CD's.
What can I say about our set really, we got up there and enjoyed
ourselves. It wasn't fault free, but we gave it a lot of balls.
I'm sure the people that made the effort to come out, gained a good
show for their commitment. I really enjoyed Tofu, and Induced Loyalty.
They stood out for me. Others said The Constant, was their favorite.
So plenty for everyone then, and bring on the next.
Silence The Poet
Tofu Escape Clause
Induced Loyalty
The Constant
Warmer Climes
The Visit (with collaborators) + Maggies Farm, @ The Portland Arms, Harvest Time, £3
Before:
Harvest Time, is a new bi-weekly evening, held at the Portland Arms,
in conjunction with Andy's Records. Look out for our Halloween influenced
set, which is going to include an extended set of collaborations,
with Tom Dyer, and James Thomas. So you'll be able to enjoy a spot
of computer, trumpet, and funked up bass, before the rock really
sets in.
After: First of all, thanks so much to everyone
who came last night. We'd been working so hard, on getting the extended
set together, that we didn't have a chance to advertise the night.
Luckily everyone else seemed to have done that for us. Secondly,
an even bigger 'cheers', to all the people who actually watched
us play for a whole hour. That's stamina for you. You had more of
it than us. Matt, David, and I were knackered, a good three songs,
before the end of the set. Hindsight says, one less song, would
have been perfect, but where was hindsight when we needed him? At
the bar I expect. The bugger!! Between the six of us, we managed
to produce some great moments of music, and really enjoy ourselves.
What more could we ask for? I can't even say payment, as we got
that too. Good atmosphere, well run, and a great guy organising
it, Harvest Time, was a perfect night to play. Cheers Simon.
Notes: *are songs written, and recorded by Tom
Dyer, with live, and recorded input from Jake (words and vocals),
Dave (guitar), Matt (drums), and James (bass). +was written and
played by David (guitar), Matt (drums), James (bass), Tom (trumpet),
Jake (words, and vocals). ++was written by the visit, and played
by David (guitar), Matt (drums), James (bass), Doug (bass), Tom
(trumpet), Jake (words, and vocals)
Life's A Bitch*
Thunder On Sunday*
Intro*
Corruption of the Halloween Aficionado+
Induced Loyalty++
Tofu Escape Clause
Silence The Poet
The Constant
Warmer Climes
Summon The Darkness
Long Tall Shorty + Irritants + The Visit, @ The Man on The Moon
With Doug freshly back in the bass chair, and this being our first gig for a while, we had been working hard. I'm glad we did too, as it paid off big time. I think this was probably the tightest set we've ever played. Everything was spot on. Really we were using this as a warm up for our gig at the Portland, but you wouldn't call it a half hearted set. We really got to rock out. Which is always good. It also helped that the Moon now has a decent sound system, and that their sound engineer was in a good mood. We even to managed to slip in some Tom Dyer, on trumpet, for the finale. All in all, it's good to be back.
Summon
The Darkness
Tofu
Escape Clause
Warmer
Climes
Silence
The Poet
The
Constant
Induced Loyalty*
*Tom Dyer on Trumpet
The Swirlies + The Visit + The White Trash, @ The Priors, Bury St Edmunds, Planet Beet
Before: Jason (TSH and Animal Planet fame), has a new night, and venue in Bury. He has been kind enough to ask us to play for him. This is going to be an odd one, as it is our first out of town gig. To top that off, Mr James Thomas is temporarily, squeezing himself into Doug's fur booties, for the occasion, and Thomas Dyer (yep, he is related) will also be playing some trumpet flourishes. Technically this isn't going to be a Visit gig, more an extended family outing, with new material written especially for it. The one thing that can be expected, is it will be entertaining, I guarantee.
After:
Wow, we pulled it off. With just three weeks of rehearsal,
two new members, and an epic new song, we actually managed to play
a great set. All praise to Tom and James, who added much spice to
preceding's. We all enjoyed playing together, and it showed. Even
though it confused the hell out of most people we spoke to, "so
who is actually in the band"? was asked quite a few times,
that night.
Thanks to the people who came to see us (CRS* boys, in the house)
and to those new friends, that chatted to us after. We had such
a great time. The whole night was a blast. See you soonxxxxxxxx.
Warmer Climes
Corruption of the Halloween Aficionado
Summon The Darkness
Induced Loyalty
Black Nielson + Blusher + Chris TT + Interlaken + Stanton + The Visit + Monster Bobby, @ The Portland Arms, Green Mind Presents
5.30 in the afternoon, on a rather sunny Saturday, and The Portland seems a bit sleepy still. Not really the most ideal situation, for a spot of rocking. Never fear, we took the bull by the balls, and didn't look back. As if the last gig wasn't 'new material' heavy enough, we pulled out another fresh kill, especially for the days events. So, It was one of those nervous energy, mixed with total confidence type of sets. Which on this day really gelled. The lighting atmosphere was great. From stage it looked like we were staring into a dying sun. The room was pitch black apart from the one intense orange light source. This was just the right feel, for the rather, shall we say, 'stern' set we played.
Silence The Poet, and The Constant, turned out to be the perfect warm up tracks. By the time these bad boys had greased our cogs, then it was time for a spot of the unknown. As we slid graceful through (the still new, but somehow old) Induced Loyalty, things could only get better. Warmer Climes, was everything we hoped it would be; tender, sincere, intense and awkward. One of those moments when a live performance, eclipses any rehearsed run thorough. Tofu Escape Clause is always a beast, and this was no exception. That song just can't help rising, until it can rise no more. So to finish then, The Ubiquitous Mr Thomas's choice, Summon The Darkness. Good call James, a fine way to finish.
As a foot note, I also managed to get my grubby hands on the latest copy of (the hugely packed until bursting) REPEAT Fanzine. So what better way to spend my post gig drink, than delving into this mine of information, and opinions. I was really pleased to see our Intact Skylines CD, got a review. Rosey must work so bloody hard to write something about all the stuff he gets given. Anyway, my point is that, as Mr Rose requested in the review, "I want more urgency, more extreme extremes". This is one wish that we can safely say we are already fulfilling. With each practice we have, or with each gig we play, and especially each new song we write, it seems we cannot escape our ultimate peak. We just can not stop progressing. Things just keep on getting more and more intense, the longer we play together. So as always, I can't wait until we next rehearse, and see just how far things are going to go.
The Constant
Induced Loyalty
Warmer Climes
Tofu Escape Clause
Summon The Darkness
The Candys + The Vaults + The Visit, @ The Boat Race, £5 adv/£6 door
New
songs are great. They always seem to get you going, even if you
don't feel 100% sure you all know it yet. It's good to be kept on
your toes. It keeps the gig fresh. So in synopsis, Summon The Darkness
rocks. James said we should have ended with it, so next time maybe
we will.
Anyway, we had a cool time. There was no pressure on us, as we were
the first band of the evening. Saying that we gave it some 'fuck
off', and naturally entertained those who had turned up. After a
slightly unsure first track, we pulled our fingers out for The Constant,
and blew those gig cobwebs away. After we had successfully conquered
the aforementioned new track, there was no holding us back. Silence
The Poet seems to have found new life recently, which is pretty
amazing for such an old track. Then it was on to the beast that
is Tofu Escape Clause, and we really came to life. A great long
build up, and a strong rocked out end. What more could people ask
for (and don't say Cockfest, or Eye For A Shoe). So to finish up
we thrashed through our most straight forward track, of the set.
You could say, Don't Panic was a pay back for all the people who
had braved the density of the rest of our set. They took the challenge,
and judging by the applause, they must have felt all the better
for it. We may not give you an easy time, but we give you an entertaining
one, there can be no doubt of that.
The Constant
Summon The Darkness
Silence The Poet
Tofu Escape Clause
Don't Panic
The Visit + Interlaken + Flotation Toy Warning, @ The Portland Arms, Green Mind Presents, £3
These anniversaries just keep on coming round. This gig marked a years worth of Simpson, Fletcher, Place, and Dyer playing together. With 12 gigs, and three recording sessions under or belts too, it's been a fine old time. With this in mind plus the gig being with interlaken, we tried to add a couple of special touches to the night.
It turned out to be quite a short set in the end. With the last orders bell ringing out all too soon. Still we managed to play all the songs we really wanted to air, and even slipped in the audience request of Shambles (cockfest). interlaken's Jean Cell, could have been a bit touch and go, but we bit the bullet, and played it perfect (well, how we wanted to play it anyway). Those 'laken boy's seemed to appreciated the thought, and we enjoyed playing it. So I'm glad we did . Feeling daring we then followed one scantly rehearsed song with another. This untitled* track just managed to write it's self in our previous couple of rehearsals. So we went with it, and it sounded great. Wow this song writing is easy!! (sometimes).
Once again we were pleased to see people making the effort to come and see us. I hope we entertained.
The Constant
Jean Cell
Induced Loyalty*
Tofu Escape Clause
Shambles
Six. By Seven + British Sea Power + The Visit, @ The BoatRace,
Blimey, we made it through to the other side. Things were a bit touch and go in the Visit camp, for this gig. Matthew had an ear infection, I had a shitty cold, and we were all knackered from a tough weekends recording, and weeks work. Despite all that we somehow managed to pull off a set that people loved.
On arrival we were pleased to see that Jason was doing the sound for us. So we knew we would at least sound good, whatever we played like. We even had 20 mins to chill out after our sound check, before we went on. Now that's a rare thing for a first on the bill band. My personal favorite of the set were the opening build of Tofu Escape Clause, and the ever enjoyable Don't Panic. Although I'm sure most of you probably still thought Shambles (cockfest) was the best. You guy's just like songs with minimal tune and lots of energy, but I take my hat off to you anyway.
Most bizarre moment of the night was after a few minutes of talking to Chris Olley, I realised I had been squeezing his knee every other word, in some sort of over friendly gesture. Now the slightly strange facial expressions he was making made sense. I stopped a left quickly, damn that booze.
Thank you to people for turning up early to see us, and to those that said cool things after.
The Constant
An Eye For A Shoe
Silence The Poet
Don't Panic
Shambles
Reuben + Asylum + The Visit, @ The Portland Arms, Digression Presents, £3
Another
Portland Arms rock extravaganza. You lucky people. Reuben, and Asylum,
were great. The main achievement of the evening was we plucked up
the courage to air our new track. Having only run through it a few
times before we pulled off a fantastic version. It was my personal
highlight of the night. The main riff was so hypnotic I thought
I may forget to get back on stage an sing, and Matt's solo drum
section was immense. The rest of the set was very enjoyable too.
Sorry no Shambles (cockfest), but it just means it will be all the
more enjoyable next time.
Thankyou all for turning up, your support is much appreciated. Ha
Ha to those who didn't, you missed out.
For Arid Ears
Phonetically Desperate
Silence The Poet
Tofu Escape Clause
Don't Panic
An Eye For A Shoe
Bouvier + The Visit + Matt Charlton, @ The Man On The Moon.
This
was billed as a 'jazz and poetry' night, so we didn't really know
what to expect. It was actually an open mic session, with us and
Bouvier (on top form, as ever) playing in between some acoustic
guitar players. Plus one of Matt C's intimate guitar and voice exorcisms.
RAWWKKK, is the only word I can think of to describe our set. Was
it because we didn't think we were going to fit in, perhaps it was
because of Matt's GG Allen video, Or even the AC/DC songs Dave and
I listened to on the way there? What ever it was we just didn't
calm down. The whole thing was a blur or loud music, broken glass,
broken sticks, tasting the floor, energy, shouting, excitement,
mistakes, but most defiantly no regrets.
So if anyone watching enjoyed it half as much as we did playing,
then we all went home with big smiles on our faces. Actually we
went to Panic with big smiles on our faces, but that's another story.
An
Eye For A Shoe
For
Arid Ears
Phonetically Desperate
Tribute Friend
Silence The Poet
The Constant
Don't Panic
Shambles
The
Stars of Aviation + The Visit + Jeff,
@ The BoatRace,
A Dead Secret Night, £4 advance/door.
David and Matt got to sing "cockfest", very loudly, Doug pushed his fingers to the limit, and I made my pint last for the whole set. The Bill was an odd mix, that strangely worked well. Jeff, got things off to a rocking start, and TSOA, soothed us quirkily towards last orders. In the middle of that was our schizophrenic set. One minute moody prog styling, the next anthemic singalong, all topped with bursts of full on punk spasming. Another really great DS night was had by all.
Tribute Friend
Silence The Poet
Shambles
Phonetically Desperate
Don't Panic
An Eye For A Shoe
