for some reason my computer has started working again so I'll take the time to do a mega update of sorts.
Friday brought Skalloween to the Exchange in Edinburgh. I went. Here's how it went down:
Barely anyone was there for the first couple of hours (or even later for that matter), didn't stop me from dancing. For the first hour or two, the DJ spun a lot of old ska records, a lot of old Trojan stuff mostly.
First band on were Fandangle. I think they're from the South of England, but the singer was American anyway. Very 90s sounding, like Less Than Jake before they started sounding like Fallout Boy. They did a good cover of What I Got by Sublime, I really enjoyed them.
Another long break with loads of old stuff being played. Surprisingly heard Rudy Can't Fail and Timebomb, surprisingly didn't hear One Step Beyond. Every ska night needs that song. SERIOUSLY.
After that, I was getting pretty tipsy and Bombskare came on. I hadn't seen them before, but I'd heard all about them. They were good, sort of second wave ska sound or two-tone. Obvious comparison is Madness. There was about ten of them but they were a really good laugh.
Wasn't much of a delay between Bombskare and The Toasters. The Toasters were the only band that I had actually heard before, so I actually recognised a couple of tunes. They were tight as fuck and played some really good third wave ska. Think that's about it.
I was going to write about J Church's singer Lance Hahn's recent death too, but I'm in two minds about it. Aw fuck it, here's a little bit on that:
Lance passed away a few weeks ago after being in a coma. J Church are a band that I first discovered about five years ago when I started really falling in love with Jawbreaker. I found J Church through Jawbreaker as they had at one point shared a drummer. This is boring so let me skip to the end:
J Church are the sort of band that I can really dig. They didn't sing about wanting to be famous or anything, they sang songs about the guy who lives on the street, songs about working that job you hated but it was all worth it when that girl came over to talk afterwards, silly songs about wanting to meet Faye Wong. They were a great band, Prophylaxis may well be on of my favourite songs of all time.
That's about all for now, until next time...
Monday 5 November 2007
Wednesday 31 October 2007
hang on this tv doesn't work, its broken!
My computer is so broken that it barely switches on. Fuck.
Friday 12 October 2007
hope
feeling down tonight. Things were good, then Stolson made a comment I know he regretted straight away. I know he didn't mean it and I forgive him, but that doesn't stop it from hurting like fucking christ.
Back to the old regime. Like Travis Bickle. Too much sitting around doing nothing. No more. I'll be running more, doing more sit ups. doing more press ups. Damaged.
I really like this girl and its a really stupid but I have this even stupider idea in my head it could work. She's totally my 'type', but my morals are driving me crazy for reasons I won't go into here.
Back to the old regime. Like Travis Bickle. Too much sitting around doing nothing. No more. I'll be running more, doing more sit ups. doing more press ups. Damaged.
I really like this girl and its a really stupid but I have this even stupider idea in my head it could work. She's totally my 'type', but my morals are driving me crazy for reasons I won't go into here.
Tuesday 2 October 2007
up north until thursday. The TV just informed me that Iceland has a fish dish for everyone. Not for me they don't, I'm a vegetarian.
Watched the Rangers game with Hefner tonight, good result, really enjoyed it and it was good to see him again. Been feeling pretty good lately. Kind of figuring out what I want from life, or as much as can be expected at 21 years old. Think I'm over the breakup, she called me today and I didn't go John Cusack on her, in fact I was really calm the entire time. It was a nice conversation I guess.
Girl a is leaving tomorrow. I'm totally bummed out about it. I saw her on Sunday night, I'm really going to miss her. Like, so much. On a positive side, I got Luis' number so I'll be seeing the portuguese/brazillian guys more. Got her cute aussie friend's number too, go me or whatever.
I'll write more when I get back to the capital, don't like typing on the laptop.
Watched the Rangers game with Hefner tonight, good result, really enjoyed it and it was good to see him again. Been feeling pretty good lately. Kind of figuring out what I want from life, or as much as can be expected at 21 years old. Think I'm over the breakup, she called me today and I didn't go John Cusack on her, in fact I was really calm the entire time. It was a nice conversation I guess.
Girl a is leaving tomorrow. I'm totally bummed out about it. I saw her on Sunday night, I'm really going to miss her. Like, so much. On a positive side, I got Luis' number so I'll be seeing the portuguese/brazillian guys more. Got her cute aussie friend's number too, go me or whatever.
I'll write more when I get back to the capital, don't like typing on the laptop.
Monday 24 September 2007
let me go let me go let me go!
So, this weekend was highly highly entertaining.
Saturday was the Lemuria/Ringers show in Glasgow, so here's a review for you:
First band on, I never caught the name of, but they were alright. Very sludgey/doomy. Kinda like Isis or Sunn 0))) . A lot of people really weren't into them, and their sound was very typical of the genre, but I quite enjoyed them.
Second was a band called Carraway. They were quite fun, had a few technical problems but they were good. They're a mancunian band of the sort of post emo indie rock variety, kinda like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, I Hate Myself, etc.
Next was the only Scottish band on the bill, The Kimberly Steaks. I don't know how many times I've seen them before, and the singer is a good friend of mine so I'm probably somewhat biased but they rocked again. They were all hungover and tired but still played really hard. This is the first time I have seen them with their new bass player, Ade. he moves around a lot more than the last one. Kimberly Steaks play fun kinda gruff pop-punk, they remind me a lot of Pinhead Gunpowder or Osker.
Second from the top was Ringers. Ringers are a band from Boston MA. I had heard a little before and thought they'd be a lot like Dillinger Four (which is not necessarily a bad thing but I didn't want them to be too much like another band). They weren't all that much like Dillinger Four actually, but they were one of the best bands I have ever seen. They were so energetic and so much fun. Everything song was like a party. I picked up the split 6" (on red clear vinyl, which according to the guitarist is out of print now) which has their song "Dialtones" (and I think they played it first or second on Saturday) and its unbelievable. The lyrics are so good, to me it feels like its about lost love. I cannot recommend this band enough.
Finally, the night was finished with a band from Buffalo NY called Lemuria. I had heard Lemuria before and I really liked them. It's too easy to say that they sound like Discount because they're a pop punk band with a girl playing the guitar who sings most of the songs. It's lazy journalism to compare every female fronted pop punk band to Discount and I see it all the time. Anyway, Lemuria are similar to Discount in the way previously described, but there's a serious C86 vibe going on too, a lot of the songs (both musically and in lyrical themes) reminded me of the Wedding Present, who are one of my favourite bands.
Anyway, Lemuria totally rocked, they opened with In A World Of Ghosts which is a song I think is about being away from someone you love, I really like that song. Sheena (the singer) is totally adorable, the whole band are really passionate and totally for real. I fell in love with the band after reading an interview in February's Maximum Rock N Roll. I also picked up "The First Collection" (which I hadn't seen before), its a compilation of songs from the splits and 7"s the band have done, its really worth hearing.
I described Saturday as "the night that kept on giving", it was so much fun. I was meant to be going with this girl and I had so much fun I don't even care that she didn't turn up.
Stayed at a friends house, stayed up really late talking, smoking, drinking beer. It was nice.
Last night I hung out with girl a at her house, hadn't seen her all week. I am going to miss her so much. She gave me her acoustic guitar because she's not going to be able to take it travelling with her. It was a really sweet gesture that I really appreciate. I guess now I have a real reason to go travelling in North America next year.
Saw Persona this afternoon, the Ingmar Bergman movie, they were showing it in a local cinema. I hadn't seen it before, it was a bit of a headfuck and very Bergman. I liked it a lot. Think I'm going to watch The Graduate tonight, its on TV and I've never seen it.
Saturday was the Lemuria/Ringers show in Glasgow, so here's a review for you:
First band on, I never caught the name of, but they were alright. Very sludgey/doomy. Kinda like Isis or Sunn 0))) . A lot of people really weren't into them, and their sound was very typical of the genre, but I quite enjoyed them.
Second was a band called Carraway. They were quite fun, had a few technical problems but they were good. They're a mancunian band of the sort of post emo indie rock variety, kinda like Sunny Day Real Estate, Mineral, I Hate Myself, etc.
Next was the only Scottish band on the bill, The Kimberly Steaks. I don't know how many times I've seen them before, and the singer is a good friend of mine so I'm probably somewhat biased but they rocked again. They were all hungover and tired but still played really hard. This is the first time I have seen them with their new bass player, Ade. he moves around a lot more than the last one. Kimberly Steaks play fun kinda gruff pop-punk, they remind me a lot of Pinhead Gunpowder or Osker.
Second from the top was Ringers. Ringers are a band from Boston MA. I had heard a little before and thought they'd be a lot like Dillinger Four (which is not necessarily a bad thing but I didn't want them to be too much like another band). They weren't all that much like Dillinger Four actually, but they were one of the best bands I have ever seen. They were so energetic and so much fun. Everything song was like a party. I picked up the split 6" (on red clear vinyl, which according to the guitarist is out of print now) which has their song "Dialtones" (and I think they played it first or second on Saturday) and its unbelievable. The lyrics are so good, to me it feels like its about lost love. I cannot recommend this band enough.
Finally, the night was finished with a band from Buffalo NY called Lemuria. I had heard Lemuria before and I really liked them. It's too easy to say that they sound like Discount because they're a pop punk band with a girl playing the guitar who sings most of the songs. It's lazy journalism to compare every female fronted pop punk band to Discount and I see it all the time. Anyway, Lemuria are similar to Discount in the way previously described, but there's a serious C86 vibe going on too, a lot of the songs (both musically and in lyrical themes) reminded me of the Wedding Present, who are one of my favourite bands.
Anyway, Lemuria totally rocked, they opened with In A World Of Ghosts which is a song I think is about being away from someone you love, I really like that song. Sheena (the singer) is totally adorable, the whole band are really passionate and totally for real. I fell in love with the band after reading an interview in February's Maximum Rock N Roll. I also picked up "The First Collection" (which I hadn't seen before), its a compilation of songs from the splits and 7"s the band have done, its really worth hearing.
I described Saturday as "the night that kept on giving", it was so much fun. I was meant to be going with this girl and I had so much fun I don't even care that she didn't turn up.
Stayed at a friends house, stayed up really late talking, smoking, drinking beer. It was nice.
Last night I hung out with girl a at her house, hadn't seen her all week. I am going to miss her so much. She gave me her acoustic guitar because she's not going to be able to take it travelling with her. It was a really sweet gesture that I really appreciate. I guess now I have a real reason to go travelling in North America next year.
Saw Persona this afternoon, the Ingmar Bergman movie, they were showing it in a local cinema. I hadn't seen it before, it was a bit of a headfuck and very Bergman. I liked it a lot. Think I'm going to watch The Graduate tonight, its on TV and I've never seen it.
Monday 17 September 2007
dead or alive you're coming with me
Just watched Robocop for the first time since I was a little kid. While its a fairly dumb (yet highly enjoyable) action movie (and the ed-209 scenes have not aged well at all), I never noticed all the Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (the book, not the diabolical movie) shit going on. There's a fair few paralells between Robocop and Frankenstein's Monster. I was also thinking about the whole 'body horror' theme and how prevalent it is in films from that era. To name a few there are David Cronenberg's The Fly, Edward Scissorhands and even Blade Runner to an extent. I am nerdishly excited about the final cut boxset of Blade Runner reaching these shores in December. FIVE (!!!) different version of the movie, I'm going to bust a nut over this.
Other thoughts going through my head are the typical ones. Was talking with a friend earlier about a past relationship and she was saying how we really had something. I told her something, and I believe every word of it:
Yes, I had something with this girl. I gave her parts of myself that I didn't know I had, and in the end it all exploded in my face, but that's fine. If this girl wants to go out with a new guy who eats meat, takes her to theme parks and takes her to the movies all the time instead of doing what we did: fine, its her loss, she can go for the easy option and go out with someone dull. We didn't have to go theme parks, we rarely went to the movies and we rarely even watched dvds together. Why? Cause we had so much to say to each other. Most of our first (and throughout most of relationship) dates involved us talking until most people were at work the next day. I'd cook for her, we'd talk about books we had read and lay around listening to records and generally enjoying each other's company. Now that's all over and I'm sad I don't have anyone to do that with, but she wanted to go for typical boring guy whose idea of fun is getting shitfaced drunk in a club where they play r&b and where the perverts roam, whose favourite record is an Oasis one, whose favourite movie featured lots of explosions and minimal storyline, whose favourite book was a harry potter one or a jeremy clarkson autobiography.
Now referring to my friend earlier, she said that when she felt the way I felt about this girl, she thought she'd never get over it. Me, I'm a realist. I wouldn't be surprised if I felt that way within the next year.
Ladies: I'm looking (or not looking as it would seem) for a girl who can make me laugh, who can tell me 100 things I didn't already know, who could talk to me about foreign film directors and not sound prententious, who had read books that I've never even heard of. Most of all, I'm looking for a girl who could stay up talking to me all night and not get bored of hearing my voice or her own. Apply within.
Other thoughts going through my head are the typical ones. Was talking with a friend earlier about a past relationship and she was saying how we really had something. I told her something, and I believe every word of it:
Yes, I had something with this girl. I gave her parts of myself that I didn't know I had, and in the end it all exploded in my face, but that's fine. If this girl wants to go out with a new guy who eats meat, takes her to theme parks and takes her to the movies all the time instead of doing what we did: fine, its her loss, she can go for the easy option and go out with someone dull. We didn't have to go theme parks, we rarely went to the movies and we rarely even watched dvds together. Why? Cause we had so much to say to each other. Most of our first (and throughout most of relationship) dates involved us talking until most people were at work the next day. I'd cook for her, we'd talk about books we had read and lay around listening to records and generally enjoying each other's company. Now that's all over and I'm sad I don't have anyone to do that with, but she wanted to go for typical boring guy whose idea of fun is getting shitfaced drunk in a club where they play r&b and where the perverts roam, whose favourite record is an Oasis one, whose favourite movie featured lots of explosions and minimal storyline, whose favourite book was a harry potter one or a jeremy clarkson autobiography.
Now referring to my friend earlier, she said that when she felt the way I felt about this girl, she thought she'd never get over it. Me, I'm a realist. I wouldn't be surprised if I felt that way within the next year.
Ladies: I'm looking (or not looking as it would seem) for a girl who can make me laugh, who can tell me 100 things I didn't already know, who could talk to me about foreign film directors and not sound prententious, who had read books that I've never even heard of. Most of all, I'm looking for a girl who could stay up talking to me all night and not get bored of hearing my voice or her own. Apply within.
oh my god, whatever, etc.
so this is my new and somewhat anonymous blog. While I'm not sure if anyone will read it, I'm pretty sure those people who I don't want to read it won't know about it.
Been working so much lately, gives me less time to think about a previous love and more time to focus on girl a at work. I really shouldn't be thinking about girl a because she 1) has a boyfriend and 2) is leaving the country in about three weeks. I can't really help it though, she's really pretty and fun to be around. I know nothing will happen, ever, but I don't mind because I'm just glad I know her.
Been listening to an awful lot of alt-country lately, particularly a lot of Ryan Adams and Whiskytown. Not sure what it is about it, I just like the music and I can really relate to the sentiments, that is I also like cheap booze and beautiful women.
Bought some new records yesterday, got J Church's first two albums (Quetzacoatl and Prophylaxis) for £4 each, both long out of print and worth a hell of a lot. Prophylaxis came with a bonus live 7" which is really cool. Also picked up Understand? by Naked Raygun. Rather ashameldly, I will admit that I had never heard Naked Raygun before. I like the record though. Also got Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen for £3. The only song I know of it is Badlands, but that song is good enough! The movie from the early 70s with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek was fantastic too.
Had a jam with tom stolson and t-dogg last night. Stolson wasn't really feeling it, so he sat in the living room with his girlfriend while me and t-dogg played some weird reggae jams, amongst other things. Talked for a while as well. He was telling me about a brief dalliance he had with a chick last week that ended in him leaving via a first floor window. Funny stuff.
I wish this was as interesting a a Henry Miller novel, but alas I'm not that good yet. I'm just warming up though kids, I'm just warming up.
Been working so much lately, gives me less time to think about a previous love and more time to focus on girl a at work. I really shouldn't be thinking about girl a because she 1) has a boyfriend and 2) is leaving the country in about three weeks. I can't really help it though, she's really pretty and fun to be around. I know nothing will happen, ever, but I don't mind because I'm just glad I know her.
Been listening to an awful lot of alt-country lately, particularly a lot of Ryan Adams and Whiskytown. Not sure what it is about it, I just like the music and I can really relate to the sentiments, that is I also like cheap booze and beautiful women.
Bought some new records yesterday, got J Church's first two albums (Quetzacoatl and Prophylaxis) for £4 each, both long out of print and worth a hell of a lot. Prophylaxis came with a bonus live 7" which is really cool. Also picked up Understand? by Naked Raygun. Rather ashameldly, I will admit that I had never heard Naked Raygun before. I like the record though. Also got Darkness On The Edge Of Town by Bruce Springsteen for £3. The only song I know of it is Badlands, but that song is good enough! The movie from the early 70s with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek was fantastic too.
Had a jam with tom stolson and t-dogg last night. Stolson wasn't really feeling it, so he sat in the living room with his girlfriend while me and t-dogg played some weird reggae jams, amongst other things. Talked for a while as well. He was telling me about a brief dalliance he had with a chick last week that ended in him leaving via a first floor window. Funny stuff.
I wish this was as interesting a a Henry Miller novel, but alas I'm not that good yet. I'm just warming up though kids, I'm just warming up.
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