Monday, June 28, 2004
Saturday night, dee-dee-dah-dah-dah-dah
Cool, what a top weekend! Friday was supposed to be a quiet one, chilling out in preparation for the big Saturday night gig at Reading university but instead I met up with some mates at the Sahara bar (which used to be Bukowski's, on the end of Gun Street), and it ended up getting fairly messy. I remember quite clearly and distinctly the sense of surprise and unexpectedness I felt as my body decided to throw my digestive tract into reverse to avoid alcohol poisoning - hooray for two-way peristalsis! So it was a subdued little Kaupa who made his way to rehearsal on Sat morning, but it was a cracker and I felt much better afterwards (see "detour-related hangover cure" from an earlier post on this blog).
Then the fun and games really began! Pitched up to the uni at about 3.30pm, bit of a rigmarole getting the van close enough to he venue to unload, but eventually we made it up to the students union. No-one had been in touch to let us know what the plan was for the night (unless someone had neglected to pass the info on…) but turned out that student band Chinafight were due to go on last in the main hall, and then the music would switch to the big circus tent erected just outside, where the Fun Lovin' Criminals, Chicane and a few others would see us through till sun-up. However, as it was drizzling outside, most of the student population were inside the student union building, getting drunk - and there's nothing like a captive audience!
We didn’t mind not going on last - Chinafight are actually students at the uni, so to play at their own summer ball must have been a blast, and they're really cool guys and a great band - which was our chief moan (it's not arrogance at wanting to headline all the time, it's concern for the poor souls who have to try and follow our set!), but we were mildly amused when they asked us if they could use our drumkit and bass amp! I thought it was pretty Spinal Tap-esque, anyway! However, my spidey-sense started tingling when some people started arranging tables and chairs in an al-fresco café style manner right about where we were kind of hoping the moshpit would be. We assumed they'd move them out the way once the hall started to fill up. "Assume" - making an "ass" out of "u" and "me".
Some background info for the uninitiated - the third of the three bands chosen to play on the main stage in the students union were Sequoia, a Berks band led by singer/songwriter Andy Stedman. As I found out on Saturday, they are a sound bunch of blokes. Now, a while back I reviewed them as part of a charity gig at Bar Oz in Reading, the upshot of which was that I thought they were a really tight band, the crowd enjoyed them but I didn’t really enjoy their music. OK, so maybe if I had put it as "I didn't really enjoy their music" I would have avoided some trouble, but I make no apologies for being passionate about music, and if I'm honest I just can’t stand the sort of music Sequoia play, not matter how well it is played (middle of the road, Dawson's Creek, countrified indie-rock?). But no worries, few bands cover all the demographic bases, I'm sure there are more people who love Sequoia's music than there are who disagree with it as vehemently as I do. I thought it was actually a good review of Sequoia, but I received some criticism over it, which basically led to me losing my normal cool, calm, collected air of nonchalance and writing a few things that I probably should have kept to myself. Anyway, when I heard that Sequoia were also playing at the summer ball, I thought it might be a good chance to bury the hatchet, as long as I could keep sober enough to stop myself making things worse...
The lovely Cat was in charge of the event, and she made sure that the bands had easy access to beer in the backstage area, and I had the tricky task of making sure that there was a smooth transition between managing my hangover via my own, detour-related, hangover cure and jumping back off the wagon to let the dog bite me again. Long story cut short, I was slightly worse for wear by the time the soundchecks had finished, what with being all excited about the gig, and having successfully completed some business with Yankee 99er shortly beforehand. All three bands had been chilling backstage, having a laugh, enjoying the gig atmosphere, and it was going well. I was actually thinking to myself how pleased I was that it looked like a good night was going to be had just as Sequoia were heading to the stage to kick things off, and in a show of unity Y99er and Chinafight were going to head out to see Sequoia's set. This is where the beer monkeys started cross-wiring my brain. I thought all of Sequoia had left to take the stage, and mentioned in passing to the room in general that I wanted to see Sequoia, but I wasn't really looking forward to their set, as it wasn't my cup of tea. But this came out as "I want to see Sequoia, but they suck". Their keyboard player - still in the room - turned round to me, and said with a suitable amount of disdain in his voice "It's a common problem with bands, I find." and headed off towards the stage. I wanted to die. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. I started trying out Harry Potter incantations to make it happen - "Terra Exposam" was one, I think. None of them worked though. If I had just picked my words carefully enough to convey what I meant, I could have avoided the same problem that had come about after the review. They say a mistake is only a mistake if you make it twice, as the first time it should be a lesson. Lucky for me, Andy came in shortly after and I explained what had just happened, and he was very understanding. We shook hands, and I felt like a twat for the rest of the night. So I got even more wasted to try and get over it. Not a good idea, spent most of our set falling over the drum riser and getting solo's mixed up. Ah well, it was a great show nonetheless, we rocked out, Henry whipped up the crowd and everyone had a good time.
The Fun Lovin' Criminals were cool, too. One of my favourite bands, and I got to play at the same show! Didn’t hang around after they'd finished though, my lift had to work the next day so we bailed out at about 2.30am.
So, thanks to Sequoia for putting up with my drunken nonsense, and everyone else involved, including Keith C for taking some cool photos, the new Yankee 99er team for their support and faith in us, and a girl called Siobhan from Cardiff (and her friend Louise?)who came backstage afterwards.
Sunday was another exercise in hangover management, but a brief walk down the bank of the Thames from Reading bridge to Tilehurst station helped sort my head out. Diving under trees to avoid the hail, sleet and torrential rain that descended at one point was a bit vexing, but fifteen minutes after that I was sunbathing on the grass and contemplating dangling my feet in the water. The Czech's beating Denmark was good too, as I'm one quarter Czech, so I still have a realistic chance to celebrate Euro 2004 success this year!
Then the fun and games really began! Pitched up to the uni at about 3.30pm, bit of a rigmarole getting the van close enough to he venue to unload, but eventually we made it up to the students union. No-one had been in touch to let us know what the plan was for the night (unless someone had neglected to pass the info on…) but turned out that student band Chinafight were due to go on last in the main hall, and then the music would switch to the big circus tent erected just outside, where the Fun Lovin' Criminals, Chicane and a few others would see us through till sun-up. However, as it was drizzling outside, most of the student population were inside the student union building, getting drunk - and there's nothing like a captive audience!
We didn’t mind not going on last - Chinafight are actually students at the uni, so to play at their own summer ball must have been a blast, and they're really cool guys and a great band - which was our chief moan (it's not arrogance at wanting to headline all the time, it's concern for the poor souls who have to try and follow our set!), but we were mildly amused when they asked us if they could use our drumkit and bass amp! I thought it was pretty Spinal Tap-esque, anyway! However, my spidey-sense started tingling when some people started arranging tables and chairs in an al-fresco café style manner right about where we were kind of hoping the moshpit would be. We assumed they'd move them out the way once the hall started to fill up. "Assume" - making an "ass" out of "u" and "me".
Some background info for the uninitiated - the third of the three bands chosen to play on the main stage in the students union were Sequoia, a Berks band led by singer/songwriter Andy Stedman. As I found out on Saturday, they are a sound bunch of blokes. Now, a while back I reviewed them as part of a charity gig at Bar Oz in Reading, the upshot of which was that I thought they were a really tight band, the crowd enjoyed them but I didn’t really enjoy their music. OK, so maybe if I had put it as "I didn't really enjoy their music" I would have avoided some trouble, but I make no apologies for being passionate about music, and if I'm honest I just can’t stand the sort of music Sequoia play, not matter how well it is played (middle of the road, Dawson's Creek, countrified indie-rock?). But no worries, few bands cover all the demographic bases, I'm sure there are more people who love Sequoia's music than there are who disagree with it as vehemently as I do. I thought it was actually a good review of Sequoia, but I received some criticism over it, which basically led to me losing my normal cool, calm, collected air of nonchalance and writing a few things that I probably should have kept to myself. Anyway, when I heard that Sequoia were also playing at the summer ball, I thought it might be a good chance to bury the hatchet, as long as I could keep sober enough to stop myself making things worse...
The lovely Cat was in charge of the event, and she made sure that the bands had easy access to beer in the backstage area, and I had the tricky task of making sure that there was a smooth transition between managing my hangover via my own, detour-related, hangover cure and jumping back off the wagon to let the dog bite me again. Long story cut short, I was slightly worse for wear by the time the soundchecks had finished, what with being all excited about the gig, and having successfully completed some business with Yankee 99er shortly beforehand. All three bands had been chilling backstage, having a laugh, enjoying the gig atmosphere, and it was going well. I was actually thinking to myself how pleased I was that it looked like a good night was going to be had just as Sequoia were heading to the stage to kick things off, and in a show of unity Y99er and Chinafight were going to head out to see Sequoia's set. This is where the beer monkeys started cross-wiring my brain. I thought all of Sequoia had left to take the stage, and mentioned in passing to the room in general that I wanted to see Sequoia, but I wasn't really looking forward to their set, as it wasn't my cup of tea. But this came out as "I want to see Sequoia, but they suck". Their keyboard player - still in the room - turned round to me, and said with a suitable amount of disdain in his voice "It's a common problem with bands, I find." and headed off towards the stage. I wanted to die. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. I started trying out Harry Potter incantations to make it happen - "Terra Exposam" was one, I think. None of them worked though. If I had just picked my words carefully enough to convey what I meant, I could have avoided the same problem that had come about after the review. They say a mistake is only a mistake if you make it twice, as the first time it should be a lesson. Lucky for me, Andy came in shortly after and I explained what had just happened, and he was very understanding. We shook hands, and I felt like a twat for the rest of the night. So I got even more wasted to try and get over it. Not a good idea, spent most of our set falling over the drum riser and getting solo's mixed up. Ah well, it was a great show nonetheless, we rocked out, Henry whipped up the crowd and everyone had a good time.
The Fun Lovin' Criminals were cool, too. One of my favourite bands, and I got to play at the same show! Didn’t hang around after they'd finished though, my lift had to work the next day so we bailed out at about 2.30am.
So, thanks to Sequoia for putting up with my drunken nonsense, and everyone else involved, including Keith C for taking some cool photos, the new Yankee 99er team for their support and faith in us, and a girl called Siobhan from Cardiff (and her friend Louise?)who came backstage afterwards.
Sunday was another exercise in hangover management, but a brief walk down the bank of the Thames from Reading bridge to Tilehurst station helped sort my head out. Diving under trees to avoid the hail, sleet and torrential rain that descended at one point was a bit vexing, but fifteen minutes after that I was sunbathing on the grass and contemplating dangling my feet in the water. The Czech's beating Denmark was good too, as I'm one quarter Czech, so I still have a realistic chance to celebrate Euro 2004 success this year!
# posted by AK @ 09:48 
