Betty and The Werewolves - Buffalo Bar

Well, that was odd.

First time at the buffalo bar in months. This time on my own. I stand at the end of the bar to watch Betty and the Werewolves set, clutching a £3.20 bottle of Tiger, feeling awkward. I've seen them play before a couple of times, and the Werewolves tracks on my ipod always sound good when they come up on shuffle.

The place is busy tonight. John the mohawk guy from every gig ever is at the front taking photies. The longhair photographer from every other gig is stood to his right. At the back of the room I catch a glimpse of Ria the Blogger. My beer runs out and I feel awkward.

The acoustics at that end of the bar are never good, but the view of the stage is great. I wish I'd stood further back.

Between bands I head outside to wander the streets of Highbury and Islington for a while, to escape my feeling of awkwardness inside.

I've been to plenty of gigs on my own before, easily hundreds, maybe 50% of my total. Did it feel this uncomfortable before?

Am I just getting old? I used to find myself in the middle of the moshpit at huge gigs at the Apollo and the Barrowlands. I broke my foot, got a black eye and a huge lump on my shin after Idlewild shows in the nineties.

I dunno why, but the last moshpit memory I have is two rows from the front during Suede at the Barrowlands, maybe six years ago. The memory of being jammed up again fellow man, at one with the throbbing of the crowd, that's the last I remember.

Back to the Buffalo, waving my stamped hand to sister Delia on the door, and then taking up a position behind tall people at the back to watch 14 Iced Bears and The Wolfhounds.

Dan from Pocketbooks is a yard or so to my right, sideburns all magnificent. Ian How Does It Feel mans the merchandise table behind me. Sean from Fortuna Pop arrives at my elbow, I migrate left, forfeiting my view of the stage.

I used to be a lot more comfortable feeling awkward at gigs, I used to rudely embrace it, cuntly so. Justifying it with my notebook, blurry photies and blog.

Time passes and I'm still writing this, now at the Lexington, two days later. I went to Currys, Staples and Maplin, earlier and was thoroughly underwealmed. Years ago I'd browse such shopped, brimming with ideas and creativity, with this printer I could make books, with this set up a record label, with this camera I could have a whole new career. But now I just think "meh", no point, tried that, failure or moderate success. Why try again.

I have become more cynic.

Do Betty and Teh Werewolves gaze at the icebears and Wolfhounds thinking the same thing? "That's what I wanna be in twenty years time"?

WeePOP: Colin Clary - Buffalo Bar

Like a Tickle-me-Elmo with a guitar, this evening with part-time Elvis mutton-chops and the earnest dial cranked up to eleven.

Colin Clary is a jolly chap, the venue's quiet, its late and people are drifting home tired but spirits are high, and the few who remain are enthusiastic fans.

His set this evening involves lots of tuning up the guitar, and tweaking his wee practise amp, needlessly I'd say, but I am tone deaf.

Actually it is a little tinny and hurts my ears, sorry, I should have said.

Its very cutesy music, twee, but in a slightly different axis to the twee of the Bobby McGees, like you wouldn't see Colin wearing face paints and throwing paper aeroplanes to the crowd. Maybe its just Americanism.

Ooh, I love the solo version of Sapphire that he treats us to, a chap in the crowd videoed it so that'll be a treat for later.

WeePOP: Secret Charisma - Buffalo Bar

A chap on his own, centre stage with his head at a jaunty angle playing a cow-print ukulele, Secret Charisma.

He plays a number of songs from a self-penned rock opera. I gather the story's about a guy who jacks in his job and goes travelling looking up old friends.

Aw man, its the guy from One Happy Island. Oh, he was anecdoting and mentioned Orange Nicole, I saw her earlier this year, she was all right.

For the last song he drags on stage Colin Clary and another quarter of One Happy Island, for a jaunty little number.

WeePOP: Ich Bin Finn - Buffalo Bar

They're an odd looking bunch, Ich Bin Finn. Tonight without their drummer and so are playing an acoustic set.

Acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, ukulele and occasional harmonica, two singing girls.

Folksy, hella set of lungs, London twang, a bit Kate Nash in a leopard print dress, and shaved bits in her hair, a somewhat rockabilly look perhaps. "I'm not in a band and I'm not from Harrow" she cries in the song Delusions of Grandeur, I don't think that's quite accurate.

A little bit shambolic, giggling and corpsing during songs but having a whale of a time at it.

WeePOP: The Sunny Street - Buffalo Bar

Hang on, are The Sunny Street the same band as Electrophonvintage? They've got like the same members, well, no drummer, but a backing track with drums and synth and the girl does most of the singing and the singing chap stands at the back.

It would be nice to have songs in French. The girl singing sounds like Sarah Cracknell tonight, my attractive young ladyfriend notes that she's wearing a retro early nineties tight black lacy mini-dress.

Sounds a bit boomy where we're sat at the back. The vocals low in the mix. Could just be cos of the acoustics, and if we stood up and moved forward it would sound better, but its comfy here.

Its gets lovely and shoe-gazery towards the end, I liked Ian's lead bass guitar, that was neat.

The Hillfields - The Buffalo Bar

I wrote this review once before, just while the band were on stage but deleted it by accident. To be honest the review was more about my girlfriend's absence and me glancing at the stairs in case she appeared. The main bit of the review about the band was that the photographer chap's camera flashed a green checked pattern before taking photies, I hadn't seen that before. I know my camera does a red thing before the autoflash, so I keep it switched off.

Also I love the Hillfields. The matching shirts. The singer who looked a little like he'd been Gomez in the 90's. The stark instrumentation. If I were in a band with other people I'd want to be the Hillfield's bass player. Aw man, if The Deep Fried Wolfknuckles hadn't been on a garage trip we could have been the Hillfields. Even the guitar was neat, all open chords, and half-set capos, I'd never seen that before.

The set seemed a tad short.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

The Gresham Flyers - Buffalo Bar

Its been ages since I last saw the mighty Flyers, I love those guys so much it hurts right here.

This has got to be the largest sector of my Facebool friends gathered in one place since the ole Blueveins alldayer, and at least two of my top five favourite bands playing.

The mighty Flyer, a swift run through of their new material. Shaza's keyboard noodles still send my head two steps to the left.

If my girlfriend were here she'd get the lyrics. And then a selection of their regular numbers, day I'm going to find out the name of that one that starts like Another Girl Another Planet.

For more objective review, please see this one. For something more specific, they had more treble than usual and the crowd were more familiar with their material than usual, dancing and singing along.

Their final song was a Bruce Springsteen cover, a more recent number 'Magic', which is on a soon to be released tribute album (hmm, did uncle Darren play one the other night, or am I thinking of Ballboy). Quite a departure from the acoustic original, but well worth a listen.

I'm writing this on the bus home, its been a weird night, starting off with a little turmoil, but an interesting safety-net. Its so cold right now, but my head's stuck in the mid-decade, we were there then, aye.

Other photies here

Town Bike - The Buffalo Bar

Not sure about new drummer, a bit stuttery.

I just wrote this great exhaustive review of the last band, the Hillfields, but then clicked delete instead of send. Then I got this really long and deep text from the girlfriend. She's not here and no matter how often I glance at the door, she's still an hour away.

Ooh I recorded me a cover of this song, Trouble Fucken Rocks, its here.

So I've seen this mob too often to review them objectively. All the songs so familiar, its just a matter of finding the sweetspot to stand in, where the acoustics are just right.

I wish she was here,

So much

Other photies here

Jeans Goes POP - The Buffalo Bar

I so want to get drunk tonight, booze and booze and booze. I've got something in my eye.

Floppy haired chap in a velvet jacket, seated, playing keyboards with a kick snare and two kick bass drums. A couple of mics too, one all compressed, one more normal.

My girlfriend isn't here, I'm sad.

Christ, who does his banter sound like? One of these apologetic midlands comedians.

Sings a little like Jack White and more so when he straps on a guitar.

Ooh taping down keys, that's clever, gives a droning backdrop to his struming. The compressed microphone reminds me of White Town, but with a Livin' On The Edge Aerosmith bass drum.

Young Stacy is here, Jona from Wintergreen and from earlier in the decade, Dr Debbie of Scotland.

I feel like '95, I don't know what happened with the girlfriend. Its the doubt and insecurity that gets me.

Jeans Goes POP's Chaz n Dave-ish moment isn't exactly the best soundtrack. And also count really do with a rabbit rabbit rabbit refrain, but Jeans' chickens out.

Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange

The Beat Hotel: Shrag, The Loves, Smokers Die Younger, To Arms Etc - Buffalo Bar

I fell asleep as soon as I got home from work, and awoke a few hours later, hungry and still uncertain as to when the gig was.

Facebook had said it as tomorrow or was that yesterday? Dinner cooked too quickly, too many chillies, rush across town and I arrive at the Buffalo.

Folk I recognise from the internet stand around, members of Pocketbooks wave hello. The woman on the door keeps me standing for ten minutes whilst she natters to friends before taking my money and stamping my hand. My mood would have been two points better if she hadn't kept me standing outside in the cold.

Inside I've missed To Arms Etc. I keep missing them. At the Twee As Fuck Alldayer, during Esiotrot I was feeling sad and lonely, a guy from To Arms Etc. started chatting to me and raised my spirits. I promised I'd go an see his band, but still haven't quite made it. This weighs heavy on my mind. The tracks on their myspace are great.

The first band I actually see this evening are Smokers Die Younger, a five or six piece playing stark, stabby shouty music. At times sounding like Idlewild underlings Turn, but every so often with Art School Bricolage harmonies.


Smokers Die Younger

In the crowd I see members of The Give It Ups and to my right folk from Electrophonvintage.

What do they make of Smokers Die Younger? Who knows, they clap politely between songs.

A girl with pink hair steps in front of me to take photies of the band on stage, she leans back, occluding my view by about 90%, she's so close I am able to wipe my nose on her pigtails.

Amusement as the singing girl on stage takes apart the singer's mic stand mid-song, it falls to the floor and she has to scrabble around swapping mics.

I had a moment of introspection the other day, wondering what would have happened if I never got to London, if my flight from Glasgow was never instigated last year. Since records began the plan had always been to move to London, see The Loves. I did it 18 months ago and still get a warm fuzzy feeling in my tummy when I stand at the edge of the Buffalo Bar watching The Loves on stage. No matter what else is happening in my life, I know that just here, things are going to plan.


The Loves

The sound's not so good at the edge of the bar, too close to the guitar amps, not enough vocals, so I wonder about to find a sweet spot.

The line-up's changed over the years, 30 members according to the internet. Has it really een a decade since I was at the Roadhouse in Manchester with Nos telling me about them? They have a new rhythm guitarist, Jerome, leather jacket, easy chords, drummer from Pocketbooks, and I don't recognise the keyboard player.


The Loves

They play a lot of newish songs from their new album Three, out on Fortuna Pop in January, and even a song from the next album after that Jenna sings, a soul club number, which requires more subdued lighting and the smoking ban lifted.

Their set finishes with a seque into their evergreen classic Little Girl Blues, sounding as fresh as it did in the Peel session days.


Shrag

Not sure about the headline act Shrag, it could be my natural bias away from headline acts or its too late in the evening and I'm having internet withdrawl. Cutesy girl vocals, like in the Deirdres sometimes. Mostly droney throbbing guitars, but occasionally early Idlewild chopping. Very abrupt drums. Cute girls, I like the one on the right, but I don't seem to remember this mob at all from Indietracks.

Pocketbooks, The Zebras, Airport Girl - Buffalo Bar

So I toddled along to the Buffalo bar, say hi to Andy and Dan from Pocketbooks, I used to has teh fear of saying hi to people in bands, cos seeing them play live six times isn't the same as actually knowing them, compare and contrast with Idlewild who I saw 16 times in 1998 and wouldn't.

Suddenly Pav from Twee A Fuck wanders out of the Buffalo and says hi. Aw man, I never got round to finishing that review of the Twee As Fuck alldayer.

So I descend into the depths of the Buffalo Bar, spot Camila from weePop, and lounge at the bar for a bit drinking Tyger. MJ Hibbett wanders over, he's jolly excited about his Exciting Life in Rock show, I'm quite excited too, it should be fun on the Friday at Indietracks, but will I make it to Edinburgh to see the proper show in its native Fringe environment?

Before long, the first band take to the stage.

Pocketbooks
I like Pocketbook, I've seen them lots of times, they're in my top ten bands I've seen most often in the past two years, and now I can say hi to them and make small talk without feeling the urge to run away, hide in the toilets sobbing to myself, this you already knew, but have you considered the effect this has on my ability to review them honestly? It could be awkward.

I liked the older songs they played, and the new songs, which were possibly having their first publis airing, they sounded alright, they'll be great after a few plays to get ingrained in ma heid.

Ian the guitarist has new effects pedals, one of them was a chorus pedal, not sure what the other was, but it sounded great.

They were playing to a crowd of very attentive folk who I've seen at gigs before. Not like the second band on, for whom the crowd swelled with lots and lots of people, some with curious accents.

The Zebras
One of the most American sounding Australian bands


Airport Girl
I saw this youtube video the other day, and now, it could just be confirmation bias, but I can spot Pachelbel's Canon in D a mile away, Airport Girl's first song, aye.


The Airportettes
More women on stage

The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut, The Kabeedies, The Bobby McGees - The Buffalo Bar

Pete Green is a fine chap, commonly found playing solo acoustic sets of happy Midlands-based happy sparkly songs, but always low down on the bill. Figuring this was due to his playing solo, he sold his soul, recruited a band and changed his name to The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut.

Tonight, somewhat ironically, they are first on the bill. I missed a couple of songs, stumbling in late cos a road was closed and I had to park miles away.

Same songs, with a meatier backing. More like you'd expect a Pete Green band to sound like than a band playing Pete Green songs. Does that make sense? Imagine a band, any band, now imagine them playing Pete Green songs, The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut doesn't sound like that, they sound like Pete Green as a band.

I'm unconvinced until "Everything is going to be sparkly" which works really well as the band are used to punctuate the song rather than play it. 'More of that sort of thing', I thought, until their last song, which sounded almost exactly like early Sultans of Ping FC playing Pete Green song. Now with that sort of direction the 'Corporate Juggernaut could end up headlining.

Free CDs on the door, from The Gresham Flyers and tonight's second band, the Kabeedies. I wasn't too impressed with them last time, a chronically short set at The Social, but Thom Gresham Flyer swears by them so maybe I'll see their magic tonight.

Crikey!

I get a better of them this time, wee bouncing spinning girl on vocals, sandwiched between her axe-wielding brothers, righty with a half length guitar strap and lefty with a three quarter length bass strap, and rather surprisingly, Orlando Bloom, the actor, on drums.

A fun-filled yelping set, with the sort of smart haircuts the Glasgow art school crowd would love. The Kabeedies would make a fine support act for Franz Ferdinand four years ago. As it is, they're going to have a hard time re-igniting the angular, unison yelps and stabby guitar fires of old. They ought to tell more people about Orlando in drums. He's very good, faster than you'd expect.


Not so pleased with the Bobby McGees, the over reliance of their songs which are introduced with the lines "You know when your girlfriend...", this makes me feel uncomfortable.

This is why I don't write reviews for The List or Time Out. From that what do you think the Bobby McGee's sound like? See, it tells you next to nothing about the band, and just shows too much of me.

For most of their set I was pondering if I were to write a six song set to play in a shadowy corner of Indietracks, whilst there'd be a great song in "moaning that after I appeared on The Culture Show, loads of old chums got in touch to say hey, and it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, the girl who I still dream of never got in touch, so it was hardly worth it at all", the rest of the songs would be similarly ex-girlfriend based, so I'd better abandon the idea and just learn a load of friends cover versions.

Twee As Fuck: Ipso Facto, Liechtenstein, The Winter Club - Buffalo Bar

I fucken hate queues. I hate them so much.

You know queues at cash machines, thats a load of people who really want to spend money, but have been stopped from doing so. Some would say we're heading for a recession here in the 21st century, banks could boost the economy in seconds by making their machines give out money quick. Fuck fraud. The government hand out our personal details at every opportunity and banks already charge us through the nose, so fuck so that. When we want to spend money, don't make up wait for it.

Queuing up outside the Buffalo Bar for Twee As Fuck presents Ipso Facto, Liechtenstein, The Winter Club. Its cold and the queues not moving, its kind of stationary. It only moves very slowly, not because they are letting people in slowly, but because guestlist folk are escorted to another queue or people give up and fuck off to some other gig. Every so often the queue moves backward as folk push in, spotting their friends nearer the front. "Its not what you know, its who you know".

Listen to this

*jingle jangle*

that is the sound of my pockets full of cash, I want to pay the girl on the door to let me in, I want to buy a few drinks, I want to watch some bands, maybe I want to buy some merchandise.

But I can't because I'm stood outside in the cold in a queue that isn't moving.

Imagine, hypothetically, in some crazy fucked up world, that I didn't go to gigs out of a rabid obsession with seeing as many bands as possible and then spewing my own vitriol and agenda online, but as some kind of social event, and rather than just seeing people at gigs socially, I'd seek to swell the size of the scene by bringing along my own, still hypothetical, friends.

"Aw man, you'd love this band" Sayeth me to hypothetical friend
"Ach, but we'd have to stand around for hours" quoth said hypothetical friend
"No no no, look at this graph..."

"... which clearly shows people expect bands to start half an hour after the Facebook quoted doors time, but actually the bands start an hour after the Facebook quoted doors time. (months of research went into this graph)"
"Wow Chris, you've convinced us. We ought to invite you out to the pub and parties and stuff more often, and I'm going to put a good word in about you to that girl you're scared of talking to."

Quick scene change to queuing up outside the fucking Buffalo Bar in the cold for ages. Hypothetical friends would turn to me and say something like "Chris, I'm going to stamp on your throat for this" and they'd be completely justified.

Twenty minutes outside in the queue without it actually moving, almost an hour after the doors time, and I give up and head home, musing briefly about the bands I've missed...

Liechtenstein, I saw them once before, at the Albany, thought they sounded like a girl-fronted Specials, kind of cute too. No idea about the other bands, The Winter Club and Ipso Facto, maybe I never will.

So apart from my cold getting a wee bit worse, the best thing about tonight's gig was that when I got home, I had thirty quid in my pocket! Fucken aye!!

Bands
Twee As Fuck
Ipso Facto
Liechtenstein
The Winter Club

Other photies
here

Zombina And The Skeletones, Ricky Spontane, The Teenbeat - Buffalo Bar

It was

Twee as Fuck: The Margarets, St. Christopher, Hatcham Social - Buffalo

I thought I'd arrived at the last Twee as Fuck of the year stylishly late, but alas, I'm early enough to catch one of the free CDs on the door. I guess there's thirty people here by 10pm. I glimpse Thorsten and Camilla sat at the other side of the room, their latest eagerly awaited podcast is a corker, I wonder if they'll do an xmas one. I keep my distance to avoid cornering them ad wonder when the bands start.

I spy another bloke here on his own, at the opposite end of the bar, we glance at each other suspiciously, I think he's jealous, he left his notebook at home. He reminds me of Robbie from IoMoPS, I wonder if he got round to doing his Christmas song for this year. May I suggest "Wednesday Girl at Xmas" or "Little Miss Maybe's first Xmas" as possible song titles.

Realise the fallacy in wanting to avoid being creepy, but at the same time, standing on my own, next to the toilets, scribbling. Wish bands would hurry up, get on stage so I can fuck off home.

Four skinny lads take to the stage, no drummer, they are from Sweden, they are The Margarets. My ex-wife many months ago coined the phrase for them 'Swedish kids with handbags'.



They sound like two parts early Stone Roses and one part Acid House Kings. Easy G, C, Am, D type songs with noodles and phaser effects. Stephen Pastel would be proud of the vocals, Best use of iPod for drums, crowd noise and St. Etienne/Just Joans found movie dialog clips.

Ooh, I just remembered, at work today, a colleague was playing some Polish funk rock, and one of the songs sounded remarkably like The Just Joans's 'I Hear your the man now John'.

Stood nearby the bar here is a tall hairy chap who looks like Big Duncan from Dananananaykrod, but he smells different, he runs a label called Wax.

Ooh, Elaine the promoter comes over to say hi. I get all nervous but try to come across as a pro-muso journo, fail badly. Scribble note 'must come up with more sensible bloggery muso journo things to say in similar situations'.

I spot PopKid from Spiral Scratch and elsewhere this tall scrawny ginger girl who I;d swear I was in a drama society with at university a decade ago. The place is filling up and I feel about one chessboard row less self-conscious.

A short girl tugs on my arm and asks of I have a cigarette and suddenly I'm in Bolton, November 1995. Time travel fucking terrifies me. I'm in the Academy Bar, I can't see my girlfriend, but if I could would she recognise me? The jacket and the sideburns are thesame, besides she'd be about 14 years too young. Time travel fucking sucks.



Twelve years and one month later St. Christopher take to the stage, a two-piece tonight. The chummy Yorkshire accented between and mid-song banter in stark contrast to the shoegazery noise. They're missing their drummer tonight, relying on a drum machine.

Whilst its kind of easy to get lost in the music, the 14 song set is dragging. Its only at the last song I find they're an old Sarah Records band. Revering C86 folk probably care deeply, but I want to see the headline act.

The two people in the crowd who still give a crap shout for an encore, luckily they don't oblige.

The Buffalo Bar is full, folk chatting amongst themselves, scant regard for the music, smiling, engrossed in conversations. Time has passed, its half midnight, do bands usually go on this late, I try to remember.


Hatcham Social on last, a three-piece with a standy up drummer, matching hairstyles and torn jeans. They play in an inwardly facing triangular formation. Strange, difficult to describe songs, clunky guitars. Folk in the crowd and behind the DJ desk were dancing and singing along. It seems jolly good fun, but the words are low and the ba ba ba choruses are like another language.

Bands
The Margarets
St. Christopher
Hatcham Social

Goonite Club: Arthur and Martha, Monster Bobby, Monday Club, Brontosaurus Chorus - The Buffalo

I was house-sitting earlier this week, they had a DVD player so I was watching the complete Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 16 hours a day. They also seemed to have my Amazon wishlist of books lying round, so I read this book called Tipping Point.
Its like one of these sociological / cultural / psychology for people books. I only got through the first 60 pages, giving some clues about why some cultural phenomenons become runaway successes and others don't.

From what I gather, it usually depends on a dozen or so factors all pulling in the same direction at the same time.

There are three types of people vital in spreading new ideas. The first one mentioned is The Connector, they're charming people who know everyone in many worlds. Not necessarily close friends with everyone, but charming enough to be remembered. Close ties between 'friends' and 'weak ties' between acquaintances. When these guys get it, a bit of news spreads quickly.

I'm not very good as a 'Connector', my charmingness doesn't come easily, despite the worlds I span.

The second person type was 'The Maven', one who collects information and is good at communicating it. These would be the people who discover the cool bands who are to be the next big thing that no one knows about, or who have figured out that Facebook has jumped the shark.

I too am not so good as a Maven, I back the wrong horses.

Sadly I never found out who the third person type was.

Apparently the 'weak tie' friendships are more useful than the strong one, cos there are more of them with a greater span.

First band on are Arthur and Martha, one of them is Alice from Spiral Scratch, when my musical masterplan comes together next year, I'll need them on my side. I think that by bribery, they'll learn to love me, and sort out the damned Spiral Scratch blog. That was the plan anyway.

But before I came out this evening, I checked my last review of of Arthur and Martha, and it turns out I liked them last time, but was sadly too drunk to be coherent.

Tonight though, I am sober.

They are the missing link between Bis and The Younger Younger 28s, and their last song sounded like Idlewild's A Tone.

This one time I saw the Younger Younger 28s at King Tuts in Glasgow, about five people in the crowd, including flatmate Nick, Joanne from Stonehaven and some broad with a notebook. The next week the gig got a rave review in the NME.

The next time I saw them was Freshers week '98 at Strathclyde Uni, I got chatting to the girls in the band, they said they were playing the next night in Edinburgh. So me and Nick duly trekked over and got chatting to them there too. For years I've claimed I snogged the cute one outside The Venue.

Monster Bobby on next, here tonight, the records show that me and Fiona thought he was pants last time, mostly due to the crap sound in Tuffnells.

Tonight though, the sound's better the place is a quarter full and there's a girl in the crowd who looks like Beautiful Laura from school.

He's the main driving force behind The Pipettes and a proto-Bill Drummond according to wikipedia. Sounds like a cross between Craig Pulsar and Denim tonight mind.

Final act of the night for me are The Monday Club. Three girls, well, the drummer is a bit borderline. But the singing guitar and bass girls sure can holler. Like Polly Jane Harvey reborn as slightly younger. Nice harmony bits and the bass player was really cute.

I'm not sure what it was, but I kept glancing at my watch, wishing they'd finish so I could go home, then I realised that actually I could just go home, no need to wait.



Bands
Arthur and Martha
Monster Bobby
Monday Club
Brontosaurus Chorus

Photies
Here

Fortuna Pop: Bricolage, Falling and Laughing, Wake The President - The Buffalo

50,000 page views,
2,000 unique hits,
100 returning visitors,
But comments numbered only 2.
When I looked up the IP addres
Whois said it was you.

8 police vans and cars storming towards the city centre as I maked my way from Swiss Cottage to Highbury and The Buffalo, very late probably missing the first few bands, Falling and Laughing who it'd be difficult to give an honest opinion of, and Wake the President who've been written about before. In fact I missed three acts, arriving just as Bricolage, from Glasgow, were just setting up.

Who'd have thunk it, their new bass player is none other than Mighty Chris from The Hector Collectors, My Legendary Girlfriend and The Just Joans. the beating heart of Glasgow's sound for the past decade now.

Last time I saw Bricolage play properly was the other year at the Winchester. Weird looking drummer who the girls all liked who I later joined in a photoshoot for some photoy ex-girlfriend far away. Of course, he's no in the band any more and I don't recall what they sound like.



So, with every other member of the Hector Collectors having international success, Big Dunc with Dananananaykroyd, Big Gav with Camera Obscura, Paul with The Martial Arts, and Chris with Bricolage and The Just Joans, I can't help but feel that somehow my involvement with The Plimptons handicapped them from joining that glittering array. Thank god that involvement is buried along with my heart four hundred miles away.



Guitars played up over their hearts, strangled vocals like XTC and Dogs Die in Hot Cars or even Joe Jackson.



Girls dancing in cardigans at the sides of the stage. My favourite people in the crowd who weren't paying attention to the band, were either the people doing high-fives or the blonde girls talking about hair. My love for the cardigan dancers is surpassed by the couple behind me, gently swaying in each other arms.



Lead guitar played in the synthesizer style like later era Chilli Peppers.

Slowly figuring out who Fortuna Pop is at gigs. Shame the forum on their website doesn't work.

Reviews
Here

Bands
Bricolage
Falling and Laughing
Wake The President

Photies
here

Twee as Fuck: The Bridal Shop, My Sad Captains, Connan and the Mockasins - Buffalo

"He's taking his cardigan off, he means business"







Bands
The Bridal Shop
My Sad Captains
Connan and the Mockasins