Darren Hayman - I Started a Joke - Indietracks 2012

Here's a video I recorded at Indietracks 2012 of Darren Hayman & The Secondary Modern playing a cover of The Bee Gees' I Started a Joke

 

Indietracks was awesome, the best its ever been. It was a last minute decision for me to go, like I wasn't going to go cos I don't want to just religiously go every year, but it was the Thursday night before, and I had another look at the lineup and thought, "Aw man, I love all these guys."

Darren Hayman and the Secondary Modern - The Luminaire

Ooh, its one of those gigs, Andy from Pocketbooks is here with Nat, and Alice from Arthur and Martha, behind me is Enid Coleslaw and off to the left is my favourite particle physicist.

On stage is Dazza and four members of the Secondary Modern. Some stonking work on the fiddle and spazzing out on guitar.

I've had one or two pints and ma heid is drifting away from the task in hand. Is this to be Darren Hayman's gift to me, not the music or the sound, but the power of time travel. To lose myself in memories?

For more on what they sounded like please refer to previous Darren Haymen reviews here. A couple of Hefner songs, b-sides and a-sides alike, keep the crowd on fire

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Darren Hayman - Indietracks

He was supposed to be playing in the evening yesterday in the Church, but got bumped to earlier in the day, so a handful of folk missed him, so here he is again.

In the Twist and Spout tent Darren Hayman is tuned up and impatient. The noise of Strawberry Story drowns out anything he plays, so he waits. The tent is full, every inch of floorspace taken up by eagery waiting fans, so they wait. I stand at the back enjoying the carrot cake on offer.

There were four cakes for sale in the Twist and Spout, carrot cake, flapjack, brownies and cookies. I never had the cookies, the brownies were nice, but not really as brownie-like as I was expecting, chocolatey goodness aye, and the flapjack was kind of healthy, but the portions small and moreish. However, carrot cake is god I think I had about ten pieces over the weekend.

It was on the first evening, when MJ Hibbett was playing that I fell in love with the Twist and Spout girl with hoop ear-ring, she had a really nice smile, but by the tenth piece of cake, I'd become a hussy who'd take it off anyone.

Strawberry Story finish, and split up, giving free T-shirts and CDs to their audience, Darren Hayman makes a pithy comment, and plays.

Aw man, remember last year when he headlined and my review was absolutely pants.

This year the notes scribbled in my wee notebook says

He plays some songs, they sound like they usually do.

On reading that doesn't it almost feel like you were there?

Actually, going by my knowledge of most readers of this blog, you probably were there. Look, I can see the back of your head in this video I found.

Other photies
Astrid
Enid Coleslaw
Miss E Kawasaki
Mellow Doubt
The Donohoes

Videos
The Sad Witch

HDIF: Darren Hayman and Jack Hayter, The Voluntary Butler Scheme, Saturday Looks Good to Me - Luminaire

I'll cover the overarching LNFGIES narrative later in the review, just be patient.

I wandered into the pub to see Ken from The Red Bulldozers getting a big jug cocktail with three straws for rapid consumption, on the telly the Netherlands just scored against France, and a few minutes later, outside, I meet my friend Paul from the Martial Arts, who bears news that world domination is one step closer, The Plimps were played on Radio Six earlier, just after The School (download snatch MP3 here)

Inside the venue, The Voluntary Butler Scheme is on stage, an array of keyboards and synths and half a drum kit obscuring a lone floppy haired chap doing warm and tender tunes, sounding a little bit one man bandish, especially when he pulls out a uke and a kazoo.

Okay, at first I wasn't so taken, but the last few songs were pure genius with a loop pedal. Some folk do loop pedals badly, but VBS is this century's answer to Beck, but dub, comedy, novelty and blues. Elements of White Town maybe, and judicious use of novelty toy effects.

The last song was brilliant, the throbbing blues run through, with the devil in the oven and a droning bass around the 5Hz bowel loosening frequency which will never be audible on MP3 or your iPod headphones.

Chatting with Paul about the next steps in world domination, persuading Londonish promoters to take them onboard perhaps. The room is filling up, folk off of the internet are nearby and the Wee Pop gang are in the room.

Saturday Looks Good To Me on next, a wee bit too loud and the mix was a bit off when we stood at the back, but Paul dragged me into the warm embrace of the music at the front. A three piece guitar/keyboards band, wholesom and much like you'd expect a Hefner support act to be.

Sorry to be a pain, but a few songs in, I noticed something which probably happens all the time, but here its one of two overwhelming things I noticed during the set. The guy singing rests his nose on the microphone. Look out for it if you ever see Saturday Looks Good To Me. Like I've seen singers jam the mic into their gobs, but I've never noticed the nose thing. The next song they played after I noticed this bears heavily the phrase '...everybody nose...'

The second overwealming thing of the thing, was nothing to do with the band, I was glancing about the stage, how although it was raise, there were steps leading downwards to it, I don't know why, but it reminded me of The Cathouse in Glasgow. And I remembered the last time I was there, Nastily was my companion and there was chaos in the shadows. We'd just been to see 300 and it was the start of our relationship.

All ages ago now, and miles away.

Darren Hayman and Jack Hayter take to the stage to play Hefner songs. Regular and dedicated readers of this blog will already be familiar with my previous Darren Hayman reviews here and here, there's a bit of a continuing narrative.

I stand near the front blocking the view of the folk behind, and although I there are many fine songs, I don't engage. I recognise the odd song, but this is essentially a Hefner greatest hits set, for the fans, for the folk who saw them countless times and bought countless EPs and albums. The sing along and notice when Darren forgets his lines, they cheer when he plays their favourite songs.

After the show, there was to be a How Does It Feel club night, but most of the crowd wander off, and whilst some stick around nursing their drinks, they too drift away until the DJ kills the music, and there are less than a dozen souls left.

To my right is Paul from the Martial Arts and his friends, and to my left are some friends off of the internet and the girl.

Bands
The Voluntary Butler Scheme
Saturday Looks Good To Me
Darren Hayman

The Martial Arts, Down the Tiny Steps, Darren Hayman - Nice n Sleazy

We stagger in about four songs from the end of The Martial Arts's set. Its Paul Plimptons' secret weapon, his suspiciously successful other band.

Some think that Paul is just an excellent song writer, Claires and other womenfolk say "Great", "Loved them", "smiled so much my cheeks hurt", and "ooh, sparkly guitar strap". Paul's on a plugged in acoustic guitar which sounded suprisingly electric guitar and lead vocals, and there's a drummer who also does vocals. Its kind of really bright pop rock, they got picked up off of MySpace by a Swedish record label

"Really do like them, but would be better if they weren't nervous" although, Paul seemed less nervous than usual.

On announcing that his set closer was a cover, I shouted out "Wonderwall" as is my thing, Paul, started muttering the Hector Collectors' Tony McCarroll song, before they launched into Carly Simon's You're so Vain, which was nice and had everyone in the audience smiling.

Down the Tiny Steps were on next, I thought it was just a two band bill, but no, pleasant surprise.



The boy sings like he's 20 years older and 20 pounds heavier. It sounds like a rawer, more guitary Beta Band. That laid back, pulsating happy music, gentle stroking a loved one and cool cool rum and tonic on my last night in town.

Amy wronggirl is here, she was at Indietracks, Claire and Claire are here too, they were at my Wolfknuckles gig last night. Ink Wilson from How to Swim is here, he's impressed by my natural musketeer facial hair.

Indie-trip? Electro twang? "Cross between Mad Skull and The Proclaimers, Mad Skull are really good" says Nastily

Darren Hayman sat near the front of the room, peering about. Paul "Fourth time I've seen him, first time he's been wrecked"

"They were all right, they were all right, everyone seems to be in a crap emo band, apart from these guys who are in a nice Beta Band. Kind if like in High Fidelity, which was on the other night, when everyone listens to the Beta Band and its really nice.

Yet again, I'm a little drunk when Darren Hayman hits the stage..

The violinist looks like Wookie from Something About Mary. Hang on, word comes through that Tony Wilson's dead.



The violin lends a mournful air, ooh, violin and ukulele duel. My companion Nastily gets up to dance, strangely like Audrey Horne. Somewhere in the set, segued into a song is a cover of The J Giels Band's Angel is a Centrefold.

From SoundsXP "As an outsider looking in, he identifies with the loveless and the lost; he dignifies the nobodies with a story worth telling." Now at Indietracks the other week, most people do at times feel like they are the loveless and the lost, but this is a bit of a stretch when you're holding hands with your other half and in a room with your bestest friends. At Indietracks, self inflictd or no, I was the outsider looking in, the loveless and the lost, and what I did was got drunk and threw up in my car

Now, the last time Dazza played Glasgow, Valentines Day last year, I was taken to see him by my then girlfriend Rachel, we were just starting out on our relationship.And it was great, it was the first time I'd seen him, and then I wasn't the outsider, the loveless or the lost.

Now, she's just a paradigm. Sometimes we're overcome by feelings of loss, loneliness and depression, sometimes there's a valid reason for it, and sometimes its just the state of mind we're in. But it comes and it goes. And there'll always be other great relationships, other great things, again. And when they come around you gotta appreciate them more.

And I hold onto Nastily tightly, gaze into her eyes, smile when I watch her dance. Remembering her face when she hears songs like Greedy Ugly People and Hello Kitty for the first time. Hold tightly when I can.

Hang on, thats the same shirt Darren Hayman wore at Indietracks!!! OMG. Hmm, he's playing again this Tuesday, should I go again?

Darren Hayman - Indietracks

What I do at gigs is scribble my notes and feelings of the band, the performance, the gig in my wee notebook, then hours/days later, I just type up exactly what I've written, sometimes adding more detail, often adding links and photos where I can. I don't think back and try to remember what the gig was like, I just copy the reatime notes.

So by this stage of the festival I'm so drunk I can barely hold my pen. I'd just finished my bottle of rum, and what I wrote for the review in my notebook was this:-

Damn Hefner
Write about Rachel later

Then at this point I lurched out of the diesel shed into the buffet wagon, verbally abused my friends, then staggered off the festivals site and threw up in my car.