Quote of the Week

Ricky Wilson has given me a Quote of the Week.

King Creosote, Absentee, M. Craft at Scala

We went to see King Creosote at the Scala laste night. Performing with backing from The Pictish Trail on Guitar, Le Baron Rouge on Bass and Onthefly on drums. So no much anticipated Earlies in Support. Still have tickets for them separately at the Barfly in May so not too bothered.

The first band on were M Craft (aka Martin Craft.) Along with 2 ladies and a drummer they produced some quite nice songs. I particularly liked the use of a handheld fan as an instrument. It gave a lovely fluttering sound.

Absentee were the second support act. I was sure I'd heard their stuff on the radio, but actually on seeing them live I'm not sure I have. I was not expecting the sound that came from the small geeky looking singer.

He had a voice as deep as Johnny Cash or Stuart Staples, maybe even more so, in a proper country style drawl, though the music itself was more twee indie. May have to dig around for some of their stuff on the cheap I think.

Finally King Creosote with support went on to do a jolly set. Joking around throughout, there were quite a lot of "in" jokes that we didn't understand. A few people down the front seemed to get what was going on, the rest of us noticeably in the dark. But that aside it was an upbeat gig, the sort that makes you warm inside. The music was spot on. And you can't go wrong when an accordian is involved can you? It was all in all a good night, even though I was like the walking dead, having not had enough sleep the night before.

Must make an effort to see King Creosote next time, maybe I'll get the "in" jokes a second time round.

Marks Birthday and the No Music policy of the Sam Smith's pubs

We went to the Princess Louise in Holborn last night for Mark's Birthday. Having only had the run of the shops in Wandsworth to find a present, I did what I always do in this situation, and headed for The Entertainer.

I got a lovely brightly coloured kids wooden xylophone. Shit I know. But I thought it could enhance the guitar playing going on at his house.

Turns out that a children's wooden xylophone can nearly get you kicked out of a Samuel Smith's pub. I completely forgot the have a No Music Policy. Apparently our random tapping on the blocks constituted music, so expect to see us all performing at Glastonbury in 2007.

I mean the joyless cow behind the bar actually refused to serve us, until it was put away. How mad is that. It is a noisy pub, I hardly think our 2 minutes tapping on a kids toy was really going to deafen or disturb anyone. As it was because she kicked up a fuss we ended up playing it more just to spite her. Well you would wouldn't you for fuck's sake.