Rather than let the Dovemeister hog the blog, and with a Sunday evening free, I thought it was about time I threw in my tuppence worth (as my gran used to say when I was a nipper).
Well it’s been pretty hectic the last month or so. The highlight of which being our gig supporting the Proclaimers back in my old home town of Blackpool, which fell between weekends at Download and Glastonbury festivals (just watching unfortunately). It was my first visit to Download, and although the lineup was generally a bit heavier than I’d usually go for, there were still several bands that I wanted to see. Friday was a pretty busy day having just had confirmation of the Proclaimers show, so a few arrangements to sort out before I drove up the Friday evening, getting there in time to see Kiss, which although not quite my bag and a bit before my time, it was still interesting to see their stage show. More of interest were Biffy Clyro and Ash. Unfortunately I was too late for the Subways. Ash were a bit of a surprise addition to the line-up, and perhaps not to many people’s taste as the crowd for them dwindled. Perhaps with the crowd in mind they came out more like thr-Ash than Ash, with a far heavier set than I’d seen them play before. I think they really had turned everything up to 11, smashing through some classics and not disappointing those that had stayed to watch. Fortunately the predicted bottling didn’t happen; that honour was saved for some of the emo bands on Sunday afternoon.
Back from Download and it was time to get down to some serious rehearsing in preparation for our gig with the Proclaimers. Due to the recording and preparation for the album we hadn’t played through the set for several weeks, other than what we’d done in pre-production; during which we’d made a few ‘tweaks’ to some of the tracks. The first run through was a little iffy, but we soon had it together and a set worked out. Having seen Ash tailor their set to a heavier audience, I was wondering if perhaps we should think along the same lines for our gig with the Proclaimers, tailoring the set or sound to more of a pop crowd. After a bit of discussion we decided that we’d go out there and do our usual thing. The set list we decided on was The Chalice, No Easy Target, Tied To Shadows, Dark Ideas, Tama Connection, Perfect Soldier, Had I Known and Old Street.
I contacted friends and family back in Blackpool about the news, and chatted to Robin Duke at the Blackpool Gazette who seemed keen to run a story on us (you can read the online version of the article here – Gazette article link). We were rehearsing down the studio when my mum rang, having just spotted what was almost a full page story on us, and read the article out down the phone; I must admit it looked more impressive in print when we got up to Blackpool. Saturday morning came and with the cars already loaded we made our way up to Blackpool, a route I’ve travelled many times. I arrived at my mums to find I was first one there, with Shane arriving just shortly after. We made ourselves feel at home and made the most of my mums hospitality, knowing it may be a while before we got chance to eat again, by which point Marc and Sonny had turned up too.
We headed off in convoy to the venue, parked up and unloaded. The Proclaimers were still sound-checking so we began to assemble the drum kit stands back stage. Having set-up and sound checked, we made our way to choose ourselves a dressing room. Knowing that everyone from the Beatles to Radiohead had played the Winter Gardens, I wondered who else might have shared that dressing room before us. I nipped out in to the venue to say hello to friends and family who were already out there in the audience, and saw that the venue was already starting to fill up, with the crowd several people deep pushed up against the crash barriers at the front of stage. I was starting to wonder if once we launched in to our opener ‘The Chalice’, not one of our more poppy moments, if they’d all step back. I headed back to the dressing room to chill for a while before we took to the stage.
The gig went well, the only thing that wasn’t quite right was the faulty mic cable, which was popping and banging, and curtailed my movement on stage a bit. It took me a while to realise it was me and not the guitar or bass. In the scheme of things if that’s all there was to worry about then things were cool. We came off stage, had a quick word with the Proclaimers, I forget what was said exactly as I was still buzzing from playing, before going back on to shift the gear off.
The reaction from the crowd was good, and I needn’t have worried about the crowd moving back. It was very much a family crowd, with a mix from teens to older music fans, fairly different to an average DA audience, which is usually a bit younger. Although we’re quite a lot heavier (and louder) than the Proclaimers, the crowd took to us, and there were plenty of people coming up to us afterwards who’d clearly enjoyed our set. We’d had some new flyers printed up, which people got us to sign, and I gather Sonny was even collared for a kiss. It’s a pity the album wasn’t ready as there were quite a few people asking after it, but hopefully they’ll have looked us up online for another listen.
We watched the Proclaimers set, which was well received, especially ‘500 miles’ which had the whole room jumping, before finishing up packing up and loading the cars. With the gear back at my mums we headed out in to town for a few pints, hitting a couple of my old haunts, and then on to a mate’s house for another drink or two, a bit of pool, and some weight lifting by Shane which demonstrated why it is that he hits the drums as hard as he does. 
Sunday we went in to Blackpool on what must have been the windiest day of the year. Gale force winds were lashing the prom as we took a wander down the front. The rest of the band seemed captivated by the tourist traps, which being a sandgrown’un, I’d pretty much left to the grockles when I lived there. Realising that time was ticking away and we still had a long drive ahead of us we headed back, said my goodbye’s to my family and hit the M55.
The following Thursday and it was off to Glastonbury, leaving the boys behind to work on the guitars for the album. The weather was looking better than last year, but with the tent up, came the first sign of rain. Out came the wellies on Friday, but fortunately it started to clear up, and by Sunday I was even back in a pair of converse. A far cry from the year before. With it possible to walk around the festival site, I took the opportunity to check out some of the other stages (last year I caught a lot of bands, but they were all within the mud soup triangle of the Pyramid, Other and John Peel stages. I also decided to check out some acts that I wouldn’t normally have gone to see and was glad I did, as there was far more to Glastonbury than just another rock show. One of the questions I got asked when I got back was did I see the Amy Winehouse incident, and what did I make of Jay-Z. Well I didn’t watch either of them as they clashed with the Futureheads and Biffy Clyro who were over on the John Peel stage.
Anyway I guess that’ll do for one blog, as it’s become a bit of a monster. (note to self: write smaller more frequent blogs in future)
Cheers,
Stee J.
