Ambulance Ltd

On Thursday I went to see Ambulance Ltd at the Joiner's Arms with Scott. They're a band from New York that take their styles from many influences spanning several decades of various genres ranging from Motown to Rock, Psycadelia to Blues. I'd heard them round Scotts a couple of times, he has the CD and been meaning to get myself a copy (all above board and from a regular retail outlet of course! Wouldn't dream of burning a copy. *ahem*)

The beginning part of Thursday was a usual uneventful day at work. Boring, monotonous and made me nearly fall asleep. The only thing that was keeping me awake was the fact I was off to The Joiner's that night - this would be my first visit to the venue and was actually quite excited about it! As soon as it came to about 4:45 I decided not to start anything new at work, got changed into my casual clothes and surfed the net for a couple of minutes til it got to 5. Then I walked straight to Scotts to settle down to a beer and some hot-dogs and catch up on the weeks events (which wasn't that much) but we also shared some of our photography. My camera's memory card was ram packed with pics spanning several weeks - they still had the pics from our last London visit! We set off for the train station at about 6:50 to get the train at around 7:10 from Pokesdown Station. I love Pokesdown Station, it's got so much character (hense the arty-ness of the following pictures!)...

Pokesdown Station ... marvelous!



The Journey

When we finally got to Southampton we made our way to the pub just around the corner from the Joiners - I forget the name but it's on the corner of Palmerston Road and South Front (I think it's called) En route we got talking about how the first Bottom Live video was made at Southampton Guildhall. Scott said "Yeah, I was at that show. That was the day before my 18th Birthday!!" Pretty spooky as this was the day before his 30th birthday!! When we got to that pub we had about 3 or 4 games of pool and a couple of JD & Cokes - the second round was actually a double, but I think it was just over a double - if not a tripple - cos the bottle was emptied as one and a half shots per glass and then the barman had to get a new bottle of JD and poured out another full shot into each glass!! Man, it tasted well strong, and yes it got us both completely fucked!

Our pool game rivalled
that of the pros!!

Time was starting to press and our drunkedness levels were starting to increase so we decided to hit the road to crawl our way to The Joiners. The place was pretty empty when we got there - we thought that there might not be that many people there as Ambulance Ltd were still a relatively unknown band. We weren't too sure about whether we should get in another drink, in fact Scott said he wasn't going to but then I told him that if we had a pint of something gassy (like lager) then it would take us longer to drink it and we should have sorted our heads out by then. So Carlsberg it was. I found a table to stick my jacket under (cos I didn't want to carry it around) and we took a wonder around the place. Man, it's small, but it's cool. After being given a guided tour of the venue we made our way back to the bar area where we were pretty stunned to see that the place had actually packed out!

The first band came up on stage. They were called The Cinematics, a four-piece band from Glasgow. They weren't bad actually, they weren't that special but they had some really good tunes but the bass player looked like a total prick and was embarrasing to watch - he had his t-shirt tucked in for Christ's sake!! We stuck around for about half of their set then went to the bar to get a refill and pretty much stayed there until they finished. There was a merchandise table giving away free badges so we both took one each - well, you never know do ya!

The Cinematics

Eventually the main reason for being here came on stage. We managed to get a good spot just at the front and over to the left of the stage, right by the stage stairs and all the cases for their equipment!! They played most of the best tracks from their debut album, including the singles, and 2 new tracks. It was absolutely roasting in there and the band basically broke out in a sweat after the first song!

Ambulance Ltd

They, totally rocked and were definitely worth seeing. The only bad point about the night was that we kept running into these really annoying bunch of groupies who were surrounding themselves around each and every band member one at a time gushing all over them and saying things like "You were much better than the other band" or "That guitar bit you did was sooo cool" or whatever. And when they saw that they weren't getting anywhere with the band member they had snared they'd move on to the next one and try again with THE SAME CHEESY LINES!!! They were putting my off my pint. One of them managed to sneak into one of my photos. Here is that photo with the girl in question....

minger!

Shortly after the gig the clock rang 12 and so it was Scott's Birthday. So I wished him a happy 30th (that makes me the first to do so!) and got the train home. It was really late by the time we got back so I crashed on his sofa.

The Big Move

So, I've finally moved!! That's why I've not updated this for a while. The move went pretty well, everything was shifted in 2 runs, the day was hot and sunny and everything was done before mid afternoon. The only problem is I don't have enough places to store stuff. I need to buy me a wardrobe and another chest of drawers. The guys say I could probably salvage something from one of the garages but to be honest I don't want something that's been thrown into a garage to rot for a reason!! I'll grab something from Argos or sommat!

On the evening of the big move I got a text from Mooro to come out for a couple of swift ones at the Durley with himself and Lottie. I said I'd gladly oblige as soon as I've made my room a bit tidier as everything was basically just plonked into the room. I managed to get my bed re-constructed and made so I could sleep in it that night and put away as much stuff as I could then went out to meet the guys at the Durley. Lottie and Mooro were enjoying a slap-up meal when I arrived. I wasn't mnuch company at first cos I was sooooo drained from having the cold and moving all my stuff but I eventually sorted it out after a couple of beers. After bumping into Richard Chasemore and his mate (John I think it was.... or maybe Rob!?!?) we moved onwards to the Goat and Tricycle to meet up with Griff and co. Lots more drinks and merriment ensued with lots of light-hearted banter. I must've sorted my head out by this time cos, according to Mooro, I was on fire on the comedy front. I can't remember any of it .... except the chicken curry story! (you know what I'm talking about, Mooro!!)

I also bumped into somebody I've not seen for years! Sam Adair!!! Used to be one of my best mates back when I was at college and for several years after too! ..... that was 11 years ago!!! (fuck me!) I parted with Mooro and co to join Sam's little circle of friends for a while to catch up on life. It was really bizarre, it was almost as if we'd never parted!

A random sight in the Goat was a really hammered bloke entertaining the oap crown with slurred sing-a-long songs ... including Show Me The Way To Amarillo, which also included a conga.....which reminds me of an old joke:

Q. What's a hundred foot long and smells of piss?
A. Pensioners doing the conga!

Another random sight was a league of 6 Catholic Vicars settling down to get pissed!! Absolutely surreal!... and yes they WERE actual vicars not people on a stag-do or whatever!

After the Goat we went to the Casino. Kim rang me up en route as she was down jet-setting from Leeds to see a BBLOC theatrical production and wanted to meet up. She wasn't up for the idea of coming to the Casino though, besides we'll be seeing her the following weekend anyway! The Casino was great, I must've had beginners luck cos I won £46 on the roulette wheel!! Woohoo!!

Man Cold

I'm totally bunged up with the ol' common cold at the moment. I think it was cos I went out loads over the end of May bank holiday and staggered home at 3am in nothing but jeans and T-shirt! It's really messing me up at the moment and I can't think straight. I keep half doing stuff and then getting side-tracked. I also can't be arsed to do stuff cos I'm feeling sooo lethargic. And I'm slightly deaf from blowing my nose loads. But I'm trying to battle it - there's no way I'm gonna let this one get the better of me. Every morning over the last 5 days I've been taking my multi-vitamin pills with extra Vit C + Zinc pills and having either Lemsip, Beechams, Soluble Asperin or something along the same lines - whatever's available really. Was on the phone to Kimmy for about an hour over the weekend - she always makes me feel better.

.... I think I'd better go unload my nostrils, I'm finding it hard to breathe!

*sniff sniff*
*sigh*

Big Brother...

...can be summed up with 2 words this year....

Gays and Tits!!

...that is all. .... Still watching it though.
(mainly cos of the tits!)

Saturday Curry...

I saw Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith today! My God. I'm totally speechless about it - it was absolutley amazing. I nearly cried twice!! Have to see it again soon!

As lottie was away to Homelands this weekend Mooro arranged a night out for everybody else who didn't go. First up was a lovely slap-up curry at the Westbourne Tandoori (spelling?) I had me al proper lovely house special. I ate as much as I could but I did have a sneaky beans on toast at home about an hour before left and it had totally bloated me out! After a good number of beers we set off for a couple of pint at the Goat and Tricycle. The girls (Simone and Fran) wanted to go home - they weren't up for a heavy night out drinking so it was just the lads.... pic....

Conversations mainly revolved around music... cool band names, potential set list for These Charming Men (a Morrisey cover-band one-off gig), Betika's new album and Trues Swamp's new album. And then it was off to the casino.... yet again more blurryness occured as my alcahol levels reached dangerous heights. I must've been drunk - I remember blurting the fine details of my marital downfall to Griff and Mooro. We also had a massively long conversastion about TV comedies and how the good ones always have a limited number of series before they start to get stale! So true!!

Final Friday

This was to be the last day for Kirsty at Glenigan. It was an odd day. It felt like every other boring, long, dull, dragged out day at work... except one of my best mates who comes upstairs for chats all the time at random intervals is leaving. It's gonna be weird when she's gone.

I did the big mistake of going to the pub for lunch. But it was cos of Kirsty's last day so it was ok... and besides the hair of the dog would've done me good (ok, I'm trying to justify it to myself here!) Went back to work with a tad smelly breath but that was OK, I had chewing gum. The rest of the afternoon made me want to sleep.

I got home and the first thing Glen did was pass me a spliff... which I took from him through habit. Another BIG mistake, I couldn't be arsed to get ready. It was sooo nice out on the patio with the housemates and a cool beer taking in some of the rays. It was nearly 7pm and I coulda stayed there all day, but I had to get ready. I also had to do the washing up... and shower.... and shave.... and eat.... oh God, I was running outta time!!! I quickly sent a text to Kirsty telling her that I'd be there at about 9ish (original plan was to be at Casa for 8!!!) .... but she didn't get the text - both her and Gareth were texting me asking where the hell was I!

Anyway, I got there, like I said, at 9ish. But I felt really in my shell, I didn't feel like talking to people - must've been that spliff I had earlier!! That was soon rectified after a couple of beers - ended up chatting loads to Kristian and snapping myself out of it. Then it was onwards to Bliss. Here's some pics....

Kirsty and Simone


Kirsty and me (ahh bless)


Kelly, Kirsty and Jodie er... experimenting!!


Gareth's probably being rude - as usual!


Just downed a Sambuca - spot the hardcore drinker


Kelly, Kirsty and Jodie looking sweet


Me showing off my camera to Gareth!

It was really packed in Bliss. Full of pretentious people... but then this place always is. The only way to get around it is to not give a toss and act like you own the place. I know it sounds silly but sometimes that's the only way I get around it! But anyway, I had a good time here. Most of the time it's the company you keep, right? And they guys from work are a good bunch and are a great laugh. Had to have a couple of Sambuca's though! Had one with Kirsty and one with Kelly and Lauren (see pic above). Had a bit of a dance (as ya do). I also knocked somebody's drink out of their hand - I really couldn't tell you who's fault it was but I bought him a replacement anyway, it's the least you can do in that kinda situation.

Then we went into Toko just up the road. It took Kirsty and I ages to get people to finish off their drinks and follow us to Toko. In the end we just left them and said "We're going to Toko, go there when you've finished your drinks". When we got there we bought ourselves a couple of drinks and circulated to see what we could see - stopped off on the dance floor on the way and made our way back to the entrance 30 mins later. The group were only just starting to turn up.

Things are pretty hazy around about now... and I didn't take any photos, which is a bummer. But I do remember having a good time. I also remember bumping into the guy from Bliss who I knocked the pint out of the hand of (Grammer??) He stopped me as I was walking past. I didn't recognise him at first cos he was all smiley and was like "Hey, man. How's it going?" I exchanged probably 2 or 3 sentances and then got bored and went to chat to some girls... as ya do.

Fuck knows what time I got home. I walked Kirsty to the taxi and then walked home from there. Went straight to bed!

New Flat - New Horizons!!

I went to see my new flat today. I'm gonna be moving in with Chantal, Rob from Perico and.... er.... can't remember her name! Mind you, I'm surprised I can remember anything at all of what happened over the weekend - I've pretty much got wasted every night from Thursday night through to Monday night. I think I've probably erased some of my braincells!

The place need a bit of a tidy up but hey, it looks good enough for me. My room will have its own patio - which will rock in the Summer... not to sure whether it'd be much fun in the Winter though! But then I might not even stay that long!

Rob was having a bit of a stress about a bass rig that he's been trying to borrow for the weekend and time was running short. But everything was a-ok after a couple of hours and so we headed off to Alcatraz to see Glockenspiel and The SK-5 at the Panda Flesh night. It was pretty weird going to this venue. I used to go there every Thursday and Saturday when it was the X-Treme years back. And it looks the same but different.... very odd. It was only the groundfloor that was open though - upstairs and the basement were closed. There were quite a lot of people there... regulars were saying how it was busier than normal. Now I don't want to run the risk of sounding like my grandad but fuck me, the music was soooo loud! I know there's a stigma attached to saying that particular sentence, and thus most people don't complain about it and just continue being deafened even though they're finding the volume uncomfortable! Typical brits!

Glock were a bit more comprehensible than usual tonight! I dunno why, maybe it was because I was actually listening to them, but hat's off to the Glock. Then SK-5 were on. They were using their first stage prop - a tent!!! That's right, all four of them squeezed into a tiny blue dome-tent and played random music made up on the spot, with Lee (Dutch Husband) occassionally holding up cards with the name of the songs. They had a video camera watching them inside the tent at all times and it was being projected onto the big projection screen behind them. So it wasn't like they alienated the audience by hiding inside the tent.

After the set, which went from being ok to being good to being amazingly kick-ass and back to good again, the boys packed up their equipment and came over to me and Lottie and said everyone's going to the Casino if I wanted to join. I thought why not!

I chose not to bet again as I was already pretty wasted by this time. So I just hung back, watched and drank while everybody else went on the table. Richard Chasemore (the artist who does the Star Wars Cross-sections books) orders a massive pile of ham and cheese sandwiches. The good thing about Casino's is that a few rounds of sandwiches are free if you're playing on the tables - you only pay a tip so Rich gave the waitress a quid!! hehe!

The rest of the evenings events went a bit cloudy from here on in. But I seem to remember getting up and going to work without any problems.... must've still been drunk!

A Homage to Kirsty

No longer than a couple of months after Kim left Glenigan and Bournemouth to live with Paul in Leeds, Kirsty's time to leave is closing too. She'll be staying in Bournemouth thankfully but is leaving the company so I won't get to see her everyday anymore! Boohoo!! We will be staying in touch as much as possible though.

Like Kimmy, I love her to bits and am gonna miss her. Raise your glasses one and all to Kirsty.

Another London Visit!

Quick update: Went to London AGAIN on Monday with Scott. here's a few pics...

...Also spotted Tanya Byron in Hammersmith tubestation. She's that child psychologist bird off the tele.

A little late - O'Neills

I've really got to try and start getting on top of this blogging. If I leave things for too long I forget stuff and can't be arsed to type what happened. So apologies in advance if everything here sounds a little vague. I'm also gonna leave the post times and dates as todays date so I know when I busted my ass to try and cover a week and a half's worth of stuff...... I'm sooo gonna miss stuff out (especially stuff like; went home, was bored, played Xbox, went to bed! which is what most of the last week consisted of due to being skint again!)

So, Thursday 19th May 2005 (you'll notice already that I missed out a weeks worth of stuff!) was a dreary rainy day. It kinda reflected the mood of most Star Wars fans that couldn't get tickets for the opening night. It was cold, windy and drizzly so when I got to O'Neills I was soaked. I was advised by Dave Purse to take some form of photo ID with me cos the bouncers were being stupidly strict - I brought my passport. Dave said that one of his mates got turned away the previous week even though we was clearly older than 18!

Anyway, I got in without a problem, found a corner to stick my jacket and found Gary and Simone straight away, went to the bar and also spotted Mooro at the end of the bar - he'd just arrived too. We had a chat and a laugh for about 10-20 mins, caught up on Gary and Simone's holiday etc. Gary gave me a CD of 6 songs to learn for our new band (name still undecided - Amateur Butchers or Stapler are a couple of names we're playing with!) And then Betika came on stage. Time to get to the front and take some pics....

They played a stonkin set again, the sound levels were set correctly this time (compared with The Villa gig!) and therefore sounded fuller. At the beginning of the gig Dave ushered everone forward to close the Bournemouth Gap, and even managed to get some audience participation with tamborines and shakers being handed out to the audience. This was the second time I'd seen Betika and its also the second time Dave snapped a string - I guess I must be a bad omen or something!! I told them I'll come in disguise next time! Ha!

After Betika I bumped into Rob Garment - an old mate from college (we were on the same courses from 1992 up until 1995) He was with his new girlfriend (Sarah) and his boss from work(Rachel - who I thought was pretty cute). In fact they'd went to the pub straight after work and ended up at O'Neills so they were still in their work clothes. I pretty much stayed with these guys for the rest of the night - catching up on old times and helplessly flirting with Rachel - and then left with Lee and Sarah.

Rubber Soul at O'Neills on Thursday nights

I was totally aware of Rubber Soul moving to O'Neills and having it as it's new domain. I was equally aware that this was the opening night. I even knew that True Swamp Neglect were playing on this night. What I didn't know was if anybody I knew would be there. As I was about to start the enquiries via a massive group text session (ooer, missus!!) I received a text from Scott. I believe he had the same idea and started making his own enquiries!! "Fancy going to O'Neils mate to see TRUE SWAMP and MY HI-fi SISTER tonight?" it said (including spelling errors and erratic capital letters!) "Fuckin' right!" I replied and set about arranging a time and a place to meet up. Everybody in my house had their own plans and disappeared to do their own thing. Glen and Kate went to babysit for a friend and Sarah went to her mum's. So I said come on round and we'll have a few beers and kill some time with some MTV2/VH2 before we head down to O'Neills.

I love MTV2 and VH2. If there's nothing else on the tele (and let's face it, is there ever?) then this is my usual channel hopping territory. The Killers were a very propular choice with the VT Operators of BOTH channels on this particular night. In fact MTV2 were doing a The Killers Vs The Strokes special. Anyhoo after a couple of beers each (and doing a couple of Dexy's impressions!) we made for O'Neills (via the NatWest cashpoint where we bumped into Dave and Carolyn from Betika)

£2 was the entrance fee and every penny worthwhile IMHO. My worries about not thinking anyone I knew would be there were soon quashed. As you know I'd already met Dave and Carolyn, I also saw Mooro, Rizlo, Sarah Speakers and BF (can't... remember... his....name!! .....er....Singer from Dutch Husband anyone? edit: it's Lee by the way), Immogen (also of Dutch Husband), and a girl that used to be the girlfriend on one of my best mates (Steve) - her name's Lucy Brasher (was a keen ametuer photographer when I knew her and did a few pics for HFM's website) but I didn't get to speak to her ..... or should I say, I avoided speaking to her cos of the amount of alcohol I'd consumed by the time she'd arrived. I would've ended up trying to say "Hey, Lucyyy, how ya doin'? Long time no see" etc. and it woulda come out as "Eeey, Looosshyy, aahyadin? Lohtimmmosee!" while spraying saliva all over her face. Not good, especially when it's an old mate.

When we first arrived I thought I could hear the psychedelic instrumental section from one of the tunes on Pink Floyd's first two albums being played in the background.... but it never went back into the main tune section!! That could only mean one thing.... Glockenspiel!! Sure enough, Glockenspiel were on stage, with a drummer this time. Now, there's always been a mixed oppinion on Glockenspiel. Kinda like the Marmite factor - you either love 'em or hate 'em. A recent conversastion on the Rubber Soul messageboard reflects that perfectly. I thought they were interesting and different. I mean, who else do you hear these days that plays instruments in a random chaotic way and yet still project a dark sound of fear and paranoia. ..... You couldn't dance to it though!

Next up were Gish's new band, My Hifi Sister. Yeah these guys were cool, had some pretty good tunes. I don't know how long they've been on the scene but they still had The Bournemouth Gap in front of them - this usually indicates a new audience. Anyhoo I thought they rocked. Cue pictures...

(apologies for the total redness of the pics - The Rubber Soul lads accidentally brought only red cells for the lights that night)

After these boys had finished and a couple more pints have been consumed, True Swamp Neglect were on stage. The Bournemouth Gap closes, and a blistering set ensues. I'd never seen them before (when I say this to people most of them gasp in horror!) and this was the primary reason for turning up tonight. I gotta say that I was totally blown away. Their performances were tight yet purposefully sloppy in an old-school Seattle Grunge sense. It's all too easy to compare these guys to Pavement (they're even self confessed Pavement-a-likes) but that's what I like about them. If you were a teenager in the early nineties and owned underground grunge albums (I'm not talking Nirvana, Alice In Chains or Soundgarden here, I'm talking Pavement, Sonic Youth, Sebadoh... maybe Pixies) then you've got to hear True Swamp Neglect. Nuff said!

currently listening to: Bloc Party