WARNING - This journal entry is extremely long. But, you'll be pleased to know, I'm feeling a lot better than I was last week. Thanks to everyone who left kind messages on the last entry - much appreciated folks.
So yes, I'm back. And I had a great time thanks for asking. But before I start, a question for you lot:
I'm currently reading Mark Radcliffe's book "Showbusiness - Tales of a Rock 'n' Roll Nobody" again and enjoying it as much as I did first time. Now they do say everyone's got a good book in them somewhere and for the last few months I've sort of been weighing up in my head as to maybe use one journal entry a week (probably the Friday one) to write my own rock 'n' roll memoirs about the bands I've been in over the last eleven years. The only thing stopping me is worrying that it's gonna bore whoever reads it shitless. So my question to you is - should I? After all, it's you lot out there who read this thing - does the idea of reading about eleven years of (admittedly fairly tame compared to yer Motley Crues and similar but with some fairly funny stories in there) rock 'n' roll antics or should I just forget about it and carry on doing this thing as before? Leave a note in me journal if you've got any thoughts on the subject and when I do my next update (probably Wednesday) I'll come to a decision.
But anyway, that was some weekend! Really really great. The only downside is my bank account is now 200 nearer its overdraft limit (ie very near indeed - ouch) and my liver is probably gonna need a few days off the booze for its own good. But anyway, some memories both good and bad of the weekend.
- Getting 15 miles up into the Dales in the car before realising I'd left my ticket at home. Cue much swearing and turning around and driving back to get it.
- Parking on the seafront at 6pm on a dull Thursday evening with the rain pissing it down worried about whether I'd find a B&B. Let's just say my first impressions of Morecambe weren't so good - the place brings the phrase "run down" to mind like the proverbial GBH riff.
- Getting out of the B&B I'd checked into to wander down to the Market (where the main stage was) and seeing the most amazing view across the bay with the mountains rising up on the other side. Yes, Morecambe is run down but it's amazing how calming a walk down the seafront can be especially when you're as stressed as I was last week.
- Anyway, got to the Acoustic Stage (the only place where anything was really happening early Thursday evening) and the first band I saw? Tenpole Tudor. All together now - "Over de hill with de swords of a thousand men" Oh please yerselves.
- Didn't see many bands on Thursday night but I did make friends with a gang of punkers from Burnley who were up for the weekend and spent the weekend hanging around with them (NB syer_lps, I did look for you dude but couldn't see ya - I think we must've missed each other. Maybe next year set a specific time & place to meet up now that I know the place a bit better like).
- However, the one band I did make a point of seeing on Thursday, Red Alert, were superb - proper old-skool north-eastern punk just the way it should be. Even better, I met their singer Cast Iron Smith on the stairs heading out of the venue and I have to say the guy is a thoroughly nice bloke - he seemed genuinely impressed when I told him that Red Alert were one of the first bands who really got me into punk (mainly due to having a Mackem flatmate at Uni who used to play me a load of stuff by them and Sunderland's other main punk export the Angelic Upstarts when he was teaching me how to play six-string guitar). Compare this to some of the wankers in bands I've met back here in Leeds (no names mentioned and suffice to say this doesn't apply to any of the ones me and primate currently deal with at our agency but let's just say a few of the electroclash/sub-Libertines garage punk tossers I've met have egos the size of Birmingham on the grounds of a few good reviews in local fanzines and a passing mention in the NME and badly need taking down a peg or two by someone) and it's a really nice change to meet bands whose music you love who are also genuinely good people.
- Anyway, staggered up to the Market on Friday morning with a staggering hangover and what's the first thing that happens? I end up participating in a bingo game run by Max Splodge of Splodgenessabounds ("Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please" et al) fame! I swear I wasn't on drugs at the time officer...
Still, it was all good fun and it has to be said Max is a genuinely funny guy. And, needless to say, I saw Splodgenessabounds live later and they well and truly shredded - their comedy punk version of "Two Little Boys" still kicks arse twenty years on.
- Spent most of the early afternoon just browsing the market (and spending too much money on punk CD's which I've been trying to track down - d'oh!!
) but I did catch Leeds punk heroes the Dead Pets who were excellent. Was a bit worried as last time I saw 'em at Joseph's Well in Leeds back in December they were poor but then they had just come back from a sixty-date tour at the time. All the ska-punks out there among you, check these guys out next time they play near you (and no I'm not just saying this 'cos Chris, their guitarist, is a mate of mine honest guv
) The Guitar Gangsters, who were on before them, were also very good - really tight power-punk trio who I'll certainly try and see again if they play in Leeds/Bradford some time soon.
- Speaking of extra-curricular activities, also saw some Brit and Portugese skins staging a rematch of the controversial Euro 2004 game the other month using a couple of 5ft plastic rockets (god only knows where they got 'em from
) for goalposts. Again, it's just good to see how a love of decent music can unite so many people really I guess.
- First "major" band of the day I saw were the Lurkers who again, were extremely good. Arturo (the group's singer/bassist) is a genuine star and a proper punk rock stalwart (although the less said about his country 'n' western acoustic set the next day the better really!!
) - check their new album "26 Years" out if you get the chance.
- One of the main oddities of the first full day - John Otway. Okay so he's not really punk but the guy is absolutely hilarious and his version of "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was definitely worth wandering into the Dome to see. Luckily I missed Chas 'n' Dave as I was outside getting a breath of fresh air at the time to counter the beer. Still, I made it back for Splodgenessabounds though.
- Headliners at the Market Arena on Friday were Stiff Little Fingers and, yeah, still one of the best punk bands around today. They played "At The Edge", "Nobody's Hero", "Back To Front", "Just Fade Away", "Each Dollar A Bullet" - classic after classic really. Proper legends, no question.
- Sadly, on my way out of the venue to get some money out for more beer and an SLF hoodie, the main low point of my weekend happened. Walking past an arcade, a bunch of 15-year-old scally tossers attacked a couple of punk girls and knocked 'em over. Wow, really hard lads your parents must be ever so proud of you. Twats.
- Happily, justice was swiftly served when a bunch of Croatian skinheads (genuinely good blokes who I'd been chatting to in the beer garden earlier) saw what had happened and comprehensively steamed the little trackie-wearing bastards before making sure the girls were okay (luckily they were - a bit of fresh air, a glass of water and a sit down seemed to put them to rights). I normally don't approve of any sort of violence but it's gotta be said those cowardly fuckers deserved everything they got. Suffice to say I think at least a couple of 'em are gonna have had emergency visits to the dentists in the last day or two and hopefully they'll think twice about picking on people for looking "different" again.
- So it seemed a bit apt when I got back to the acoustic platform to see Wreckless Eric and he told the tale of how he'd been walking down the seafront earlier in the day and had seen a bunch of Burberries shout "Get out of our town yer fookers!" at a couple of mohawks. His take on it - "Well, perhaps they want to stay in their town...and die in their town...and watch as it dies around them." Well said man.
- Ooh and I now have one of my great punk mysteries finally solved - the second line of the chorus of Mr Eric's classic "Whole Wide World" is in fact "I've got the whole wide world to find out where they hide her" Well okay it may not mean so much to you but it's been puzzling me for ages and it did to me. So nyer.
- Finished off the day by seeing the very excellent Menace over at the Dome - proper old-skool street-punk and they've still got it after all these days - Oddy, the new frontman (also of the similarly excellent Resistance 77) has a real stage presence and it definitely helps. Plus, of course, "GLC", "Electrocutioner", all the classics. Great.
- Saturday. More bingo. Luckily I didn't win Max's bogey prize of a used surgical glove (really, you don't wanna know
). Come to think of it, I didn't win any prizes at all.
Ah well...
- Band-wise, Saturday didn't exactly get off to the best possible start - the first group on the Market Stage, Texas Terri Bomb were dreadful (Texas Terri-Bull would've been a more accurate name I feel
) - really terrible growly girl-fronted punk. This lot really need to get some Vice Squad albums and take notes as a matter of priority (but more on that later) Much better though were Rough Kutz, a ska band from Stoke, who I saw over at the Carleton. Really good stuff (shades of the Specials, Bad Manners et al). Definitely one I'll look out for on the Leeds gig listings in the near future. Crashed Out, who followed them, were very good as well featuring ex-Angelic Upstarts drummer Decca Wade and playing some fast and furious street punk which went down extremely well with those in attendance.
- Saw lots of excellent acoustic sets on the Acoustic Stage (had an argument with one of the Burnley punkers I was hanging out with about this - him: "It's an acoustic stage man, that's not fookin' punk rock!" me: "Ah stop yer moanin' man, it's a good place to chill out when yer this knackered after all the drinking!"
) including Nick Cash (999), John Plain (the Boys) and the great and good Attila The Stockbroker whose poem slagging off the stupidly over-rated Eminem (called "Effineff") was a true masterpiece.
Also got the opportunity to see one of my all-time heroes, Knox from the Vibrators, doing an acoustic set there on Sunday.
- Later evening, I saw Gold Blade (as energetic as ever - the new album should be a cracker!
), the Filaments (ska-punk with balls - oh yeah!
), 999 (a more than competent set that shows their longevity is no fluke - "Homicide" and "Feelin' Alright With The Crew" still sound great all these years on) and Peter & The Test Tube Babies (not as good as the other later evening bands but still a good set - quite funny seeing the look on Peter's face when the rest of the group got him a stripogram midway through the set as it was his birthday!
).
- The two highlights though were Vice Squad and the Adicts. VS truly proved that punk bands don't necessarily become a parody of themselves once they get older - sure they're now more of a metal band than a punk band but Beki Bondage is still arguably the best female punk singer around and the new stuff like "You Can't Buy Back The Dead" and "Westend Stars" is, IMHO, far superior to their older early '80s stuff. As for the Adicts, words cannot do justice. Basically, these guys put on one hell of a show (streamer cannons, glitterbombs, the works basically) - I honestly didn't know they were this good. Plus, of course, killer pop-punk tunes ("Chinese Takeaway", "Troubadour", "Viva La Revolution" etc). If you've not yet heard 'em, do yerself a favour and do so asap - I think this lot'd put a smile on even the most hardened emocore kid's boat race*.
- On to Sunday then - started well with the Mingers who put on an excellent hard-hitting thrash-punk set (can I have me fiver now Peter?
) followed by mohawk types Freaks Union who I also enjoyed.
- Took the early afternoon out to have lunch at a very nice Chinese restaurant on the seafront before seeing Resistance 77 who put on a great set mid-afternoon - I've only got one of their albums at the mo but after seeing that I shall certainly keep an eye out for the others.
- Unfortunately, I missed most of the UK Subs as the promoters had the rather odd idea of putting them on at the tiny Carleton venue meaning there was a ten-minute queue stretching outside. Still, from the 15 minutes I did see, they're still as good as ever - "Emotional Blackmail" and "Warhead" still sound fantastic. As it was I wandered back to the Dome to see the Vibrators who put on a great set playing all the classics ("Pure Mania", "Automatic Lover", "Disco In Moscow").
- Also worth a mention - I met Eddie from the Vibrators and Charlie Harper from the UK Subs both running their own merchandise stalls at the gig! Both thoroughly nice guys as well. Other famous people I met briefly over the weekend - Arturo Bassick from the Lurkers (at the bar), Max Splodge (ditto), John Plain from the Boys (in the Acoustic arena), TV Smith and Gaye Advert (by the merchandise stand - one of the Burnley lads who's a huge Adverts fan was totally in awe!
) and, very briefly, Knox from the Vibrators who was selling some of his paintings before his acoustic set on the Saturday). All big heroes of mine and, without exception, nice people too.
- Annoyingly the Cockney Rejects, who were meant to headline pulled out so after seeing ex-Adverts frontman TV Smith put on a great set backed by US teen-punks the Midnight Creeps (who I certainly regret missing if they play their own material with the sort of energy they put into TV's stuff) I finished the evening by watching Chumbawamba on the acoustic stage. I'll admit I'm not a massive fan but I really enjoyed 'em even if nowadays they look like your mum and dad's anarchist mates a bit. Great thought-provoking anti-Nazi acoustic punk rock and all the better for it.
So now I'm back here in the real world but what a weekend it's been - I really think an SG deputation should be sent to this event next year, any volunteers? And all for only fifty quid per ticket as well - stuff yer Glasto up yer arse is all I can say!!
* And speaking of emocore kids, I guess I'd better sign off now and give emogirl a ring and let her know I'm okay and I missed her (which I did although she's probably gonna be pissed off that I didn't see the Business as I was watching SLF instead
). Hope everyone else had a good weekend. I'll catch up with you all during the next few days no doubt.
Yorkie

So yes, I'm back. And I had a great time thanks for asking. But before I start, a question for you lot:
I'm currently reading Mark Radcliffe's book "Showbusiness - Tales of a Rock 'n' Roll Nobody" again and enjoying it as much as I did first time. Now they do say everyone's got a good book in them somewhere and for the last few months I've sort of been weighing up in my head as to maybe use one journal entry a week (probably the Friday one) to write my own rock 'n' roll memoirs about the bands I've been in over the last eleven years. The only thing stopping me is worrying that it's gonna bore whoever reads it shitless. So my question to you is - should I? After all, it's you lot out there who read this thing - does the idea of reading about eleven years of (admittedly fairly tame compared to yer Motley Crues and similar but with some fairly funny stories in there) rock 'n' roll antics or should I just forget about it and carry on doing this thing as before? Leave a note in me journal if you've got any thoughts on the subject and when I do my next update (probably Wednesday) I'll come to a decision.
But anyway, that was some weekend! Really really great. The only downside is my bank account is now 200 nearer its overdraft limit (ie very near indeed - ouch) and my liver is probably gonna need a few days off the booze for its own good. But anyway, some memories both good and bad of the weekend.
- Getting 15 miles up into the Dales in the car before realising I'd left my ticket at home. Cue much swearing and turning around and driving back to get it.

- Parking on the seafront at 6pm on a dull Thursday evening with the rain pissing it down worried about whether I'd find a B&B. Let's just say my first impressions of Morecambe weren't so good - the place brings the phrase "run down" to mind like the proverbial GBH riff.
- Getting out of the B&B I'd checked into to wander down to the Market (where the main stage was) and seeing the most amazing view across the bay with the mountains rising up on the other side. Yes, Morecambe is run down but it's amazing how calming a walk down the seafront can be especially when you're as stressed as I was last week.
- Anyway, got to the Acoustic Stage (the only place where anything was really happening early Thursday evening) and the first band I saw? Tenpole Tudor. All together now - "Over de hill with de swords of a thousand men" Oh please yerselves.

- Didn't see many bands on Thursday night but I did make friends with a gang of punkers from Burnley who were up for the weekend and spent the weekend hanging around with them (NB syer_lps, I did look for you dude but couldn't see ya - I think we must've missed each other. Maybe next year set a specific time & place to meet up now that I know the place a bit better like).
- However, the one band I did make a point of seeing on Thursday, Red Alert, were superb - proper old-skool north-eastern punk just the way it should be. Even better, I met their singer Cast Iron Smith on the stairs heading out of the venue and I have to say the guy is a thoroughly nice bloke - he seemed genuinely impressed when I told him that Red Alert were one of the first bands who really got me into punk (mainly due to having a Mackem flatmate at Uni who used to play me a load of stuff by them and Sunderland's other main punk export the Angelic Upstarts when he was teaching me how to play six-string guitar). Compare this to some of the wankers in bands I've met back here in Leeds (no names mentioned and suffice to say this doesn't apply to any of the ones me and primate currently deal with at our agency but let's just say a few of the electroclash/sub-Libertines garage punk tossers I've met have egos the size of Birmingham on the grounds of a few good reviews in local fanzines and a passing mention in the NME and badly need taking down a peg or two by someone) and it's a really nice change to meet bands whose music you love who are also genuinely good people.
- Anyway, staggered up to the Market on Friday morning with a staggering hangover and what's the first thing that happens? I end up participating in a bingo game run by Max Splodge of Splodgenessabounds ("Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please" et al) fame! I swear I wasn't on drugs at the time officer...


- Spent most of the early afternoon just browsing the market (and spending too much money on punk CD's which I've been trying to track down - d'oh!!


- Speaking of extra-curricular activities, also saw some Brit and Portugese skins staging a rematch of the controversial Euro 2004 game the other month using a couple of 5ft plastic rockets (god only knows where they got 'em from


- First "major" band of the day I saw were the Lurkers who again, were extremely good. Arturo (the group's singer/bassist) is a genuine star and a proper punk rock stalwart (although the less said about his country 'n' western acoustic set the next day the better really!!


- One of the main oddities of the first full day - John Otway. Okay so he's not really punk but the guy is absolutely hilarious and his version of "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet" was definitely worth wandering into the Dome to see. Luckily I missed Chas 'n' Dave as I was outside getting a breath of fresh air at the time to counter the beer. Still, I made it back for Splodgenessabounds though.

- Headliners at the Market Arena on Friday were Stiff Little Fingers and, yeah, still one of the best punk bands around today. They played "At The Edge", "Nobody's Hero", "Back To Front", "Just Fade Away", "Each Dollar A Bullet" - classic after classic really. Proper legends, no question.

- Sadly, on my way out of the venue to get some money out for more beer and an SLF hoodie, the main low point of my weekend happened. Walking past an arcade, a bunch of 15-year-old scally tossers attacked a couple of punk girls and knocked 'em over. Wow, really hard lads your parents must be ever so proud of you. Twats.

- Happily, justice was swiftly served when a bunch of Croatian skinheads (genuinely good blokes who I'd been chatting to in the beer garden earlier) saw what had happened and comprehensively steamed the little trackie-wearing bastards before making sure the girls were okay (luckily they were - a bit of fresh air, a glass of water and a sit down seemed to put them to rights). I normally don't approve of any sort of violence but it's gotta be said those cowardly fuckers deserved everything they got. Suffice to say I think at least a couple of 'em are gonna have had emergency visits to the dentists in the last day or two and hopefully they'll think twice about picking on people for looking "different" again.
- So it seemed a bit apt when I got back to the acoustic platform to see Wreckless Eric and he told the tale of how he'd been walking down the seafront earlier in the day and had seen a bunch of Burberries shout "Get out of our town yer fookers!" at a couple of mohawks. His take on it - "Well, perhaps they want to stay in their town...and die in their town...and watch as it dies around them." Well said man.

- Ooh and I now have one of my great punk mysteries finally solved - the second line of the chorus of Mr Eric's classic "Whole Wide World" is in fact "I've got the whole wide world to find out where they hide her" Well okay it may not mean so much to you but it's been puzzling me for ages and it did to me. So nyer.

- Finished off the day by seeing the very excellent Menace over at the Dome - proper old-skool street-punk and they've still got it after all these days - Oddy, the new frontman (also of the similarly excellent Resistance 77) has a real stage presence and it definitely helps. Plus, of course, "GLC", "Electrocutioner", all the classics. Great.

- Saturday. More bingo. Luckily I didn't win Max's bogey prize of a used surgical glove (really, you don't wanna know


- Band-wise, Saturday didn't exactly get off to the best possible start - the first group on the Market Stage, Texas Terri Bomb were dreadful (Texas Terri-Bull would've been a more accurate name I feel


- Saw lots of excellent acoustic sets on the Acoustic Stage (had an argument with one of the Burnley punkers I was hanging out with about this - him: "It's an acoustic stage man, that's not fookin' punk rock!" me: "Ah stop yer moanin' man, it's a good place to chill out when yer this knackered after all the drinking!"



- Later evening, I saw Gold Blade (as energetic as ever - the new album should be a cracker!



- The two highlights though were Vice Squad and the Adicts. VS truly proved that punk bands don't necessarily become a parody of themselves once they get older - sure they're now more of a metal band than a punk band but Beki Bondage is still arguably the best female punk singer around and the new stuff like "You Can't Buy Back The Dead" and "Westend Stars" is, IMHO, far superior to their older early '80s stuff. As for the Adicts, words cannot do justice. Basically, these guys put on one hell of a show (streamer cannons, glitterbombs, the works basically) - I honestly didn't know they were this good. Plus, of course, killer pop-punk tunes ("Chinese Takeaway", "Troubadour", "Viva La Revolution" etc). If you've not yet heard 'em, do yerself a favour and do so asap - I think this lot'd put a smile on even the most hardened emocore kid's boat race*.

- On to Sunday then - started well with the Mingers who put on an excellent hard-hitting thrash-punk set (can I have me fiver now Peter?


- Took the early afternoon out to have lunch at a very nice Chinese restaurant on the seafront before seeing Resistance 77 who put on a great set mid-afternoon - I've only got one of their albums at the mo but after seeing that I shall certainly keep an eye out for the others.
- Unfortunately, I missed most of the UK Subs as the promoters had the rather odd idea of putting them on at the tiny Carleton venue meaning there was a ten-minute queue stretching outside. Still, from the 15 minutes I did see, they're still as good as ever - "Emotional Blackmail" and "Warhead" still sound fantastic. As it was I wandered back to the Dome to see the Vibrators who put on a great set playing all the classics ("Pure Mania", "Automatic Lover", "Disco In Moscow").
- Also worth a mention - I met Eddie from the Vibrators and Charlie Harper from the UK Subs both running their own merchandise stalls at the gig! Both thoroughly nice guys as well. Other famous people I met briefly over the weekend - Arturo Bassick from the Lurkers (at the bar), Max Splodge (ditto), John Plain from the Boys (in the Acoustic arena), TV Smith and Gaye Advert (by the merchandise stand - one of the Burnley lads who's a huge Adverts fan was totally in awe!


- Annoyingly the Cockney Rejects, who were meant to headline pulled out so after seeing ex-Adverts frontman TV Smith put on a great set backed by US teen-punks the Midnight Creeps (who I certainly regret missing if they play their own material with the sort of energy they put into TV's stuff) I finished the evening by watching Chumbawamba on the acoustic stage. I'll admit I'm not a massive fan but I really enjoyed 'em even if nowadays they look like your mum and dad's anarchist mates a bit. Great thought-provoking anti-Nazi acoustic punk rock and all the better for it.
So now I'm back here in the real world but what a weekend it's been - I really think an SG deputation should be sent to this event next year, any volunteers? And all for only fifty quid per ticket as well - stuff yer Glasto up yer arse is all I can say!!

* And speaking of emocore kids, I guess I'd better sign off now and give emogirl a ring and let her know I'm okay and I missed her (which I did although she's probably gonna be pissed off that I didn't see the Business as I was watching SLF instead

Yorkie

VIEW 11 of 11 COMMENTS
I think the book idea would make a great read! Go for it!