matt_organic

The Infest Report - oh yes. This will be a long one.

In short, it was fucking great. Arrived in Bradford an hour and a half early on the coach, found the halls and shacked up there with Tom to await the arrival of Asha, Tryste and Andrea. They arrived and we all got ready and proceeded to the Union for the first night. Other than having a generally cool atmosphere, there's not much to tell from that first night. The bands didn't engage me much but the music was cool and people were friendly. It also marked the first of about 4 fire alarms that went off during the weekend, forcing a few hundred cyberkids out into the bitter, bitter cold. Eventually it got old but that first night was just a novelty - especially because I'm sure everyone at first thought it was just an intro to another Lights Of Euphoria track. Folks bumped into on Friday included Wrathchild and Vesna, and the acquaintance was made of a charmingly friendly chap called Martin on our corridor. He has blonde and blue hair, so you know he's damn cool.

The Saturday rocked like a rocking thing. We went into Bradford for the early afternoon and wandered around the international market buying pancakes and cheese, then off to the festival once more. The DJing was better, especially with Ashabehind the wheels of steel (ahem) for a couple of hours. I spent wads of money at the stalls there, gaining some CDs that I've had trouble finding out in the big wide world. The bands that day were also a whole lot better, with Angel Theory, Plastic and Suicide Commando all impressing me. The first band of the day, Skinflick, also get honourable mentions as being the only band with guitars on the entire weekend - they didn't really fit into the lineup but put their hearts into it and walked out with some new friends so fucking kudos to them. I danced a lot more, managing to pull off some entire kata on the dancefloor which is impressive. I don't usually have enough room for roundhouse kicks... This day held all of TWO fire alarms, I believe. I came across an old friend from York, Lisa, which was unexpectedly cool. Also got accosted by a wasted Vesna for a good 20 minutes, during which she uttered the immortal words "Do you like to dance?" Do I like to dance? How obviously new our friendship is. Met one of Tryste's countrymen, a maniac dancer by the name of Joe. People have said I look dangerous on the dancefloor, but nothing compared to this dude. We managed to get a whole 8 hours sleep this night, as well. Unbelievable.

We went to see The Chronicles Of Riddick on Sunday afternoon, which is pretty but uninspiring. Like a lot of recent films, I enjoyed it but was left with the feeling it could have been a lot better. Still, it's a big step above the whole Underworld/Van Helsing cinema farce. The final day of Infest was as good as the previous days, although bandwise the only act who grabbed my full attention were the headliners Assemblage 23. However, they grabbed me in a big way. Blew me away would be the best way to speak of it. Really amazing, the atmosphere was electric and fully the equal of what I would expect from a well-versed rock act. Dancing was done to many things, as you would expect. At the late hour of 2 we moved onto the afterparty which was packed and slightly strange. The club room was playing all the usual bleepy fare, but the barroom was treating my ears to some Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. Love electronic music though I do, getting a brief break was quite welcome. It was quite a laid back affair, I hung around and had deep discussions with Tryste outside for a while. We managed to return to halls at about 4.30 and then get to bed at about 6. Up at 8 for the coach. Obviously, I return home exhausted but happy.

Oh, and I spent Bank Holiday Monday in bed.