The Heartwear Process

Are you ready to fall in love with Heartwear Process?

I saw this band on Friday for the second time this month, and it's fair to say that they were amazing. Definitely up there in my favourite local bands - I hope they're huge! They're a bit like Nick Cave, a bit like Interpol and just generally very, very good. Check them out!

Oh, he's such a poet!

While listening to Radio 1 yesterday in the car Jo Whiley nearly made me vomit. Talking with JK and Joel, two of the least charismatic people ever to grace the radio, she mentioned that she'd heard some of the tracks from the new Arctic Monkeys album. She gushed on that "Oh, he's such a poet. He really is." clearly getting a bit damp at the idea of tthe spotty child who sings for them. When will she realise that her opinion on music is absolutely tainted by the fact that she's such a ridiculous sycophant? Why would I trust the opinion of someone who will suck up to anyone who's good enough to give her an interview? Jo, if you want people to take you seriously, try giving a real opinion, rather than just what's trendy.

In other news, Jo reports that Timmy Mallet and BomBallerina "really know the music of the streets. Their take on urban swimwear is some of the most thought provoking lyrics [she's] ever heard".

24-hour Drinking

Wow, so now it's OK in the UK to serve alcohol for 24 hours solid. Nice. Politicians are screaming it's going to lead to more binge drinking related crimes, family groups are horrified and Yates's Wine Lodge are planning to put boxing rings in their bars, just to formalise the whole drink-violence thing.

My view? Glad you asked. Binge drinking's been around in the UK forever. Friday and Saturday night have always been the same - booze, trouble, fights, if you're lucky cop off with some reasonable looking girl. This isn't a new phenomenon. The only difference is that with the increasing levels of affluence in this country, more people are now able to afford to go out more regularly and spend more during their time out. And that's what really pisses off the politicians. It's that "commoners" are now allowed to do this. The House Of Commons bar has been 24-hour serving for decades, but you don't see them saying that should be banned - of course it's a good idea that our politicians are permanently shitfaced!

I guess it's cos I'm getting older, but the idea of being on the lash until 7am doesn't really appeal to me unless I'm on holiday.

Anyway, maybe if we focused more on why Brits have always needed to get completely obliterated on the weekend, we'd find a way of avoiding the problem all together.

George Best

What's yellow and goes beep beep, beep beep? George Best. Well, not for much longer, anyway.

His family have rallied around him - his son's biffed Abi Titmus "just for Dad", his ex-wife Alex "we're not married any more but to have some desperate hold on fame I still use the surname" Best has done a shoot for Hello magazine, and his current girlfriend has met with her lawyers to get into his will. It's a touching tale of family unity. Good luck, George.

I Hate Horses.

I Hate Horses.

That website was in Zoo this week - it gets a bit harsh now and again, but it did make me laugh, cos I really can't stand horses! Big stinking things, ridden by socially inept windbags - people have to clean up after their dogs, so why not their horses? OK, the argument is that cars also spew out mess, but we pay for the cleaning of that via road tax, petrol tax, insurance tax and all sorts of other things.

Can someone please hurry up and invent a horse nappy?

Hox-to-tha-ton!

Wow. Long time no blog. Went to see Rebus last night at the Hoxton Bar & Grill. A bit of an odd feeling as last time I saw them there was the 6th of July, and the following day a several places I'd been at were bombed. Scary stuff. Luckiy, no such things have happened today!

Rebus were great - the Hoxton Bar's a fantastic little venue with a main bar area and then a back room that must hold a hundred or so people, with a big stage. The first band on, Fortune Drive (or something like that), were pretty good, sounding like a mix between Bloc Party, Embrace and for some reason, Travis. Generally good stuff, but they really, really don't seem to understand why bands have a soundcheck - it's so that you can check all the levels and ensure that everything's at a good volume and everyone's heard. Fine and well, unless your guitarist / singer wanders on stage and turns his amp up so loud you can't hear anything else! They had a keyboard player and their downtrodden roadie kept leaping on stage thinking it wasn't working - it was fine, it just couldn't be heard over that sodding guitar! Yes! You're a good player! Yes, you have innovative sounds! But no, please no, we don't need you to be twice as loud as the rest of the band! Aargh!

Anyway, then Rebus came on. Steve had borrowed my amp for the night due to his exploding, and it seemed to do the trick! They were sounding great again, with the new songs (Promises, particularly) really fitting superbly into the set. Let's hope they get signed soon and world domination can commence!

The last band were a comedy band from Watford, although they sounded Scouse. Total rubbish, but suprisingly endearing and funny. Don't know what they were called, but their final song, London Town, was brilliant..

Anyway, 2 and a bit hours later I was home, after the longest drive in history. That'll teach me to drive to gigs. Knackered now, but I've got a big presentation this afternoon so I'll need to get motivated very quickly!!

Rebus and Mr Fogg at the Rising Sun Arts Centre in Reading this Saturday. Should be fantastic!

Gig last night...

Well, it's Wednesday, halfway through the week, and thank goodness! Luckily, here at work we have a fire alarm test that goes off at 11am, so it's kind of nice that it signifies almost the halfway point..

Anyway, I went to see Rebus at Plan-B in Brixton last night. What a great gig! They're just getting better and better, with some awesome new songs, and they're basically the best unsigned band in the country.

The band on before them were pretty good, I think they were called Chopper Harris. The singer was quite a good frontman, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see them again.. And the last band, who's name I didn't get, were just pretty dismal. With a drummer and a percussionist using not far off a full drumkit, they just looked like a low-rent version of Stomp, but without the dancing or the rythmn. The guitarist looked and sounded like he'd much prefer to be in a U2 tribute band and overall they were pretty shoddy. So we left quite soon during their set!

Had a Nandos though, which was nice. Bit spicy though!