A generation w@nked itself to sleep

[alexsarll]

alfirin_kirinki's birthday, is it? Marvellous. Have a good one!

Strange to think that was the first 53 I've caught in months, when once it was my route to work. The only change I spotted on the Old Kent Road was that the Beckett Bar was now back to being the Thomas a Beckett - plus closed and To Let. Some areas will resist gentrification to their last crack-tainted breath.
[Aside: I do wish my colleague would stop doing the 'comedy' Oirish thing so loudly every damn day. It wasn't funny the first time, and wouldn't be funny even were it less shrill.]
I was in such inhospitable climes to see The Vichy Government play the Angular Recordings launch at the Paradise Bar. I think this was the first club I'd ever attended whose posters consciously positioned it against "Simon Price's disco", so my feeling of being behind enemy lines was intensified. And the first band on didn't help; Jamie tells me they're Haines fans but it really doesn't show. In the singer's head, he is Black Francis; in my world he is a fat man playing uninspired indie.
Vichy, however, were on particularly good form; something about the venue's PA was making their keyboard sound even more malicious than usual. I think this was most of the audience's first Vichy experience, and several converts were made both pro and anti. Of the latter, particular notice must go to one heckler behind me who, aside from the standard "FVCK OFF!", answered Jamie's "How To Become A Cult Figure?" with "Get shot on stage at your first gig", and was heard expressing astonishment and regret that he'd put up posters for the show. Some people's Pavlovian response to the word "n1gger" obviously overwhelms any understanding of context, though I must confess I was glad of ansia's impressed presence down the front for the concrete proof it offered that Vichy aren't just an in-joke for jaded white metropolitans.
I didn't stay for The Swear; judging by the soundcheck, the pretty singer was their only merit, and she wasn't pretty enough to justify a whole set of their genericism.

Oh, and I'm still not tired of the DLR, which gladdens me.

Comments

[publicansdecoy.livejournal.com]

I am very very tired of the DLR.

-x-

[suicideally.livejournal.com]

Sorry - "Simon Price's disco" - explain?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Apparently the Angular chaps turned up before the last SB wanting to talk to Simon, were rude to the bouncers and weren't allowed in.
Taking this on the chin, the posters advertise their compilation as costing "£3 - less than it costs to get into Simon Price's disco".
Which is particularly amusing given they asked Jamie to try to get Simon down to review the night. I can only surmise it's the old principle of pulling a girl's pigtails because secretly one likes her.

[thermaland.livejournal.com]

My corner of LJ seems to have turned into a non-stop pigtail-pulling orgy...

[suicideally.livejournal.com]

How nice, some other people who don't acknowledge my 50% of the work at SB, presumably because girls can't play records. F-cks sake. And anyone who runs a club should know you can't - and shouldn't - be rude to security. And our club is on a Saturday, not a Tuesday. £6/£5/£4 is cheap for a Saturday night club.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

(Ally, calm. I can see why it annoys you, but on here you're pretty much preaching to the choir)

[(Anonymous)]

they're since claiming that security/clientelle/SP/anyoneyoulike were rude to them! like barging in on someone elses night, holding your goods aloft and proclaiming yourselves the art-school future of all music is going to endear people! dearie me...
actually, i'd imagine quite a few goods have been held aloft in the corners of wicked, so all is right in the world.
'lex
xxx

[johnnyvalentine.livejournal.com]

And the annoying thing was if I'd known that I wouldn't have blown all my money over the weekend on Friday I could have popped down for the Vichy gig. Bah.
Hopefully the Hegley thing will rile up some rabble, I've yet to see anything more than a couple of tired heckles against them. I want blood dammit! :P

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think the Verge is pretty used to them; these outings to strange turf should serve to upset the natives.
2000ADs arrived this morning, thank you, as did champagne from a reggae night. Cashbook!

[alfirin-kirinki.livejournal.com]

alfirin_kirinki's birthday, is it? Marvellous. Have a good one!

Er... unlikely. But thanks.

[moleintheground.livejournal.com]

I wonder what smell crack actually leaves on ones' breath. I imagine it's a bit like peach schnappes.

The DLR is brilliant, and, if all things were equal, would swing past Canary Wharf, then, like the Great Glass Elevator, up into the sky and onward to whichever destination took your fancy.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

If you come from Bank and leave that Stingray-style illuminated tunnel, it really feels for a moment as though it's about to do just that!

[ansia.livejournal.com]

i think perhaps people might be inclined to say they like the vichy government because they feel they should rather than realise they actually might do anyway - "all the cools kids would, therefore so should i". i guess they're not your average fare, especially within that scene, and people are keen to jump on something different. that's not to say people did though... my friend said he couldn't decide if they were really good or really sh.t. and the "fairies" dancing summed much of it up for me - not listening, not paying attention, just tw@ttism.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think a large portion of every band's fans miss the point; they're there with their mates, or because it's cool, or because they like the single whose lyrics they didn't understand but they shout along to the chorus.

[ansia.livejournal.com]

i think you pretty much summed everything up there. i have nothing to add.

but, don't forget momus tonight (http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=95c3c373.0311231010.12cf11bb%40posting.google.com)!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I was at that show, and so am tempted, but know I would regret it if I watched the programme.
In some matters I am very squeamish.

If you do watch it, let me know if I appear! I was at the rear of the room, by the lefthand wall as you looked at Nick.

[ansia.livejournal.com]

i was at the gig too y'know. i remember seeing you (with james ward?) on the other side of the room while my friend and i sweltered under the lights, luggage by my feet, trying to muster up the courage to speak to mr. currie.

i'm certain we won't be on the screen as the camera was occasionally above our head, but i will look out for you.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Sorry, my memory of that night is fragmentary for various reasons not really connected with the performances, except in so far as they were the reason the room was apparently trying to emulate the Black Hole of Calcutta.

[ansia.livejournal.com]

In some matters I am very squeamish.

"Bodysnatchers unveils the astonishing secrets of our closest companions - parasites. In tonight's programme, Tanya Andrews discovers a living maggot in her scalp, Mike Leahy deliberately grows a 3 metre tapeworm in his gut and Dr Valerie Curtis explains why being disgusted by parasites is good for us!

Contains upsetting scenes."

[johnnyvalentine.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, it's going to be about his eyeball getting eaten up by little amoeba things isn't it?...ah well, that's my evening sorted then.

[neil-scott.livejournal.com]

One of the fairies looked like she was about the collapse as we walked out.

Vichy Govt. The three comments I heard people say just about sum them up:

1. They're fascinating, but in the same way a pile up on the motorway is fascinating.

2. Jamie looks better in his skirt and blouse.

3. It is impossible to imagine them any bigger than they are at the moment.

Personally, I hold to what I said here:

http://www.geocities.com/themindsconstruction/luxembourgfan.html

Peple bang on about the lyrics being so nihilistic and subversive etc, but once you've heard them once they lose a lot of their impact. Despite all this, they were still worth watching, which is more than you could say for Gifthorse and the Swear.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The Swear were worth watching, for a little while. Just not worth hearing.
And while the lyrics lose a little of the shock value second time round, you could say the same of Pulp, Arab Strap, or most any humorous/narrative songwriter.

[ansia.livejournal.com]

as you would expect. you can't expect to be shocked time and time again, your reaction should change. it was the first time i'd seen them, after having listened to the album many times, so i was focused on the performance of the songs. admittedly, that's more to do with my failing to comprehend most of what jamie says through his thick belfast accent.

[neil-scott.livejournal.com]

The vocal mix was a bit low last night.

Some narrative songs sustain their interest for ages, mainly thanks to the drama of their delivery. Jeffrey Lewis is good for that, Patti Smith (Piss Factory particularly) superb. Perhaps if they augmented the shock factor with ... talent? It was a shame they didn't play that the song about Caliban and Taliban (or is that Rob Newman?).

[johnnyvalentine.livejournal.com]

I've probably seen the Vichys more than anyone, and the songs still have me interested. The shock factor such as it was is a bonus.

And talent is something those two those have bucketloads of, any new band that keeps my interest these days is doing something right.

And all this talk of narrative songs is making me want to dig out Ghost Haddock....