On the Road to Sheffield

SATURDAY 24 October

Day off. Sleep until 2 again. Stumble in to the hotel, the Chapeltown Staindrop Lodge which sounds like it should have been the name of our place in Columbus OH , but is actually a lovely, quaint, extremely friendly, accomodating place.



I find Randy, Fish, and Jim in the bar (oddly enough). There's a wedding about to begin. This is all slightly confusing to me in my bus-sleep state. I get the key to the room and have a prolonged shaving and showering session. Matt wakes around 5 and comes in (we're rooming together tonight).


I watch the snooker semifinals -- really good new player from Hong Kong -- and some football. I'd really wanted to go to a match, but it's pissing down rain. Randy and I take a walk up the hill but don't find much. Back to the hotel, then head down the hill in search of food with Bob and Bill. After several aborted attempts, we default to the Chippie. I get a side of peas along with my fish and chips -- the illusion of health. We bring the food into the pub next door. When we finish, the pubmistress sprays air freshener to clear out the smell. She doesn't want people to come in asking for fish & chips...

Matt, Jim and I take a bus into Sheffield, stop by a pub and then go to the Leadmill Club and see two Bands: Silver Sun, a guitar outfit and the Young Offenders -- a kind of glam, TRexy thing. Lots of fun to watch. Hang out with Karen and the guys for several hours--even dance to 60's lounge groove in the post-gig indie dance club. I really enjoy getting to talk to these other bands and compare road notes, experiences, etc. Too bad they aren't able to catch any of our gigs. So wild how many kinds of bands and players all light up when I answer that I'm playing with Bob. Such a far-reaching influence.

In the end, I've stayed out too late, had too much to drink, listened to too much loud BritPop, spent too much money, and had a really fantastic evening.

Sheffield, England
Foundry

SUNDAY 25 October

Thanks to Daylight Savings, we gained an hour last night, which is always helpful.

I'm feeling a cold getting a foothold. Throat/ear infection brewing. I'm pounding the zinc, echinacea, C and fluids. Do not want to be playing sick. Got to start thinking a bit more of my health. It's really hard in this climate, plus the lifestyle. Just a question of pacing, I guess, but I need to stop the downward slide before it goes too far.

Bob still battling his cold and throat hassles plus some new symptoms, Jim still sniffling, Paul has no voice. The bus Incubator. Health and rock tours--not well acquainted.

Spend the afternoon lying around the hotel, resting. Head in for sound check around 4pm. Bob doesn't wait for Matt and Jim. It's every man for himself now, apparently.

Luckily, we spot them on our way down the hill and pick them up. Shefffield IS music tonight. First there's Iron Maiden at the Arena, then Ash, Idlewilde and Chicks on the University campus in the Octagon, then us in the smaller Foundry space. All of these shows end up sold out (well, we nearly are, I'm told) which is pretty impressive for this one northern town on a Sunday night.







It turns out there's even jazz tonight in another part of the building we're in. As so often is the case, tonight will be about Jim's bass. The room is very boomy and dark and all I hear at sound check is him. Getting people in may help a bit. The fragile illusion that we are a band is largely in tatters, now, and we all go our seperate ways after sound check.

I go upstairs to the Octagon with Bic from Dark Star. The scene there is so different from the one downstairs. Full of life and excitement, people lined up waiting to get in, all in their concert gear, all talking eagerly about bands and gigs. And school, since the Ash crowd are very young.


The stage is huge with these big fishing nets as backdrops and a major light show. There's nothing jaded about these kids, except in their exaggerated cool which is simultaneously ridiculous and endearing. You can sneer and scoff all you like, but the excitement and enthusiasm in and around the venue is a very welcome thing. Sort of how I thought it was all going to be. Maybe rock and roll truly is for young people. What we're doing is something else -- valid and valuable, but something else.




I have dinner with our crew and the Dark Star guys. We so seldom have catered meals--usually it's a fend-for-yourself buyout--and it's a shame because we don't have the chance to sit down to dinner with these other bands. DS are really lovely guys. All three were Levitation some years ago and Bic, the singer/guitarist was in House of Love who were great. They're working so hard to put themselves across and are really pros. They're even driving back to London every night between gigs since this is not a money making tour for them.

I've gotten to talk to more of Mercury Rev as well and, other than the singer who's more than a little aloof, they're all quite nice as well. They've all been with the band for various amounts of time and come from interesting backgrounds. I'm liking their set more each listen. There's some friction developing between Randy and their manager oversoundcheck and set lengths, but as it's nothing to do with me, I get on with the guys in the band.

Back upstairs to watch the kids rock. Chicks are a punk trio of teenage girls (like 14 or 15 I'd guess) who scream and shriek and seem to have learned to play fairly recently. Fine line between charming naivety and annoying ineptitude and they walk it. Their quieter things, sung by the bass player, are kind of good. During the song Fuck Music in which the singer sings she wishes she could "fuck music" someone shouts out "Don't fuck music, just fuck off!" Gotta love an English crowd. Idlewild are about to release their debut album tomorrow and the crowd are aware of their participation in the machinery that makes the Next Big Thing. It's all silly, of course, but exciting nonetheless if you're not jaded and over it all. For their part, Idlewild rock like there's no tomorrow. The songs suffer, but the presentation is exhilerating--all jumping and flailing.

The crowd, which even jumped around for Chicks--is going mad now. Talk to the merch guy and learn, of course, that Ash and the others are huge Bob fans and are "gutted" that they can't make the show. Chicks actually do make it downstairs, though, and I pass them in the hall and congratulate them. They seem startled and very young.



Our show is ok, but very mushy. The room is so full of smoke (cigarettes and Mercury Rev's) that it's very hard to sing. I get through it, though. Chas and Shirl don't show up, which is very disappointing. Hope they're ok.



Back to the hotel for shower and sleep. Matt's begun counting shows--ten to go--says he can't wait to go home. Bob hasn't seemed that enthused about Europe from the beginning. Jim just going with the flow.

Funny, I seem to be the only one who really wants to be here. Very ironic in light of what's about to come.

Previous	Next