This show sucked. Well, the show didn't suck.. the show was great. It was in this crappy place called Subway. Stay away from it if you are planning to tour in Scotland. The vibe of this place is very much similar to the vibe of places like The Whiskey in Los Angeles. There's this really awful system of music performance commonly referred to as "pay to play." Now I'm not the first to note how this is terrible.. Nirvana's "Stay Away" from the album "Nevermind" was originally titled "Pay to Play" and you can find the original on the DGC compilation "DGC Rarities Vol.1." Anyway, this system is crap. The venue acts as if it's a privilege, even a so much as a pain to the venue, to play. To play at these venues the band has to sell tickets to the performance, and if they don't sell X amount of tickets, they're not allowed to play.. I wonder what happens to those tickets that were sold?? I don't know the details.. It stinks, stinks, stinks. Our show wasn't a pay to play, but it was at a venue that books shows like this, so the vibe is very harsh. No free drinks, no free sodas, no nothing.... the bartender scoffed at Luke for even asking.. The soundman was very nice, along with the other bands on the bill, but again.. the whole vibe just felt weird and wrong.
The Wrists + Pistols played my favorite set of theirs to date, then the two local bands play and they were tight. Then Luke and I played a ping-pong set, trading songs back and forth while dancing like crazy around the room. We set up our mixer and computers in the middle of the floor and the crowd sort of circled around us, and sort of stood as far away from us as possible. We started to play with about 20 people in the room then it quickly grew to 50 people, then even more when Rob played. Rob's set was a mix of computer sound and Wrists + Pistols' Brenden on banjo and Will on bass. I played a bit rock drums as well. Sounded good. Dudes went crazy.
We asked the opening bands if we could sleep on their floors and they said no.. this was before the show. Luke and I walked over to the hostel and found out it was £12 (about $24) per person and we had to book it before 11PM. I somehow knew or "felt" that we would find someone to stay with if we just waiting until after we play.. this stressed the EFF out of Luke, so during the W+P set he ran over to the hostel and put space for 7 people on his credit card. After we played the opening bands offered us space to sleep.. Why did they do that? I mean, it's really, really nice of them.. but weird that they waited until they saw the and liked our sets.. weird. That's just how it works I guess, right? After we told them that we had already bought space they took us next door to the bar and bought us drinks. Rob and I walked around Edinburgh and everyone else went back to the hostel and slept. In the morning we went to a really nice book and record shop called Analogue Rob and I discovered in the night and sold some CDs. The owner told us that there aren't really good shows in Edinburgh, but that he sets up experimental festivals and he might open a bar sometime soon.. so we'll be in touch with him next time we're in Scotland, for sure.
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i echo the words of Mr. Tyfus. pathetic, but usual fare for edinburgh. could have sorted something out if i was not dead until monday morning after rum & red wine fest at the glasgow show. anyway..was a joy to meet you all and wander round kelvingrove park at 5am. BTW my flat mate woke up drunk in a car park elevator in the city centre miles from the party at 7am in the morning. his t shirt was on backwards, jacket missing and he had no idea how he got there. Answers on the back of a seaside postcard to the usual address. XXX
kosten i am so looking forward to go out with u when you are here in apetown. i am using this comments page for personal communication jona bear!! all the best.
BONER! You are having such adventures. I am so proud of you and so excited to hear about everything in even more depth, and see more pictures! What an effing rad party you are experiencing. I miss you a whole bunch and today I looked at pictures of Winky and I wanted to go say hi to her. REBEKKAH BEANS AND I MISS YOU.
the people that didnt let u stay over first and then did becos u play nice music realy are morrrons!! i hope u pissed their beds full or at least played with eachother untill other stuff comes out somewhere. it´s sad reading there´s still people running around like that. best wishes. dennis