Is Everybody Happy?

Yeah!

12 years ago I went to see PWEI in Bondi Junction, then again the next day at Eastern Creek Raceway.

Three days ago, I finally saw them again! Okay, so it was minus Clint - but it was still worth all of the trouble I went through to get there!

It all started early Saturday morning... on a bus. Although they're far more efficient, I can't justify taking trains willy nilly. Still, I arrived in Birmingham around 12.30pm and met up with my friend Brian - who I met only a couple of months earlier in Caernarfon!



After dropping my bag off at my cheapie hotel, Brian proceeded to give me a guided tour of Birmingham. First we walked past the Rainbow, a pub part-owned by Fuzz (the drummer from PWEI), then went for a walk through the Custard Factory and its small market before arriving in the city proper.

Despite the weather being so crappy in London, it was spectacular in Brum - blue skies and really hot, but this didn't deter us from exploring. Of everything I saw, the most memorable would be the modern art gallery - which contained, quite literally, some real shit. Honest.



About a month ago, two of these modern art type guys decided their next project - you're going to love this one. The gallery held an auction to raise some money, but it had to be a value that could be broken into two separate notes of any currency. In the end, the winning bid was €505 - which the two guys proceeded to eat. One note each. I am not making this up. The exhibit we saw was the result: two rather dirty and crumpled up Euro notes, as well as a video showing the whole affair. That's right kids, modern art is shit.



The only way of following this up was with a meal, so we headed to the pub for a drink and some lunch. Once finished, it was time to catch the number 9 bus to Stourbridge. Any PWEI fans out there will know why this was a big deal!

An hour or so later we finally made it to the home town of three of England's greatest bands: The Wonder Stuff, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Pop Will Eat Itself. Pretty damn exciting for a fan, but realistically not the most exciting place I've been to. Brian was meeting up with some friends at the local Irish pub, so that's where we spent most of the afternoon - until it was time to head to the venue!



I was dead keen to arrive when the doors opened as they were going to be selling super limited edition tee-shirts and I didn't want to miss out. In the end, we beat the merch guys to the venue! I spent the next hour taking pictures and meeting lots of new people - most of them fellow PWEI Nationers, but I also said hello to John Penney who was DJing for the night. He's also the singer for Ned's Atomic Dustbin, who I'm going to see this Thursday night. I couldn't resist asking him if he remembered Def FX, as they both did a big tour of America in the early '90s. Surprisingly he did remember them, quite fondly as it happens!



At 8.30pm Miles Hunt took to the stage with his very lovely band-mate Erica Nockalls on the fiddle. He started off with a few songs from his new solo album, before band-mate Malcolm Treece joined them on stage to do a bunch of Stuffies songs. I don't have a lot of their stuff, but what I do have I really like - so it was a pretty damn cool set, I thought! Funnily enough, even though the night was billed as a vileevils gig, the crowd for Miles was pretty damn big.



When Miles ended, I quickly staked my claim at the front of the stage (with a bunch of my fellow Nationers). Despite the announcement a few days ago that Clint wasn't going to be here, there were still a few whispers around the place that he was going to turn up. That didn't really matter that much to me as I was about to see vileevils! I've been busting to see them ever since they formed, so I was buzzing with excitement - and I'm ecstatic to say it was miles better than I'd hoped!



Starting the set with Reaper (We don't fear the Reaper, We celebrate good times, We don't sleep 'til bedtime, honestly, sometimes), the boys were on fire for the entirety of their relatively short set. Only seven or eight songs all up, but they were all as brilliant as I'd expect them to be. They're absolutely a worthy follow up to the mighty PWEI juggernaut! With camera in hand, I did my best to snap as many cool pictures as I could while still jumping around having a good time. Alas, it was over all too soon... however before Gra departed the stage, he told us all to stick around for something special.

I think you can guess what it was.



Minutes later, one Richard March appeared on stage - followed by Gra, Fuzz and Adam! Sadly, Clint didn't turn up after all, but what we did get was some classic PWEI tracks from their long and sordid history. Starting with the inevitable There Is No Love Between Us Any More, they then stumbled their way through R.S.V.P., nailed Not Now James We're Busy, almost incited a dance floor riot with Get the Girl Kill the Baddies, before climaxing with Their Law. I'm pretty sure there was something else in there as well, but my memory is failing me for now.



Brian and I had already organised a taxi back to Brum with a couple of friends of his, which wasn't for another couple of hours, so I thought I might stay by the stage in the vain hope I could organise a photo with the boys. After a bit of waiting (and purchasing of more merch!) I managed to score a photo with Erica, who was on her way to the backstage area (not only is she stunning, but damn is she TALL!). Eventually, my waiting paid off as Adam ventured out with some gear - I asked if I could grab a picture with them, to which he was more than welcoming!



Heading into the backstage area with my favourite band... how to describe it? Unbelievable, to coin a term from another great UK group - how's that? During the show I had the bright idea of writing a text message on my phone to show Gra, explaining just how far I'd come to see them. It worked too, he mentioned it during the show - and now I was able to explain personally what I've been through in order to see them again. After a few minutes chat, I thought I'd best not to hold them up for too long so we all huddled together and took one of my most prized photos of all time.



I'm having such a brilliant time over here, there's always something to see or do practically every day of the week. Most importantly, I feel like my life has turned around completely from where it was a year ago: I'm happy again, I'm feeling positive about life and my self-confidence is growing back more and more every day. Now all I need to do is find somewhere to live and I'll be even happier!

Before I go, I'll leave you with a little souvenir from the show. This is Get the Girl, Kill the Baddies performed live by the greatest band in the Universe: Pop WILL Eat Itself. Enjoy... or else!

Another Time

Oh well, looks like it's not going to happen. Gra and Fuzz have just posted that Clint won't have his visa in time to make it to the gig, so no secret PWEI show. Still, it's going to be unbelievably brilliant to see the vileevils, so I'm hardly complaining!

I guess I should tap out a few words about what I've been doing since I came back from Amsterdam. Not a lot, is the short answer. The long answer is...

Well, actually I didn't really do much at all last week except hang out and prepare for work. After everyone telling me it was going to be difficult to get a bank account, all I needed to do was turn up to a short seminar and fill out some forms. The next day they rang to let me know it was done. Easy!

I'm sitting here racking my brains trying to think what I did between Wednesday and Friday, but nothing is coming to mind - which makes me think I did bugger all. Which is highly likely.

Friday night, on the other hand, was my inaugural night out in London - on my own, that is. To start things off, I joined Lee and Margaret in celebrating Susie's birthday by going out for drinks and some food in the city. Poor Lee was still recovering from a cold and we being browbeaten by both girls to come out for dinner - to which he finally relented. We were then entertained by the restaurant staff tying balloons to Susie's wrists and arms, before presenting her with a massive birthday hat made from balloons.

After dinner, I headed off to the Inferno club in Camden - and had a brilliant time. With my rather eclectic tastes in music, it was wonderful to go to a club that only played the kind of music I like! I was originally planning to leave at midnight so I could catch the tube home. Instead, I left at 3am! I'd already planned for this contingency, though, and had written out which night buses I'd need to get back home. This took a good hour on its own and I eventually staggered into bed at 4am - with the sun coming up. Can't wait to do the same again next month!

On Saturday, I was invited to dinner at Lee and Margaret's place so, feeling a little under the weather, I made my way over there in the afternoon to watch some teevee, chat, help Susie load music on to her new iPod and, of course, eat.

The biggest thing to happen this week, of course, is the start of work! Rocking up on Monday morning at 9.30am, I spent most of the day becoming familiar with the business and the products they have. Was a bit of fun. By the end of the day I did get around to doing some work, but I didn't get into any serious stuff until the next day. It turns out it was a good week to start too, as on Wednesday the office was booked in to do a training course!

In the meantime, I've also decided to get back into music again. I came across an ad on a website on the weekend that had a link to a demo that I liked quite a lot - sort of like Joy Division/early New Order. I contacted them and met up with the guitarist last night and we hit it off pretty damn well. So well, in fact, that we both ended up drinking in the pub for almost five hours. I guess it goes without saying that I got the job!

I've also been looking for places to live. I've inspected a couple of places that didn't do much for me, but there was one that I absolutely loved in a fantastic area, a really nice place and brilliant people. It's not often that I absolutely click with anyone, but the girl living there was one of them. I don't find out if I get the place until Monday, but I really, really hope I get it. Not only because I hate looking for places, but because it was so perfect!

Only one more day of work until I head to Brum for the 'evils gig. I'm excited beyond the capacity to rationally describe it in words, so I better go before my head explodes.

I'm Excited

As everyone knows, Pop Will Eat Itself are the greatest band in the entire history of the Universe. Naturally, the world became a less interesting place in 1997 when they split up.

Eight years later, they attempted a reformation which began with five shows in January 2005 and an attempt to record a new album. Sadly, Clint and Rich were unable to keep it going - but the good news is, Gra, Adam and Fuzz decided to start a new band: vileevils!

I saw PWEI twice in 1995 and they are still my favourite two gigs I've ever been to. They've been my very favourite band for years and years and years, so I was a bit down that I missed the reformation gigs. The bright side, at least, is that I have a DVD of one of the shows and it was just as wonderful as I'd expected.

As one of my previous posts might have hinted at, I'm seriously loving the music scene here in London. I'm seeing so many bands I've either wanted to see for years and years but never had the opportunity, or I'm getting to see some of my favourite bands again after an extremely long time.

Next weekend I'm heading up to Birmingham to see vileevils. It's a special gig: it's a benefit fund-raiser for a little boy named Oscar who was born without hands or feet. He also happens to be the son of one of PWEI's old roadies, who also used to be in the very original incarnation of PWEI - when they were known as From Eden.

When I heard about this show, I knew I had to be there. It's starting to look like it's going to be an even more special event than I'd anticipated. Why's that, you ask?

First it started with a rumour that Clint was going to be in attendance, a plausible event considering it's a special show for an old friend.

The next inkling came with an announcement that Miles Hunt would be in attendance too, playing before the 'evils. For those not in the know, Miles Hunt used to be in From Eden too - but is better known as the lead singer of The Wonder Stuff. You know at least one of their songs: you know 'Dizzy'? I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning... that's the one. That's The Wonder Stuff - funnily enough, with someone else singing. But it's still them.

Finally came a posting on the PWEI forum this morning from a Mr. Fuzz Townshend which read a little exactly like this:

Subject: Hmmm. So That Makes Five Of Us , Then?

Message: One never knows what will happen at these kind of events.

---

Could it be? Is it possible?

I guess I'll find out in a week!