30 posts tagged “cardiff”
A bit slow on the reportin' but here it goes.
- Gallops were ace
- It was rammed
- I DJ'd
- I loved Love Gadgets Hate Gizmos who was on first
- ODG DJ'd and it was ace
- We danced til 3am
- The P-town cru were out in force.
- Jamie & Fidge provided an astonishing homoerotic light show for what seemed to last hours
Updating a blog proves difficult when time to yourself becomes a scarce commodity. When I was a single girl I used to do loads of things on my own..... gymmin', runnin', readin', bloggin'. Now I have found myself in a relationship, the time that I used to spend doing these has now been taken up by other activities... many of which revolve around watching The Wire and drinkin IPA (Cardiffs answer to guiness - FOR THE WINNERS). Despite this, I have still managed to maintain and healthy level of wreckin' wrongin' and funnin' but unfortunately have not found the time to report back to y'all about them on this here blog.
Since stalling on the bloggin it has become apparent that some of the people who part-take in these afore mentioned activities have become reliant on this blog to remind them the events that have gone by during 2008. After tireless naggin', whingin' and moanin', I am endeavouring to provide a catch up of the final months of the year, for those who were not there at the time and for those who were there, but who can't remember :-)
Gig #60 of 2008 – Graveyard Johnnys/Alex Dingley/Broken Leaf @ Tafod
Alex Dingley is a genius. No question. His tunes are all potential singles. His band are tight. They look ace. I reckon things should happen for them in 2009. If there is a baby Jesus in the sky and if he knows what is good and right, then he will make this happen for them.
Broken Leaf played a set of tunes which apparently he had only written in the week leading up to the gig. I s'pose it was kinda an experiment of the musical kind. It were right ace. He is a very talented gentleman
Graveyard Johnnys were ok. I was official photographer for the evenin and the double bass being played by the singer gave me some good photos, but can't say they blew me away.
Here is a photo I took on the night...
Gig #61 of 2008 – King Alexander/Zail/Right Hand Left Hand @ Tafod
I love Right Hand Left Hand. I really do. I get so immersed in them playing that I forget where I am. You know a band is good when that happens and your just standing there with a stupid grin on your face. Zail do this to me also.
Here is RHLH:
First time I had seen King Alexander play. Sounded like a girl fronted Mclusky. Which aint a diss. Thats a huge compliment.
Good night. Enough people for a Sunday. T'is good work Gar is doing puttin on bands in Tafod. A thoroughly underused but much needed venue in the 'diff.
GRACE'S 30TH!
As a result of MANY (not so subtle) hints from Grace dating back as far as the beginning of 2006, we thought it was necessary to ensure that Grace saw out her 20's in a style in which she has become so much accustomed over the past 10 years – wreckin' wrongin' dancin' & fallin' over. All of which she executed to perfection during her birthday party held in Tafod on December 6th.
Myself and Gareth turned up to open the venue at the time that people had been told to arrive – 9pm. I cranked up the tunes, got a drink in and waited for people to arrive. No one did. I played tunes to an empty club til 10ish. I had a text from Grace at 9:30ish asking if it was ok to go for a pint elsewhere before the party. Great I thought, this party is going to be an epic fail. Not even the birthday girl is showing up. At 10:30 people started showing up. Apparently, after the gig that night in Clwb people could be seen making a mass exodus across the bridge to Tafod. By 11ish the place was pretty much rammin'.
Ben played kicked off with some choice tunes. Then smAsh and me (well mainly Ash. I couldn't help but continually dance to the relentless classics). Carl Rylat off of Forecast played an ace set of Psych hits, then to the master, DJ ODG finishin the night off with his first set since being back in the 'diff. A welcome return D!
An inevitable fall from Grace on the dance floor was followed by a very juvenile, but highly entertaining 'Pile On' resulting in myself face down on Grace and unable to breath. Good times.
An ace night. Best night in ages. Loads of people showed up to pledge their love to Grace. The doorman stopped counting heads at 150! Buzzin. Well deserved G!
Still having some party left in us by the time the club closed and not wanting to go home, we managed to blag the very malleable Jamie (who was stood outside Tafod with 3 copies of a Bonnie Tyler record on Vinyl - !) into letting us come back to his. Shortly after Jamie passed out face down on his bed while in pursuit of some Rizla, Ash turned up with members of local band The Aviary who didn't have a clue where they were let alone who Jamie was, but who soon made themselves at home by performing an extremely comedic and impromptu set of indie hits on the Guitar and electronic drum kit in Jamie's front room – all while he slept. Bless.
All feeling like we were on the brink of death the next day, Ash, Grace, Ben, Gar and Me hooked up and hung out eating pizza and generally trying to survive. Sometimes the mongin out the day after with friends, is almost as good as the night itself.
Ash in 2nd mentalist self inflicted hair style of the year
Look what she did to herself:
I don't mean the oversized bottle of poppers. Thats usual .. I mean the hair innit!
I think she pulls it off well. I have even forgotten that her hair is pink now. Its just ash's hair..... except when you walk into a pub with her and people stare. I aint bothered. They're just jealous! If they're not staring for that, i'm sure one of us would do something else to make them stare. Thats just how it goes when you refuse to occupy the middle of the road I s'pose.
In other news...
I decorated a giant christmas tree (check out the size of the step ladder next to it. thats one BIG tree)
I have been pretty slack on this for the past week and a bit. This is mainly due to being struck down with what Grace ingeniously called 'Swn Snot'. I think I would go as far as diagnosing myself with full blown Swnitutus brought on by a weekend of excess, too many bands (is there such a thing?) and not nearly enough sleep. But these kinda repercussions are something to be expected really when throwing yourself into 3 days of relentless fun and wrongs when your 27 (at the 'pro' level that which I feel I have now reached). But for as long as the fun:pain ratio continues to fall in favor of fun I shall carry on like a winner for the foreseeable future.
The first round of Swn fun started off early with a trip to Spillers for some of their festival instores. Firstly a short set from local band Fredrick Stanley Star, who I had not seen before but heard plenty of good things about. They were pretty good, although I decided to reserve judgment on them until I saw them play proper in Buffalo’s later.
Then Cate le Bon played. I’m a fan. I have been since first seeing her play at last years Swn. If you haven’t heard of her, she is in Neon Neons live band and sings on their single ‘I Lust You’ but is a massively talented songwriter in her own right. I did a Qik live stream of some of this instore here.
I then went to the new Wagamamas in town while I killed time with Grace waiting for the next round of fun to start. Wagamamas is great, if you like being served by chav girls who don’t really know what they are doing and who scrawl your order down on your placemat because they can’t work out how to put it in the piece of hand held technology that they strut around the place wielding like a gun. On paying for the over priced, somewhat substandard food, I was about to give the girl a tip for her (albeit) lame effort at customer service, when she tried pulling an evil trick on my by telling me my hair looked nice to try and secure some extra ££’s. I knew for a fact it wasn’t (it seldom is), which really pissed on her chips cos I rebelled and gave her a big fat £0 to take home to spend on whatever it is girls like her spend their money on (hairspray & fags?). Do you think this kind of customer complimenting manipulation is included in the training they get? I am pretty sure that the waitress in question didn’t think it up herself.
Anyway, I digress.
The first band on our Swn itinerary involved a jaunt down to Canton to have a look at the Gate venue (which was very nice) and to see my man Gareth play keyboards for ex. Boo Radleys front man Martin Carr. I have to admit, if it wasn’t for the girlfriend duty of being there I would rather have been anywhere but. Someone who shall remain nameless can be quoted as saying “Why would I want to go and see some of my most talented friends failing to save a drowning man”….. harsh but a comedy quote none the less.
We then got stuck in wanky rugby traffic and took ages to dump my wheels and make our way back into town.
Made it into Clwb to see Clinic who, even though I have never really given them a proper listen, were really good. It was about here that I started feeling miserable because my inside were feeling wrong. Hung out in Dempseys, then tafod until I was forced to drag myself arse to bed.
The following day myself, smash and Gareth had to get our heads together to go to the police station for an ID parade (well I say parade, it was a computer screen of people) for an incident that I have yet to blog about. All I can say is police stations are nothing like The Bill and are thoroughly boring places to spend your Saturday afternoons.
The second round of Swn fun started at twat central - Buffalo bar. Why they bother putting bands on here I don’t know. An area which resembles a corridor with a stage at the end does not constitute a venue, no matter much you want it to.
After hooking up with a cru, we abandoned the Fredrick Stanley Star gig in favour of Zail in the makeshift venue for the weekend - Kaz Bar. It was rammed. We managed to be at the front and buzzed for their whole set. Who’da though you could make such a furious and full sounding noise from just a drummer and a guitarist. To be fair, the drummer is so good that I could happily watch him perform the set on his own. I grinned the whole way through.
After nipping out for some air, Noel and myself had to fight our way back to rejoin smash, grace, ben and toni at the front waiting for the mighty Truckers of Husk, much to the annoyance and loud tutting of a lot of the people there (who I surmised must only go to a couple of gigs a year and I rekon most of those are probably in the CIA).
Truckers of Husk nailed a predictably ace set which saw much dancing from us. Most of it was done by smash and grace while I looked on in bemusement. See (thanks to Llinos for this pic:
After mistakenly thinking we were on a regular Saturday night, we found ourselves having a drink downstairs in Dempseys while listening to the likes of the kooks on the jukebox. I cannot tell you how wrong this felt.
After making our escape.. we ended up heading down to Tafod (via a quick look in Kaz bar again) for my mate Anwens Disco Nectar Swn effort, where she had miraculously managed to blag the Dutch electronic legend Legowelt to come and play.
An ace night of dancing ensued to a PUMPIN set from Gwydion Orcop followed by and old skool acid tinged techno set from Mr. Lego Welt. A really ace way to end the saturday night of Swn fun. Nice one Anwen. A job well done.
Managed to get to sleep by about 5ish. By the time I woke on sunday I was in pain. I was beginning to feel the Swn burn. But as they say in the world of fitness, No Pain No Gain... so I figured it was best to be a winner and power through to the end.
Made it into Clwb to see a girl called 'Little Eris' who was doing a half tidy job of electronic tunes off an iMac (I think someone should tell her that there are these new things called 'Laptops' which are far more portable). She got even better when Jamie made his stage debut for the evening and got hold of her Kaoss Pad and joined in. It confirmed my NEED for a kaoss pad mini (which I have since brought – it is ace).
Hung outside with the smokers while drifting in and out of feeling ace, to feeling like I was going to die in quick succession.
Managed to exert enough energy to have a quick dance with Grace, Ash, DC and Claire to the Gonzales tune Will Steen was playing before seeing Agaskodo Teliverek, who made my insides feel ace for the entire set. Jamie made another impromptu cameo appearance on stage and when I made many yells of 'Go on Jamie!' he told the singer that he wanted me to come and stage and tell a joke. I hid. I cannot successfully tell jokes. Especially in front of a room of people while feeling like I was dying. Didn't think it was the best time to make my comedy debut.
Took a run upstairs and saw Right Hand Left Hand – again – who blow me away every time and who seem to get better and better!
Then in one final exertion of one final bit of energy, I managed to pull out of the bag a good ol'dance to the hits of Future of the Left. Jamie kinda made his 3rd appearance of the evening by provoking several cross words from Falco for trying to continually steal his beer.
A great set which finished with Kelson (bass) hanging by his legs from the ceiling while still playing the end of the last song. ACE!
Here is a photo that I have stolen from John Rostron cos it is ace and I wish I had taken it.
A great weekend. I hope Swn keeps happening. Big up the people behind it, your doing a sterling job which is appreciated by many!
There seems to have been a fair few bands emerging this year with 'Fuck' in their name. Holy Fuck, Fuck Buttons and now Fucked up.
I basically only went to see Fucked up because my mates said that it would be the most mental show I have ever seen. What with that promise and the fact that they had 'Fuck' in their name, I didn't need much more convincing.
I failed to forward plan some blagging for a guestlist place so was subject to a whopping £8 door tax. I soon forgot the little amount of coinage left in my pocket when Fucked Up came on.
Right, I have been going to Clwb for over 10 years now (yes that is sad I know) and I have NEVER seen anything like it. People went nuts. We decided that it was mainly suppressed middle class students taking advantage of the opportunity to be violent in public without any repercussions (save for the odd shoe in the face).... but it was wholly entertaining none the less. I spent the entire gig with a stupid grin on my face as I witnessed people continually slamming into each other, climbing up pillars, crowd surfing and getting naked. It was relentless for the whole of the gig.
here is a photo of the singer of Fucked Up during one of his many adventures into the crowd and onto the tables.
And here is some poor fat kid who was wasted and thought it to be a winning idea to take his top off and climb on the tables too.
The hand copping a feel in this photo is Ash's :)
This kid provided the most entertainment of all. He firstly dived head first, half naked over the chairs and ended up being stuck in between a table and a bench. People in the crowd had to try and pull him out. AND then, when you thought he had no more dignity left to lose, someone in the crowd pulls down his keks and he was stood bollock naked in front of everyone! haha. AND THEN we witnessed him in the pit at the end holding on to the pillar for dear life looking like he was having a kip. Time of his life!
Ace gig. Thoroughly entertaining. I left absolutely buzzing.
Ever since discovering the genius of photographing people in vizzy vests last week, you will be pleased to hear that myself and smAsh have decided to co-ordinate a series of them.
We anticipate an exhibition of them in Cardiff soon, followed by a book just in time for Christmas. Watch this space....
I have probably seen The Gentle Good (aka Gareth Bonello) more times than most things I have seen this year. I rate him so much I was up for seeing him play twice in one day last Saturday. What a talented man. I have been lucky enough to have had a copy of his album for a while now and it hasn't gone more than a coupla days between giving it a listen. I rate it so much I am actually going to buy a legitimate copy of the album 'While you slept I went out Walking' when it gets a proper release...... actually... Its available from Spillers now as it goes. I'm gonna pick up a copy on't weekend.
Here is a photo of him doing the instore in Spillers
I even live streamed his instore here see:
And I took a picture of him playing his beautiful gig in the Norweigan Church see:
Im not weird. Im not stalking Gareth (well maybe on saturday it would appear as if I was)... Anyway, even if I was stalking him, its justified. Listen for yourself and i'm sure you'll all be off down the shop tommorow morning to get a broadsheet newspaper and to do this with around his work place (which i have in no way been doing).
Go and buy his album from here (not available from anywhere else yet). It's beautiful
Foals @ Cardiff uni
In attendance this evening was myself, smAsh (obviously) and the P-town cru which was Beev, Ben, Justine, Fidge, Toni, Crack Fox, Crack fox's girlfriend (who's name I can't remember, but who was ever so nice to be going out with a someone called 'crack fox') and this fella called 'Owl' who looked like and owl and who, I was reliably informed, had shit himself in the pub infront of everyone the week before. Apparently not a friend of the p-town cru. He had mearly followed them from Ponty to the 'diff. Nice fella! haha
Good times.
Gigs I have been to and not blogged about of late are
Jeffrey Lewis @ Clwb
Was dragged to this gig last minute by ash, promising I wouldn't be disappointed. Hadn't heard anything by him before (unlike EVERYONE else there.. where have I been?... listening to d'nb I rekon). Really good. Songs that were quiet, then loud and rockin with really good lyrics. Like it.
Seabear / Alex Dingley / Jam on Bread @ Clwb
Ash's gig. Wouldn't have come out if it wasn't cos I was in a well tamping mood. Couldn't shake it off. Until Alex Dingley came on. Ace band. Ace tunes. Watched Ash dance like a mental, which always cheers me up. Hung out with a load of my favorite people. Made new friends. Sorted me right out.
Seabear were exceptionally good too. Blew me away. Ace night!
Oh and Jam on Bread is worth a listen. Really twee lofi tunes played on a ukulele with amusing lyrics. I remember one song where he sang about expressing his love to his girlfriend in 80's pop song lyics. Good stuff
The Spirit Level / Lyndsey Leven @ Dempseys
I love Ellie. She is one of best people I know. Not only is one of my top mates, she is also uber talented, writing and singing the most beauitful songs with Rhodri under the name The Spirit Level. Really enjoy watching them play. Always makes me think 'what the fuck is someone so talented and clever doing hangin out with a reprobate like me?'.... Im grateful. Gives me cool points :)
Lynsey was also really good. Hadn't seen her play before. Glad I did. She has an ace voice too
Right thats me/you caught up. My blogging action has gone wayward as I lost the back of my N95 in Electric Picninc. A new one (if not the wrong colour one.. the shame) is now here. Normal service has resumed! Go me!
The past 5 days have been pretty much consistent bouts of fun.
Our trip to London was ace. Although, saying that, I could hang out with Ash in the middle of nowhere and still have fun. I would use this as a platform for me to shout to y'all the virtues of having a best mate like mine.... tell you how ace it is and it makes my life so much fun........but I don't want to show off and make y'all jealous (like I would do that innit).....
So while in London we went and checked out some record shops. I couldn't close my mouth when we went to Rough Trade. It is astounding. Everything a record shop should be. Went to Sister Ray and to Pure Groove (which was pure nathan barley.... I give it til the end of the year before it closes) amongst others. Walked so much my feet bled. Fact! (not a nice fact! but a fact! none the less)
Here is a picture of the mecca that is Rough Trade.
While stopped off having a shandy outside a pub in Shoreditch, Ash fucked off to the toilet and I ended up chatting this this 50+ business man called Bruce. We ended up chatting for about 45mins, during which time he told us many stories, most of which ended up with 'I was so drunk'. Me and Ash found a kindred spirit in Bruce. He brought us a whisky (at 1pm!). Never drunk whiskey at 1pm before. Was good fun it was :)
After eating the best falafels I have ever put in my mouth, near Oxford Street, we headed on down to the Pias offices in Fulham.
An industry party with free booze! We saw Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, who gave me and Ash a shout out during their set. We felt like the coolest kidz in town..... we felt? I mean we were. I mean, are! Mos def! :)
Had to catch the megabus home. At 11pm! Didn't get home til 3am! Long ride! It was made tolarable by the free beer we managed to come away from the party with. Aplogies to all the other passengers who were trying to sleep! :)
Oh, which reminds me of a comedy story. We nearly didn't make it to London in the first place y'kno. 10mins from catching the bus, i check out my piece of paper with the confirmation number on it. I turn to Ash and go "mate, what date is it?"
Ash: "30th, why?"
Me: "So its not the 6th then?"
Ash: "Umm no."
Me: "oh no i failed. I appear to have booked tickets for the wrong week"
Epic fail!
I casually get my phone out, while Ash stares at me in disbelief, and phone megabus. I manage to rebook the tickets for the right week, with 5mins to spare. Hang up the phone and get on the bus. Win!
Ash: "how much did that cost?"
Me: "You don't wanna know"
:)
Worked in Spillers again on Saturday. Fun times. Purchased the following CD's
Went out for a post work pint with my good mate Soph
Her is Ellie with Toni holding a guitar that some fella was walking through town with. The saddest sight I ever saw.
Fun times. Trying to have a Detox before Greenman . Ash says there is 2 weeks to go so we can fit atleast 1 more wreck up before then! I like her style!
I have written this rather lengthy catch up post listening to this album
Didn't get this album on first coupla listens, but its doing it for me now fo sho. Love it.
My average of gigs per week this year is slipping. I was running at a 1.5 per week average. Its down to 1.3 now. This must mean that my fun to work ratio has changed. You would think. OR is it that I have been finding alternative ways to have fun other than by going to see bands....
Last week I did get to see some live music in the form of Lyrics Born at the Thekla in Bristol.
We've been looking forward to seeing him for fair few weeks now. His album 'Everywhere at Once' is a classic summer album which I can be heard pumpin out loud from my car, low riding through town with the windows down... often with ash in the passenger seat trying to master the words to his awesome tune 'I like it I love it' (she usually fails after the first verse, but what she lacks in accuracy, she makes up for in effort!).....
Since I last blogged, I hammered this whole book (almost) in 24hrs.
Worked in spillers on Saturday. Always fun and I get to go home with an arm load of new CD's. There is not a lot better than having a bag of new music to listen to. Pisses over downloading 0 and 1's i'm telling you.
Had a lovely evening hanging out with my home girls on Saturday. Especially loved driving around town listening to:
In a new experience for me, I had my mates make the 30min ride out of town to come see me in my manor. We went for a walk down to the beach and hung out in the sun. Was a nice day.
Here is a photo I took. I have hidden the identity of one gentleman who attended as he doesn't like people knowing what he has been up to via my blog :)
I am currently having my mind blown by Smog and Neil Young..... while embarking on a love affair with 60's Psych.... hoping this affair will blossom into a full blown relationship. Its really doing it for me now anyway.
Off to the 'don tomorrow. £12 return on the Megabus! barryargin!
