what i did on my holidays pt. 3
When I got to heyladyray's, I pretty much just slept the whole day to counteract the SWH. On Tuesday I played guitar for about 4 hours and watched the 'Dave' channel. I'm a little bit glad I don't have a digibox, because I would spent a whole lot more time in front of the telly. Actually, fuck it, I should really get a digibox. Later that evening, me and the sis and others went to see (The ?) Laurel Collective. I had no idea what to expect, but they were good, particularly the songs Gun Mouth, Seasick Sailors and Printers. They have two vocalists, a soulish sort of singer and an indieish sort of one, who united in their poppy anthemic choruses. The guitar and keyboard combo was occasionally quite magic, the bass playing had a sort of dubby edge which worked well, and the drums were augmented by percussion from the singers. There seem to be quite a few afrobeat-influenced bands around at the moment, but I don't think Laurel Collective are bandwagon-jumpers. It's weird when you go to a gig like that in London, with a couple of hundred adoring fans chomping at the bit for a band who are pretty unheard of elsewhere. Well, I hadn't heard of them anyway.
The following day I made a bit of a tactical error (in SWH terms): I started watching 'My So-Called Life' on DVD. I'm pretty sure I'd seen all the episodes before, but just long enough ago that I couldn't remember exactly what happened. It is immense. I think I enjoyed it even more than I ever have, possibly because it bore more relation to my uni life than my school life. Anyway, I managed to squeeze in the whole lot before I left on Friday morning, which required rather more staying up than I had intended for the week.
On Wednesday night I took a short trip to Highbury Corner to the Buffalo Bar, to see K***** K***** (formerly known as Kling Klang). Kraftwerk have suddenly decided that it's not OK for them to be called Kling Klang anymore. I hate that shit, it's absurd. Anyway, they were great - they played as a four-piece, including Riley Briggs of Aberfeldy, and I think they've written some new songs. They are all the better for it. Supporting was a band called Buttonhead, who were a bit like Bearsuit but more proggy / less poppy. Very odd, but not at all bad.
I didn't do much else of note in London, once again I failed to contact any of the people I know living there (sorry), but it was actually the ideal rest to prepare for ATP 2: The Butlins Experience. Oh, we watched My Life As A Dog which was sweet, amusing and twee and very scandinavian. A bit like Jens Lekman.
My route to Minehead was somewhat complicated by the fact that I TOTALLY GOT ON THE WRONG TRAIN. I had never done this before in my life. It was the result of some totally irrational TP. They did take absolutely ages to put the platform number up, and it was very close to the time the train was supposed to depart when they eventually did, but I was a total idiot. Luckily I realised pretty quickly, got off at Slough, instantly got a train back to Paddington, and instantly got another train going to Taunton, 45 minutes after I was supposed to get one. And it was a fast train, so it arrived 5 minutes after my scheduled one. And it was hella busy, so the ticket inspector didn't notice it was the wrong train. Yay!
Met up with Paul (RUSSIA) at the station, and managed to blag a lift with Scott (Okker) to Minehead, with Steven (Eunoia) and Mikey (Arco Pop Cemetery or whatever they're calling themselves these days) in the car. At Tesco (which was packed full of ATPers) I bought some Cornflakes (yes, I'm predictable), 2 Pizzas and a box of Fosters. Classy. But they got me through the weekend. It started to piss down for the first time on my holiday, and I didn't know where my chalet was. Dave, Martin, Wes, nightviser and Joe were already there. I picked up a soaking map from the floor and trudged through the rain in the direction of Holnicote Village.