Is it that we're not punk enough? Or is it that you think ska just sucks?
Less Than Jake, Leeds Carling Academy, November 15th 2008.
BABBLE
» Eating a McDonalds Happy Meal before a gig is such a bad idea. On one hand it's low-cost and you get free Miley Cyrus and High School Musical stickers, but it's starts to wreak it's revenge when you're stood in front of a speaker and can feel the bass down in your soul, among other areas. Things probably weren't helped along (er, or were helped along?) by the Nutella crepes we bought from the German market in Millennium Square (which is right next to the venue) but they sure were delicious.
» I don't think we planned to be right up on the barrier, but we were of the first twenty or so in and decided to go for it. We ended up on the right hand side - far enough away from the mosh pits that would break out but not squished into the corner and looking backstage rather than onstage. We must have got a good spot because we were next to a thirty-forty-something uber-fan who knew the security guards (and probably the bands) who kept slipping him setlists and picks and things. (I found winking most disconcerting though, idk.) He had a pencil and paper and was taking down the setlists too, which I thought was impressive amidst the crowdsurfers and general shoving.
» Have I ever said how thankful I am to have a nearly six-foot friend? I would've felt bad for the people behind us only they were two fifteen-year old girls who bitched and moaned throughout the support (yeah, three in three hours is excessive but if you want to be that close to the main act you've got to suck it up, right?) and then bitched and moaned about Liz and I being in front of them and started "whisper"-plotting nefarious plans to push in front of us. DENIED, because like Liz said, she's basically six foot, twelve stone and pretty stong (she does lots of active weird shit like horse-riding and climbing and hill-walking. Weirrrrd.) and they so weren't getting past her no matter how much they tried nudging the back of her knees. I mean, seriously?
» I really really liked Imperial Leisure. They were sort of ska-rap-rock, lots of high energy, plus they had a trombone player which automatically makes music good even if it's rubbish. I told Liz that they reminded me of Bloc Party, and she said "Yeah, me too. But is that just because the lead guy is black?" Probably. /o\
» Beat Union were awful. Some sort of generic harder-sounding pop-punk from Birmingham that the crowd got bored of after a couple of songs. It's an irrational prejudice, but as soon as the lead singer opened his mouth I made a face of distaste, but they just weren't that good and they gave off a Oasis-loving Carling-swilling dickhead bloke vibe. edit: Oh, crap, I tell a lie. I did fall in love with the drummer! He was bloody fantastic, and absolutely insane. Basically all you could hear was him playing drums really well while the other two made some noise and yelled. He was like a bearded nodding dog crossed with Animal and Beaker from the Muppets, and we kept seeing glimpses of him stood backstage and on the balcony nodding along. So cuuuute.
» Pepper were from Hawaii (they mentioned it a lot). They were good in the sense that they'd clearly been around for years and they moved around the stage a lot and interacted with audience, but apart from the track "Give It Up" (why don't you have some dirty hot sex with me? / it ain't like i'm askin' you to give it up for free *crotch grab*) I didn't find their sound particularly interesting. The bassist, who was also the lead guy, reminded me a LOT of Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence) only bald and more toned (roughly the same amount of shit-talking the audience and crotch-grabs).
» I forgot, the bassist for the Mad Caddies was ~randomly there to guest on a couple of Pepper's tracks, and the saxophone player for Less Than Jake did a few songs with them too.
» I enjoyed LTJ a LOT. It was nice to see a fun band that I wasn't heavily over-invested in, and I think that being right on the barrier was good choice despite that because I figure it's better to surrounded by the feel of the place than lurking at the back and not really getting it. I don't know what else to say then it was really enjoyable.
» Oh WAIT. Roger the-bassist-for-LTJ was over on our side (he is adorable omg) and he saw me taking photos and he made direct eye-contact and POSED STUPIDLY MID-SONG FOR ME. So cute. ♥_♥ This was confirmed by the (rocking out insanely, but I deemed her really nice because she had clearly washed her hair -it smelt of Fructis conditioner- before the show) uber-fan next to us who turned to me and went "OH MY GOD!" :O (And after he did that I felt extremely conspicuous because I realised that I was wearing a bright blue jumper amongst a sea of black t-shirts. :/ )
IMPERIAL LEISURE
BEAT UNION
Seriously, the only good thing about this band.
Way to stereotype I know, bt the lead singer has such a football hooligan face.
The bassist's epic tattoo failure.
The bassist's skinny jeans. Tight everywhere except the arse.
I still reckon he looks like a haggard forty-something Sisky (The Academy Is).
PEPPER
Punk/rock gigs, all the excuse a chubby dude needs to get his stuff out. He's Pepper's drummer so he gets a pass.
Lead singer/bassist/Jimmy Urine-reminder-of
Cute y/n?
He's making the sign of the pussy or the minge or something. Earlier on he talked crap about "emo pussy faggots" and I didn't know how to take it, but I like to think it was an MSI-esque tongue-in-cheek.
Mad Caddies bassist, photo-blocked by the confetti cannons.
LESS THAN JAKE
Roger-the-bassist and his epic dreads. (I don't even know or care what the others are called, I just like Roger.)
LOOKING RIGHT AT ME AND POSING. I caught the tail-end of his fish-lips and sideways peace sign with my crappy camera.
BABBLE
» Eating a McDonalds Happy Meal before a gig is such a bad idea. On one hand it's low-cost and you get free Miley Cyrus and High School Musical stickers, but it's starts to wreak it's revenge when you're stood in front of a speaker and can feel the bass down in your soul, among other areas. Things probably weren't helped along (er, or were helped along?) by the Nutella crepes we bought from the German market in Millennium Square (which is right next to the venue) but they sure were delicious.
» I don't think we planned to be right up on the barrier, but we were of the first twenty or so in and decided to go for it. We ended up on the right hand side - far enough away from the mosh pits that would break out but not squished into the corner and looking backstage rather than onstage. We must have got a good spot because we were next to a thirty-forty-something uber-fan who knew the security guards (and probably the bands) who kept slipping him setlists and picks and things. (I found winking most disconcerting though, idk.) He had a pencil and paper and was taking down the setlists too, which I thought was impressive amidst the crowdsurfers and general shoving.
» Have I ever said how thankful I am to have a nearly six-foot friend? I would've felt bad for the people behind us only they were two fifteen-year old girls who bitched and moaned throughout the support (yeah, three in three hours is excessive but if you want to be that close to the main act you've got to suck it up, right?) and then bitched and moaned about Liz and I being in front of them and started "whisper"-plotting nefarious plans to push in front of us. DENIED, because like Liz said, she's basically six foot, twelve stone and pretty stong (she does lots of active weird shit like horse-riding and climbing and hill-walking. Weirrrrd.) and they so weren't getting past her no matter how much they tried nudging the back of her knees. I mean, seriously?
» I really really liked Imperial Leisure. They were sort of ska-rap-rock, lots of high energy, plus they had a trombone player which automatically makes music good even if it's rubbish. I told Liz that they reminded me of Bloc Party, and she said "Yeah, me too. But is that just because the lead guy is black?" Probably. /o\
» Beat Union were awful. Some sort of generic harder-sounding pop-punk from Birmingham that the crowd got bored of after a couple of songs. It's an irrational prejudice, but as soon as the lead singer opened his mouth I made a face of distaste, but they just weren't that good and they gave off a Oasis-loving Carling-swilling dickhead bloke vibe. edit: Oh, crap, I tell a lie. I did fall in love with the drummer! He was bloody fantastic, and absolutely insane. Basically all you could hear was him playing drums really well while the other two made some noise and yelled. He was like a bearded nodding dog crossed with Animal and Beaker from the Muppets, and we kept seeing glimpses of him stood backstage and on the balcony nodding along. So cuuuute.
» Pepper were from Hawaii (they mentioned it a lot). They were good in the sense that they'd clearly been around for years and they moved around the stage a lot and interacted with audience, but apart from the track "Give It Up" (why don't you have some dirty hot sex with me? / it ain't like i'm askin' you to give it up for free *crotch grab*) I didn't find their sound particularly interesting. The bassist, who was also the lead guy, reminded me a LOT of Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence) only bald and more toned (roughly the same amount of shit-talking the audience and crotch-grabs).
» I forgot, the bassist for the Mad Caddies was ~randomly there to guest on a couple of Pepper's tracks, and the saxophone player for Less Than Jake did a few songs with them too.
» I enjoyed LTJ a LOT. It was nice to see a fun band that I wasn't heavily over-invested in, and I think that being right on the barrier was good choice despite that because I figure it's better to surrounded by the feel of the place than lurking at the back and not really getting it. I don't know what else to say then it was really enjoyable.
» Oh WAIT. Roger the-bassist-for-LTJ was over on our side (he is adorable omg) and he saw me taking photos and he made direct eye-contact and POSED STUPIDLY MID-SONG FOR ME. So cute. ♥_♥ This was confirmed by the (rocking out insanely, but I deemed her really nice because she had clearly washed her hair -it smelt of Fructis conditioner- before the show) uber-fan next to us who turned to me and went "OH MY GOD!" :O (And after he did that I felt extremely conspicuous because I realised that I was wearing a bright blue jumper amongst a sea of black t-shirts. :/ )
IMPERIAL LEISURE
BEAT UNION
Seriously, the only good thing about this band.
Way to stereotype I know, bt the lead singer has such a football hooligan face.
The bassist's epic tattoo failure.
The bassist's skinny jeans. Tight everywhere except the arse.
I still reckon he looks like a haggard forty-something Sisky (The Academy Is).
PEPPER
Punk/rock gigs, all the excuse a chubby dude needs to get his stuff out. He's Pepper's drummer so he gets a pass.
Lead singer/bassist/Jimmy Urine-reminder-of
Cute y/n?
He's making the sign of the pussy or the minge or something. Earlier on he talked crap about "emo pussy faggots" and I didn't know how to take it, but I like to think it was an MSI-esque tongue-in-cheek.
Mad Caddies bassist, photo-blocked by the confetti cannons.
LESS THAN JAKE
Roger-the-bassist and his epic dreads. (I don't even know or care what the others are called, I just like Roger.)
LOOKING RIGHT AT ME AND POSING. I caught the tail-end of his fish-lips and sideways peace sign with my crappy camera.