April 1st? When Else Would Rome Burns Reform?
This weekend was wonderful and terrifying: like being attacked by dinosaurs (wow that’s really a Tyrannosaurus… this is amazing… oh dear I appear to have been eaten alive in a horribly gory fashion!)
This particular allusion refers to the reunion of Rome Burns on stage in Leeds - four years after we called it quits. There have been a variety of Rome Burns line-ups and a quick prayer was offered to the departed spirits of Matt, Stoo and Heather, before Daevid, Nev, Tori and I climbed the stairs and twanged a guitar string or two for our adoring fans!
Rewind! There were two other bands who played before us that night: Isolation Division and Last July. Isolation Division are a three-piece with a brilliant rumbling sound - almost a mash-up of goth and showgaze as the sound fills the room and your head and your lungs and bowels in an all-encompassing hypnotic style. Last July are always special to me. They are so different from Rome Burns (and reassuringly from most other bands) but share so much of our history and ethics that we’re practically related. With both Rome Burns and Last July essentially coming from the fens this means that we’re probably six-fingered in-bred cousins of each other!
Today they are a four piece. ‘Red-Sun-Rob’ and David are the string-pluckers and then at the bands core is Dvae the calm keytboard-bound musical centre of the maelstrom and Alix the voice, the face, the heart and the dancing boots. Love it all.
Rewind! I haven’t told you about the venue. The library itself is just adorable. My John-Betjeman-English-Architecture-Loving-Soul is in love with the Victorian bottle-green tiles and stained-glass and my more practical/musical brain is in love with how Carpe Noctum (the promoters) and the venue treats its musicians. Everything is done to make you look good, feel good and sound good. I can’t think of another venue that sneakily manages to get hold of your band’s icons and emblems to project behind you as you play. Little touches like that show that even in the small pub scene there are still those folk out there with an eye for detail and an ear for professionalism.
Fast Forward! But what of Rome Burns! Well I think we played a storming set. I think we were educational and entertaining. I know I made dozens of little errors (Alix from Last July and mercurial Mike from Manuskript, were gothic versions of the Muppets’ Waldorf and Statler as they smirked and sang ‘the real words’ behind the merch desk! ;) ) but this was a live show where atmosphere matters. We were silly. We were serious. We rocked. We crooned. The ritual is all-important and by-the-heavens did the band and the audience (dotted with familiar faces :)) sacrifice ourselves on the altar of ‘A Good Night Out’.
Next weekend we play in Austria, which I’m reliably informed is somewhere East of Norwich. We’ve got a full tank o’ gas, half a pack of cigarettes, its dark and we have our sunglasses on… nothing can stop us now!
This particular allusion refers to the reunion of Rome Burns on stage in Leeds - four years after we called it quits. There have been a variety of Rome Burns line-ups and a quick prayer was offered to the departed spirits of Matt, Stoo and Heather, before Daevid, Nev, Tori and I climbed the stairs and twanged a guitar string or two for our adoring fans!
Rewind! There were two other bands who played before us that night: Isolation Division and Last July. Isolation Division are a three-piece with a brilliant rumbling sound - almost a mash-up of goth and showgaze as the sound fills the room and your head and your lungs and bowels in an all-encompassing hypnotic style. Last July are always special to me. They are so different from Rome Burns (and reassuringly from most other bands) but share so much of our history and ethics that we’re practically related. With both Rome Burns and Last July essentially coming from the fens this means that we’re probably six-fingered in-bred cousins of each other!
Today they are a four piece. ‘Red-Sun-Rob’ and David are the string-pluckers and then at the bands core is Dvae the calm keytboard-bound musical centre of the maelstrom and Alix the voice, the face, the heart and the dancing boots. Love it all.
Rewind! I haven’t told you about the venue. The library itself is just adorable. My John-Betjeman-English-Architecture-Loving-Soul is in love with the Victorian bottle-green tiles and stained-glass and my more practical/musical brain is in love with how Carpe Noctum (the promoters) and the venue treats its musicians. Everything is done to make you look good, feel good and sound good. I can’t think of another venue that sneakily manages to get hold of your band’s icons and emblems to project behind you as you play. Little touches like that show that even in the small pub scene there are still those folk out there with an eye for detail and an ear for professionalism.
Fast Forward! But what of Rome Burns! Well I think we played a storming set. I think we were educational and entertaining. I know I made dozens of little errors (Alix from Last July and mercurial Mike from Manuskript, were gothic versions of the Muppets’ Waldorf and Statler as they smirked and sang ‘the real words’ behind the merch desk! ;) ) but this was a live show where atmosphere matters. We were silly. We were serious. We rocked. We crooned. The ritual is all-important and by-the-heavens did the band and the audience (dotted with familiar faces :)) sacrifice ourselves on the altar of ‘A Good Night Out’.
Next weekend we play in Austria, which I’m reliably informed is somewhere East of Norwich. We’ve got a full tank o’ gas, half a pack of cigarettes, its dark and we have our sunglasses on… nothing can stop us now!